NCSoft, which recently launched its new MMORPG Throne and Liberty, has announced a corporate restructuring. The South Korean game company will also lay off an undisclosed number of employees.
Project M
On October 21, NCSoft announced a corporate split-off, establishing four wholly owned subsidiaries that would be run as private companies. The new studios will officially begin operating on February 1, 2025.
Three of them will be involved in the development and support of new video games, and the fourth one will focus on AI technologies:
- Studio X — focused on development and support of Throne and Liberty;
- Studio Y — development of Project LLL, an open world shooter built with Unreal Engine;
- Studio Z — development of a MMO real-time strategy game codenamed Project TACTAN;
- NC AI (formerly NC Research) — focused on proprietary AI tech, including its generative AI platform VARCO.
As part of this restructuring, NCSoft will downsize or shut down “certain development projects and support functions.” The process will affect an undisclosed number of employees, some of whom will be reassigned to other projects within the company. The publisher also plans to implement a “voluntary retirement program.”
According to GameMeca, one of the projects canceled by NCSoft is Project M, an interactive adventure game announced in 2022, and Battle Crush, a multiplayer MOBA launched earlier this year to mixed user reviews.
As reported by Yonhap News Agency (in Korean), NCSoft co-CEOs Taek-Jin Kim and Byung-Moo Park told staff in an email that financial challenges drove the company to a point where layoffs had become necessary.
“As a result of operating in a way that most of the manpower and functions are concentrated at the headquarters, financial performance has continued to deteriorate and we are at risk of becoming a chronically loss-making company,” the management said.
Despite a 133% operating profit growth in Q2, NCSoft’s revenue and operating fell 16% and 75% year-over-year to ₩368.8 billion ($270.3 million) and ₩8.8 billion ($6.5 million), respectively. The Lineage franchise accounted for 70% of the company’s Q2 sales.
NCSoft basically wants to move the development of new games and products out of its head office. The global launch of Throne and Liberty has proven to be a success, so the publisher plans to create and support new IPs through standalone studios.