NCSoft

File:T.J. Kim (the CEO of NC Soft) from acrofan.jpg

Kim Taek-jin, founder and CEO

NCSoft Corporation (stylized as NC, formerly stylized as NCSOFT; Template:Langx) is a South Korean video game developer and publisher headquartered in Pangyo, Seongnam, South Korea, primarily known for the distribution of massively multiplayer online role-playing games such as Lineage and Guild Wars.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

History

NCSoft was founded in March 1997 by Kim Taek-jin. In September 1998, NCSoft launched its first game Lineage. In April 2001 the company created a US subsidiary under the name NC Interactive (based in Austin, Texas, and would later become NCSoft West) after acquiring Destination Games, headed by Richard Garriott and Robert Garriott.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2004, NCSoft launched two MMORPGs, Lineage II and City of Heroes.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>.In December 2023, NCsoft released the MMPRPG ‘Throne and Liberty’.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The company formed NCSoft Europe in July 2004 as a wholly owned subsidiary with its main office in Brighton, England. They brought City of Heroes to several European countries on February 4, 2005, and have since established European service for WildStar and Blade & Soul as well.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On April 26, 2005, NCSoft published Arenanet's first MMO Guild Wars Prophecies as well as Arenanet's follow up campaigns Factions and Nightfall and the expansion Eye of the North. NCSoft also published Guild Wars 2 but stopped being the publisher for Guild Wars 2 in 2015 with the release of Heart of Thorns.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On September 10, 2008, NCSoft announced the formation of NCSoft West, a subsidiary which manages NCSoft's other western organizations, and established its headquarters for that subsidiary in Seattle, Washington.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On July 28, 2021, NCSoft announced that it was adding the talents of long-time video game industry veteran Jeffrey Anderson (game designer) to its executive leadership team as the new CEO of NCSoft West, overseeing its games business in the Americas, EMEA, and Oceana regions.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On July 8, 2011, NCSoft started talks with SK Telecom to acquire Ntreev Soft Co., Ltd.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The talks were expected to last less than a month, but it took seven for NCSoft to complete the acquisition; purchasing 76% of Ntreev's stock for Template:KRW (Template:US$) on February 15, 2012.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2011, NCSoft purchased Hotdog Studio, a mobile game studio based in Seoul that produces phone and smartphone titles such as Dark Shrine.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In June 2012, NCSoft launched Blade & Soul, their first MMORPG since Aion launched in 2008.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2012 Nexon acquired a 14.7 percent interest in NCSoft for $688 million.<ref name="vb">Template:Cite news</ref> Nexon sold all of its shares of NCSoft in October 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On November 19, 2015, NCSoft West announced the formation of Iron Tiger studios, a developer based in San Mateo, California focused on adapting Korean-made mobile titles for the West, as well as developing their own mobile games.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

On August 21, 2020, NCSoft entered the Korean entertainment industry by launching a new subsidiary called "Klap Co., Ltd."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Klap and NCSoft launched the entertainment platform UNIVERSE on January 28, 2021.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In March 2022, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia acquired a 9.26 percent stake in NCSoft, becoming the company's second largest shareholder after Kim Taek-jin.<ref name="PIF Investment" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In November 2023, NCSoft announced that it had signed a strategic partnership with Sony Interactive Entertainment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On January 18, 2024, NCSoft wound down and laid off all 70 employees of its Ntreev Soft subsidiary.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

NCsoft received the Chinese government’s approval for their online games on October 25, 2024.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Subsidiaries

Current

• ArenaNet
• Iron Tiger Studios
• NC Dinos

Former

• Carbine Studios
• Destination Games
• Paragon Studios
• KLAP Entertainment<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Ntreev Soft

File:Ncsoft.jpg

NcSoft structure

Controversies

Stolen source code

On April 27, 2007, Seoul Metropolitan Police said that seven former employees of NCSoft are suspected of selling the Lineage III source code to a major Japanese game company.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> According to NCSoft, the potential damages may exceed Template:US$.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Worlds.com patent lawsuit

Worlds.com CEO Thom Kidrin claimed the idea of a "scalable virtual world with thousands of users" is patented by his organization<ref name="one">Template:Cite web</ref> and targeted NCSoft for patent infringement in 2008,<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> in what he says will be the first of many lawsuits against MMO developers.<ref name="one"/> On April 23, 2010, the Worlds.com case settled, but the terms of the settlement were kept confidential.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On July 22, 2010, Worlds.com requested the case be reopened.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Richard Garriott termination

Richard Garriott, lead developer of the failed MMORPG Tabula Rasa, sued NCSoft for Template:US$ in damages concerning his termination from the company. Garriott asserted in his suit that he was forced out of the company and was made to sell his 400,000 shares in NCSoft's stock, costing him millions of dollars. In addition, he claimed that the company was guilty of fraud by forging his resignation announcement.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On July 30, 2010, a jury in a Texas federal court awarded him Template:US$ in damages. NCSoft described Garriott as someone "who keeps finding different ways to turn the company into his personal ATM," and that "Garriott left the company voluntarily to catch his ride to the International Space Station." Citing his questionable work ethic and the failure of his video game project despite an $84.4 million investment, NCSoft pulled the plug on the game after which Garriott announced he would be leaving the company. This came after he boarded a much-publicized news on his boarding of a Russian aircraft, which cost $30 million.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Garriott again prevailed on appeal and NCSoft was required to pay an additional Template:US$, bringing the total damages awarded to Garriott to Template:US$.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Closure of Paragon Studios and City of Heroes

On August 31, 2012, NCSoft liquidated Paragon Studios and announced the closure of City of Heroes. Over 21,000 players signed an online petition contesting the shut-down<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and many used social media to promote their criticisms.

Major Company Reconstruction in South Korea

In 2024, NCSoft underwent significant restructuring in South Korea to tackle its financial challenges. The process began with the closure of its subsidiary, Ntreev Soft, leading to the layoff of 70 employees in January 2024 after enduring an 11-year deficit. Consequently, the development and service of Trickster M, Pro Baseball H2, and Pro Baseball H3 were terminated.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On October 21, 2024, NCSoft declared the main branch's overhaul, which includes the formation of new teams into four business divisions, scheduled to be established as official subsidiaries on February 1, 2025.

• NC AI will oversee all AI development for games and applications, consolidating NCSoft's AI and NLP teams into a single unit, led by the head of NCSoft's NLP research, Lee Yeon-soo.
• FirstSpark Games or Studio X will inherit the project Throne and Liberty from TL Heroes and continue its IP development, under the leadership of Choi Moonyoung, one of NCSoft's three chief business officers.
• BigFire Games or Studio Y will advance the development of Cinder City, guided by Bae Jae-hyun, NCSoft's vice president of game development.
• Ludius Games or Studio Z will undertake the development of NCSoft's new project TACTAN, currently in the design phase, led by Seo Min-seok.

In the wake of its restructuring, NCSoft will disband the remaining teams that have not been restructured and halt their projects. This includes the cancellation of the single-player action-adventure RPG Project M and the cessation of the newly released game Battle Crush. Additionally, the company will conduct staff layoffs and introduce a voluntary retirement program for its employees.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Games

Year	Title	Developer	Genre	Notes
1998	Lineage	NCSoft (Team L2Live)	MMORPG
2003	Lineage II	NCSoft	MMORPG
2004	City of Heroes	Paragon Studios	MMORPG	Shut down on November 30, 2012. On January 4, 2024 Homecoming Servers had announced they'd been given a limited license<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> to run their server.
2005	Guild Wars	ArenaNet	MMORPG
2006	Auto Assault	NetDevil	MMORPG	Shut down on August 31, 2007.
2007	Dungeon Runners	NCSoft	MMORPG	Shut down on January 1, 2010.
	Tabula Rasa	Destination Games	MMORPG	Shut down on February 28, 2009.
	Exteel	NCSoft (E&G Studios)	TPS	Shut down on September 1, 2010.
2008	Point Blank	Zepetto	FPS	Shut down on July 13, 2011.
2009	Aion	NCSoft (Team Aion)	MMORPG
2011	Gem Keeper	NCSoft	Tower defense
2012	Blade & Soul	NCSoft (Team Bloodlust)	MMORPG
	Guild Wars 2	ArenaNet	MMORPG
2013	Shin Jan Ryu Mon	NCSoft Japan	Mahjong
2014	WildStar	NCSoft (Carbine)	MMORPG	Shut down on November 30, 2018.
2016	Love Beat	CrazyDiamond	Dance/Rhythm
	Lineage Red Knight	NCSoft	RPG
2017	Final Blade	NCSoft	RPG
	Pro Baseball H2!	NTREEV (Baseball Team)	Sport	Shut down on March 2024
	Master X Master	NCSoft (Studio MXM)	MOBA	Shut down on January 31, 2018.
	Lineage M	NCSoft	MMORPG
	Aion	NCSoft	RPG
2019	Lineage II M	NCSoft (Team L2Live)	RPG
2020	FUSER	Harmonix	Rhythm	Shut down on December 19, 2022
2021	Pro Baseball H3!	NTREEV (Baseball Team)	Sport	Shut down on March 2024
	Trickster M	NTREEV (Trickster Team)	MMORPG	Shut down on March 2024
	Blade & Soul 2	NCSoft (Team Bloodlust)	MMORPG
	Lineage W	Studio W	MMORPG
2024	Battle Crush	NCSoft	Action, brawler	Shut down on November 29, 2024
	Throne and Liberty	FirstSpark Games	MMORPG	Published in the West and Japan by Amazon Games
	Blade & Soul Heroes	NCSoft	Strategy RPG	Known as Hoyeon in Korea, and Go-en in Japan.
2025	AION 2	NCSoft (Team Aion)	MMORPG	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
TBA	Cinder City	BigFire Games	MMO TPS
	Time:Takers	Mistil Games	MMOTPS	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Limit Zero Breakers	Vic Game Studios/Kadokawa	RPG	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Horizon Steel Frontiers	NCSoft/Guerrilla Games/PlayStation Studios XDev	MMORPG	Under exclusive license from Sony Interactive Entertainment<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
	Project E	FirstSpark Games	MMORPG
	TACTAN	Ludius Games	MMORPG
	Blade & Soul Console	NC Interactive (NCWEST)	Action MMORPG

In addition, NCSoft is also the developer and maintainer of a variety of web-based board games in Asian markets.

External links

• NCSoft