Webzen Joins Salary Increase Relay... '20 Million Won' Raise

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Game company Webzen has joined the ranks of companies raising annual salaries.

According to the game industry on the 9th, Webzen announced internally the day before that it will increase the average annual salary of its employees by about 20 million KRW. This amount includes base salary, incentives, and special performance bonuses.

Kim Taeyoung, CEO of Webzen, stated, "There are concerns that Webzen has not yet reached the development and publishing capabilities to sustain or repeatedly maintain the company's rapidly increased recent performance," but added, "We could not overlook the reality that to dispel negative views about our sustainability, we must directly secure new development titles and reinvest a significant portion of our reserves and operating profits into this."

In fact, Webzen recorded sales of 294 billion KRW and operating profit of 108.2 billion KRW last year. These figures represent increases of 67% and 109%, respectively, compared to the same period the previous year, marking the highest performance since the company's founding.

Webzen's decision appears to be influenced by the recent competition within the industry to secure development talent and the resulting salary increase relay. However, Webzen emphasized differentiation from competitors by stating that total compensation will be determined mainly based on incentives rather than a uniform salary increase.

CEO Kim said, "Instead of a uniform salary increase for all employees, which is competitively chosen in the industry, we chose individual raises and expanded incentives because we cannot ignore the practical issue of 'appropriate rewards where there is performance.' Furthermore, we will maintain a policy of increasing the salary raise rate for all employees for the time being to retain the company's salary competitiveness."