Game 3N Supreme Competition, AI Research and Development Makes the Difference

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The competition among game companies to develop artificial intelligence (AI) technology is heating up. In particular, the three major domestic game companies known as 3N (NCSoft, Netmarble, Nexon) are strengthening their AI research and development organizations and expanding AI application areas beyond their core business of gaming.

◆ NCSoft solves problems with AI = Since establishing its first AI research organization in 2011, NCSoft has shown rapid growth in scale, now employing around 200 specialized developers. NCSoft’s AI organization operates under two main centers: the AI Center and the NLP Center, with five labs under them: ▲Game AI Lab ▲Speech Lab ▲Vision AI Lab ▲Language AI Lab ▲Knowledge AI Lab.

Notably, among these five labs, only the ‘Game AI Lab’ is directly related to gaming. The company aims not only to develop and apply AI technologies related to games but also to create new value by applying AI across various fields such as online and mobile platforms.

As a company that operates a baseball team, AI research utilizing baseball is actively underway. Currently, NCSoft operates ‘PAIGE,’ an AI-based baseball information service. Users can set their favorite team and access AI-generated content about the team and players, as well as team news, game schedules, results, and rankings all at a glance. Through chatting with a chatbot, users can get real-time answers to various questions related to games, teams, and players. Recently, NCSoft also developed a machine learning-based ‘AI reporter’ that analyzes weather forecast data and fine dust information from the Korea Environment Corporation to autonomously write articles.

In October last year, NCSoft attracted industry attention by announcing its participation in a joint venture (JV) with KB Securities and December & Company Asset Management to launch an ‘AI Easy Investment Securities Firm.’ By integrating December & Company’s financial data, NCSoft has also started developing ‘AI PB (Private Banking),’ where AI, rather than humans, provides asset management advice.

◆ Netmarble, number one in investment = Netmarble is strengthening its operational and development capabilities through two AI projects: the Columbus Project and the Magellan Project. The Columbus Project aims to handle various aspects of game services such as publishing, marketing, and operations using AI. The Magellan Project focuses on assisting developers in game development through AI. The dedicated AI workforce is estimated to be in the hundreds, with plans to more than double the AI team in the future.

Netmarble applies AI research across various areas of gaming. It has built a detection system using AI to identify bugs and errors occurring in games, which has been applied to most games. Additionally, AI technology is used to analyze big data collected from games to understand user tendencies and patterns. For example, AI suggests customized items to users.

Above all, Netmarble spares no investment in AI research and development. Last year, it spent the most on R&D among game companies, investing 519.3 billion KRW, a 13.2% increase from the previous year, accounting for 20.9% of its revenue.

◆ Nexon increases AI talent density = Last year, Nexon merged two AI research organizations into one ‘Intelligence Labs’ and expanded its workforce from 200 to 450 employees.

Intelligence Labs focuses on improving the gaming experience from content creation to game login and logout by utilizing AI. AI is applied to block abusive language and advertisements, prevent cheating, recommend appropriate item purchases, and assist in team formation.

In particular, Nexon applies its AI analysis platform ‘Nexon Analytics’ to games, building and analyzing data on users’ game characters, purchasing tendencies, and play patterns to recommend items or gameplay. The map and guild recommendation features in ‘KartRider: Drift’ are representative examples.

Nexon continues to expand its AI workforce. Recently, the New Development Headquarters launched a special recruitment drive, hiring hundreds across various positions. The new projects include nine titles such as a ‘new MMORPG’ project, a ‘unique character collection RPG’ project, and a ‘high-quality action game’ project, focusing on Nexon’s core development capabilities. They are also recruiting talent for developing a new concept play platform that breaks the boundaries of existing game development by utilizing next-generation AI technology and responsive systems.