Major South Korean game companies are strengthening their publishing businesses by finding and servicing games made by outside developers alongside in-house development. The move aims to widen sources of new titles as development of big-budget games stretches out and to reduce reliance on a handful of internal projects. NCSoft, Nexon, Krafton and Neowiz are expanding lineups through external titles and IP, seeking to diversify genres and shorten release gaps while sharing roles with specialist studios.

Nexon has begun pre-registrations for its new MMORPG Temppal: Overgeared, based on the Temppal web novel and webtoon IP. The company said sign-ups will be available via the official page and Kakao. The PC and mobile cross-platform game is set to launch this year in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Pre-registration events offer in-game rewards and prize entries.