[DigitalToday reporter Lee Ho-jung] "We turned a deficit of nearly 100 billion won into a profit last year. This year, operating profit will grow further."

Wemade CEO Park Kwan-ho (박관호) on Thursday told the company’s 26th annual general meeting of shareholders about progress on cost efficiencies and the direction of its shift in game genres, signalling confidence in performance growth this year.

An impromptu briefing after the meeting... questions on weak share price and future response

The shareholder briefing was held right after the general meeting. Questions from shareholders focused on the weak share price.

Park described a broad downturn in the game industry and the company’s cost-efficiency work. "When I returned to management, the organisation had become bloated," he said. "Core teams that make money, marginal teams and service teams were mixed together, and we are gradually sorting out inefficiencies in stages." He said the work will run from this year into next year. He added that under Korean law it is hard to make cuts all at once as in the United States, so the process is being carried out in phases.

On the use of artificial intelligence, he said AI is driving innovation in development speed, quality and volume, and that the company is responding actively to the trend.

"The global MMORPG market itself is turning negative... shifting to a combination of console and online"

Park also explained the reasons for the genre shift. "The overall global MMORPG market itself is now becoming a negative market," he said. "This is why major Korean MMORPG-focused game companies are struggling overall," he added.

He said the MMORPG market has become one where existing users stay and there are no new entrants. He said the company would maintain that market safely, while setting a direction for new intellectual property to combine a console approach with online elements. He added that an MMO structure inevitably limits action gameplay, and that the company is addressing those limits with a console approach.

On the lineup of new titles, he said the full results from major new releases would need to be assessed after the first half of next year. He said the company gradually shifted direction starting the year before last and made a full strategy revision at the end of last year. He said key titles the company has previously mentioned remain in preparation.

Wemix ecosystem "will not give up"... seeking to restore trust centred on overseas exchanges

On prospects for relisting Wemix on exchanges, Park indicated that relisting on domestic won-based exchanges would take time. He suggested that restoring trust after the hacking incident and subsequent delisting and relisting suspensions would be difficult to achieve at once. However, he said the company is continuing global listings centred on overseas exchanges such as in Thailand and the Philippines and that results would come soon.

He made clear the company has no intention of abandoning the Wemix ecosystem. "If a game succeeds, we already have a structure in place where Wemix can be used through an online trading system," he said. "This does not mean we will deliver major results right away. It means we will keep going without giving up," he said.

On its China business, he said the company remains confident about the competitiveness of its IP but that it is not easy to coordinate schedules with local publishers. On copyright-related matters, he said there would be material for official communication within a month.

Key agenda items approved, including director compensation cap and appointment of inside directors

At the meeting, shareholders approved agenda items as originally proposed, including approval of financial statements, partial amendments to the articles of incorporation, and the appointment of inside and outside directors. A proposal on the director compensation cap (total 8 billion won) was split, following a shareholder’s amendment proposal, into a cap for the representative director (2 billion won) and a cap for directors excluding the representative director (6 billion won). The 2 billion won cap for the representative director was rejected, while the 6 billion won cap for directors excluding the representative director was approved. The company appointed Kim Ki-sung (김기성), head of the business development division who also serves as head of the U.S. subsidiary, and Lee Chang-hee (이창희), head of the strategic planning office, as new inside directors. Through amendments to the articles of incorporation, the title of outside director was changed to "independent director", and the minimum proportion of independent directors was raised from at least one quarter to at least one third. The rule is set to take effect in July this year.