Nexon won a best paper award at an international AI conference for research examining under what conditions in-game AI is accepted by users by analysing about 19.37 million Steam user reviews.

Nexon Korea said on Sunday that researchers at its Applied Analytics unit under its AI division won the Best Paper Award at ICTAI 2026 hosted by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

ICTAI is an international academic conference covering AI theory and industrial applications, and marks its 38th edition this year. This year’s event was held in Florida from Nov. 2 to 4. The best paper award was given to only 1 paper among all presented papers.

The award-winning study was conducted by researchers Ji Woo-seok (지우석), Jung Yeon-woo (정연우), Hwang Sang-ho (황상호) and Ryu Sung-il (류성일) under the theme “When is in-game AI welcomed and when is it rejected?”

The researchers analysed about 19.37 million user reviews on global game platform Steam to examine user reactions to in-game AI.

The analysis showed positive reactions when AI acts as a cooperative helper for users or blends naturally into the flow of actual gameplay.

By contrast, it led to negative evaluations when AI remains a peripheral element in the game or when users feel it is difficult to directly control AI.

Based on the findings, Nexon also created a pre-launch diagnostic system that can check AI functions in games before formal release.

It is designed to allow developers or test participants to identify positive elements and areas needing improvement by answering questions after using AI functions directly.

It plans to expand the scope of checks to cover not only already implemented AI functions but also functions at the planning stage. The aim is to identify and revise elements that users may find off-putting from the initial design stage.

Ryu said, “It is meaningful that research that began from an awareness of issues in the industrial field has been recognised for its value on the international academic stage.” He added, “We will continue to solve issues in the industrial field through data- and AI-based research.”