NCSoft targets over 5 trillion won revenue by 2030, expands globally
NCSoft unveiled its 2026-2030 business plan during a management strategy briefing at its Pangyo R&D Center in Seongnam on March 12, outlining a path to accelerate growth and broaden its user base beyond Korea.
The company aims to lift annual revenue from about 1.5 trillion won today to more than 5 trillion won by 2030, with a target return on equity of at least 15%. Co-CEO Park Byung-moo said the plan reflects a shift from a model overly dependent on a single game and region to a more diversified, globally oriented business.
Park noted that past results tended to swing with the success or failure of a single title, and that revenue and customers were concentrated in Korea and Taiwan with an older, “Linjersi”-style user base centered on the Lineage franchise. He described the past two years as a deliberate turnaround period to correct that imbalance and improve efficiency.
The strategy rests on three pillars: strengthening legacy IPs, acquiring and developing new IP, and expanding the mobile casual gaming business. NCSoft aims to keep core assets like Lineage, Aion, Guild Wars 2, and Blade & Soul vibrant while building a pipeline of more than 10 self-developed titles and at least six publishing titles across genres including MMORPG, shooter, subculture, and action RPG. The company also signaled openness to acquiring suitable first-party studios.
In 2026, NCSoft plans to release new publishing titles such as Time Takers and Limit Zero Breakers, with a global beta for Time Takers scheduled for this weekend and a CBT for Breakers targeted for April. A title called Shinder City is slated for a global focus group test later in April. The firm emphasized that these lineup launches will be complemented by strategic acquisitions of promising studios.
A core growth driver is the mobile casual sector, which NCSoft positioning as a new engine for global expansion. The company asserts that mobile casual games already account for more than 30% of the global mobile gaming market. To support this, NCSoft established a Mobile Casual Center and integrated development, publishing, data, and technology under a single umbrella. It has already acquired overseas studios JustPlay in Germany, Lihuhu in Vietnam, and Moving Eye in Slovenia, along with domestic Spring Comes.
Park said the centerpiece of this ecosystem is the JustPlay platform, which links the various studios through NCSoft’s central data framework to optimize user acquisition and advertising efficiency (ROAS). He argued that the platform gives NCSoft a scalable, global supply of mobile casual titles.
Annel Chemer, hired last year as head of NCSoft’s Mobile Casual Center, joined the briefing remotely due to security concerns surrounding current events. He described NCSoft’s 28 years of live-service experience as a competitive advantage in the casual segment and emphasized transferring that legacy to the mobile casual business.
Looking ahead, Park identified three cross-cutting tasks: leveraging artificial intelligence to raise productivity, expanding into new global markets, and growing the customer base. He highlighted plans to pursue markets in Latin America, the Middle East, and India, and to monetize multimodal AI through NC AI, while running internal productivity initiatives to optimize headcount and costs without resorting to layoffs.
The strategy signals a broader push by a major Korean game publisher to de-risk reliance on traditional PC and console franchises and to monetize mobile casual and new IP through a globally distributed development and publishing network. For U.S. players and investors, the moves point to potential shifts in cross-border collaboration, a larger pipeline of internationally released titles, and greater competition for mobile users in a fast-growing segment of the global gaming market. The evolving ecosystem could influence platform choices, publishing deals, and supply-chain dynamics for Western studios and publishers hoping to partner with or acquire leading Korean studios.