NHN is building a joint development system that combines the game planning capabilities of its Japanese subsidiary NHN PlayArt with the execution of its domestic development organization, and will expand its application to its global games business.

NHN on Sept. 18 held a group interview at the New Otani Makuhari hotel near Makuhari Messe in Japan, attended by NHN Games Division head Sang-ho Kim (김상호) and NHN PlayArt executive director and chief producer Haruki Murakami (무라카미 하루키), and unveiled its Korea-Japan collaboration-based games business strategy.

Under the collaboration, NHN PlayArt designs a game's core fun and planning, while NHN develops it quickly and verifies it through actual play. It is a structure that implements the direction set at the planning stage in an actual game while keeping development and verification cycles short.

The first joint development project is 'Fantasy World's Puchipoyong'. It is one of three new titles first unveiled at Tokyo Game Show 2026 (TGS 2026), and the two companies are developing it together to secure an original intellectual property (IP).

NHN PlayArt has operated services including 'Yo-kai Watch Puni Puni', which recorded 36 million downloads in Japan, and '#Compass: Combat Providence Analysis System', which has surpassed 20 million cumulative downloads. The two companies plan to use planning and operations experience built from existing games for new IP development.

The collaboration between NHN and NHN PlayArt has taken shape in recent years as they expanded exchanges between their organizations. They have run internal events and programs including 'Games Week' with participants from both countries, an 'AI Sprinton' that carries out AI-related tasks, executive workshops and an exchange program for new employees.

They also put in place an organization and work system to support collaboration. NHN created a new organization in charge of its Japan business and Korea-Japan exchanges and assigned a project manager (PM) who can communicate in Japanese. Collaboration functions including video meetings, translation and task management are operated through 'Dooray'.

NHN plans to apply the collaboration method built during the development of 'Fantasy World's Puchipoyong' to other projects.

Kim said, "Fantasy World's Puchipoyong is the product of collaboration and a stage for verifying the process," adding, "We plan to expand and apply the collaboration method established here to other projects to be pursued in the future."

Murakami said, "I expect it will become an example showing what results can come out when NHN PlayArt's fun design and NHN's implementation and verification are combined."

NHN PlayArt is also running its own booth at TGS 2026, held from Sept. 17 to 21, for the first time in 8 years, and is showcasing seven new and service titles including 'Fantasy World's Puchipoyong'.