NHN said on Sunday it has begun recruiting participants for the "Next AI Network 2026" hackathon, also known as NAN 2026, to discover talent in gaming and artificial intelligence and expand recruitment links.

The event was planned as part of NHN's companywide strategy to embed AI-led work innovation. It was set up to foster talent for South Korea's game industry, with sponsorship from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency. Anyone aged 19 or older can apply as an individual or in a team of up to 3 people.

Applicants must submit preliminary assignments by Aug. 10 through the application page, including a playable game build, a demo video, a game overview and technical documentation on the use of AI. After internal screening, the final 10 teams will compete from Sept. 4 to 6 at NHN's Play Museum headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi province, for 48 hours to produce outputs such as a game prototype and an agent design document.

The top 3 teams that pass the final review will receive prize money totaling 80 million won: 50 million won for the grand prize, 20 million won for the top prize and 10 million won for the excellence prize. All winners will also be given recruitment-linked benefits, including an opportunity for a final interview at NHN. Bonuses based on length of service after joining the company are also expected to be paid.

NHN said it continues to strengthen the group's AI capabilities by running a range of internal and external programs, including this contest. In March, it completed its in-house "NHN AI Sprinton" program for employees. On July 2, it hosted "2026 Agentic Day" with NHN Cloud and NHN Dooray to share outcomes based on AI agents.

Kim Sang-ho (김상호), head of NHN's game business division, said NAN 2026 is a game-focused hackathon where participants can use AI in games to propose new experiences and implement them into real outputs. He said the company will continue pursuing game innovation using AI based on accumulated data and service operation capabilities and plans to work to produce tangible results.