NC Confirms Establishment of 4 Subsidiaries... Union Opposes "Unilateral Spin-off"

Approval of Spin-off Plans for 4 Companies at Temporary General Meeting
Union: "Employment Insecurity Continues... Joint CEO System Must Be Dismantled"

NCSoft confirmed the establishment of four subsidiaries through an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on the 28th. The NC union opposed the move, calling it a "one-sided spin-off plan," and demanded the dismantling of the joint leadership of co-CEOs Kim Taek-jin and Park Byung-moo.

At the extraordinary general meeting held at the Pangyo R&D Center that day, NC approved the "approval of the spin-off plan" as originally proposed. The newly established companies are three game development studios?FirstSpark Games, BigFire Games, Ludius Games?and an AI-specialized company, NC AI, all unlisted corporations. The four new entities aim to launch on February 1 of next year.

FirstSpark Games will be responsible for the business division of Throne and Liberty (TL). Since its global launch on October 1, TL has maintained stable service and proven its competitiveness in overseas markets. Through a swift and specialized independent studio system, it will strengthen cooperation with partners and nurture TL as a global IP (intellectual property). TL Camp Captain Choi Moon-young, who oversees TL development and service, will serve as CEO.

BigFire Games will handle the business division of LLL. LLL is a shooting genre game evaluated as an IP with competitiveness and potential for success in the global market. The studio system will focus on enhancing development capabilities and expertise in the genre. LLL Seed Bae Jae-hyun, who oversees LLL development, will serve as CEO.

Ludius Games will manage the business division of TACTAN (Taektan). Taektan is also a strategy genre game with high potential for global success. It will establish a creative development environment unique to an independent studio and pursue rapid game development through swift decision-making. Project G Seed Seo Min-seok, who oversees Taektan development, will serve as CEO.

NC AI is an AI technology specialized company that will advance AI technologies such as the internally developed Barco LLM. It will actively utilize AI technology in game development and expand into new business areas. The CEO will be Lee Yeon-su, head of NC Research, who is responsible for NC AI’s research and development (R&D).

Co-CEO Park Byung-moo of NC said, "Through the transition to an independent development studio system, we will create an innovative development culture characterized by speed, flexibility, and creativity, and actively discover new global IPs." He added, "We will support the new companies to become competitive enterprises with expertise and technological capabilities, and focus our efforts on establishing a sustainable growth foundation for all of NCSoft."

The NCSoft labor union 'Ujujeongbok' is demanding the company withdraw its spin-off plan in front of the temporary shareholders' meeting hall at the Pangyo R&D Center on the 28th. Photo by Game Reporters

Following the confirmation of NC’s spin-off, the NC union strongly opposed the move. The NC union 'Uju Jeongbok' held a rally in front of the shareholders’ meeting venue that day, protesting with demands to "withdraw the one-sided spin-off plan and dismantle the joint CEO system."

Branch chief Song Garam said, "CEO Park Byung-moo will not stay long in this company but will execute restructuring and leave after receiving performance bonuses," adding, "They say the purpose of the spin-off is autonomy, but even after the spin-off, the spin-off corporation’s development-related decisions will be made by the headquarters’ new project evaluation committee."

He criticized, "Even though we know all the sweet talk from the organizational leaders, we pretend not to know and coldly carry out the spin-off plan one by one without any mercy."

Song also expressed concerns about job insecurity. He said, "Chief Operating Officer (COO) Koo Hyun-beom of NCSoft said the performance bonus payment plan would improve, but he also said he could neither disclose how it would improve nor put it in the contract," adding, "The most important clause about reinstatement upon closure was deemed unimportant by COO Koo. I don’t understand why that is not important."

The Nexon union also came to support. Nexon union branch chief Bae Soo-chan targeted co-CEO Kim Taek-jin, saying, "Performance can be poor, and crises can come," but "In a crisis, instead of reflecting first, touching employees’ livelihoods and starting with spin-offs is a path to failure and the owner’s fault."