NCSoft said it will usher in an era of 5 trillion won in revenue by 2030 by pursuing three core growth strategies.

NCSoft held a "2026 NC management strategy meeting" on March 12 at its Pangyo R&D Center in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. Co-CEO Park Byung-moo (박병무) presented the company’s 2026 growth strategy and mid- to long-term business direction, and center head Anel Cheman introduced the mobile casual business strategy and execution plan as a new growth engine.

Park said, "The past 2 years were a time to lay the foundation for future growth." He added that the company presented three core strategies that will drive growth: upgrading legacy intellectual property, securing new IP and expanding the mobile casual business.

Legacy IP 강화, 신작 투 트랙 전략 가동

NCSoft will continue to strengthen the core value of legacy IP such as Lineage, Aion, Guild Wars 2 and Blade & Soul. It plans to solidify a stable revenue base by upgrading operating systems, expanding service regions and developing spin-off new games.

To discover new IP, it will build a two-track lineup that simultaneously strengthens in-house development and expands its publishing business. It has already secured a new-game lineup of more than 10 in-house titles and more than 6 publishing titles across genres including MMORPGs, shooters, subculture and action RPGs, and plans to disclose details in stages. It will pursue expansion across generations and regions by diversifying genres and platforms. Since last year it has operated a game evaluation committee, a technology evaluation committee and a progress management task force to focus on improving game completeness, securing marketability and managing development timelines.

모바일 캐주얼 생태계 구축…데이터 기반 고속 성장 예고

NCSoft selected mobile casual games, which account for more than 30 percent of the global game market, as a new growth engine. It established a mobile casual center last year and has built a mobile casual ecosystem integrating capabilities in development, publishing, data and technology.

Park said the combination of NCSoft’s proven data analysis and live operations capabilities with talent that has hands-on experiment experience will enable the mobile casual business to be carried out successfully.

NCSoft plans to prove the value of its three core growth strategies through financial performance. It set a target of 2.5 trillion won in revenue in 2026 and meaningful operating profit, then disclosed a goal of 5 trillion won in revenue and an ROE of at least 15 percent by 2030 based on its mid- to long-term growth strategy.

Anel Cheman detailed the structure of NCSoft’s mobile casual ecosystem and how it plans to execute the business.

NCSoft’s mobile casual business will proceed through a five-step process. The steps are: annual concept tests of dozens of titles; rapid prototype production; A/B testing for real users and data analysis; wide-scale user acquisition and decisions to end projects based on key indicators; and live operations of successful titles.

Anel Cheman said, "Data-based decision-making is made at every stage." He added, "It is a model with very high predictability in game launches and operations."

NCSoft is systematically building a mobile casual ecosystem to execute its strategy. It has secured development studios with global competitiveness in Europe, Southeast Asia and South Korea, including Moving Eye, Lihuhu and Springcomes. It has also acquired platform companies such as JustPlay, laying the core engine of the ecosystem. It plans to grow the ecosystem through additional studio acquisitions and expansion of the publishing business.

All studios will be connected to a central data platform held by headquarters. It spans multiple studios with an integrated platform supporting user acquisition, return on ad spend analysis, live operations, creative optimisation and AI-related functions.

Anel Cheman said, "As the portfolio accumulates, sustained growth is possible." He added that NCSoft has built a system to execute a data-driven mobile casual business and is ready for rapid growth based on it.