Krafton said on Wednesday it has completed a strategic investment in Neon Commerce, a global game commerce infrastructure company.

The investment is aimed at reducing reliance on external platforms and laying the groundwork for a proprietary commerce ecosystem that can meet global users directly. Krafton plans to use the investment as a springboard to step up development of its own payment system and internalise global competitiveness as a publishing platform.

Neon, the investment target, is a commerce infrastructure specialist that helps game publishers directly build, operate and expand sales ecosystems for users. It has technology that offers one-stop support, including integrating a range of payment methods worldwide, responding to complex country-by-country taxes and regulations, and building online stores operated by game companies.

This provides general users with a convenient purchasing environment and gives game companies a service base to meet global users directly without going through intermediate distribution steps.

Krafton plans to internalise key payment service capabilities based on cooperation with Neon. It aims to significantly improve payment convenience through its own payment services while building an environment to directly provide global users with tailored services and various promotional benefits.

Ultimately, it plans to advance its global service operations capabilities and expand user touchpoints to enhance market competitiveness as a global publishing platform.

Thomas Ko (토마스 고), head of Krafton's Publishing Platform Division, said the investment is an important starting point for strengthening a service base that connects Krafton directly with global users. He said Krafton will expand a user-centric service ecosystem by providing better purchasing experiences and benefits based on the game commerce infrastructure provided by Neon.

Chris Fort (크리스 포트), CEO of Neon Commerce, said Neon Commerce has focused on providing the scalability and flexibility needed for game companies to operate direct-to-user sales businesses. He stressed that the game commerce infrastructure to be built with Krafton will become a new standard across the game industry in the future.