Krafton is seeking to change into a company that discovers and grows "fun games". It aims to develop promising games into franchises regardless of genre or intellectual property, as it tries to break away from a PUBG-centric business structure.

Krafton showed this direction in concrete terms at Gamescom 2026 in Cologne, Germany. At the event, Krafton unveiled 5 new titles: "NO LAW", "Project Zeta", "Age Twister", "Tarae: Unbound" and "PUBG: Deadnet". They span different genres and development approaches, from an open-world FPS RPG to multi-team battles, a co-op adventure and an Eastern fantasy action RPG.

Krafton described this as a publishing strategy to find new kinds of fun by challenging genre conventions, collaborating with external studios and reinterpreting existing franchises.

The goal presented by Jang Tae-seok (장태석), Krafton's head of global publishing, that "If Krafton makes it, it's fun" is in the same vein. Jang set out a direction to make new games with studios of different genres and identities, based on PUBG's experience of growing with users for more than 10 years. "We will move forward boldly and sincerely until the day it becomes natural for fans to say that if Krafton makes it, it's fun," he said.

The strategy can be seen as making Krafton's standards for discovering and verifying titles, and its publishing capabilities, a common signature even when genres and developers differ.

◆From PUBG to Subnautica... 'repeatable growth system'

Behind the strategy of securing different-genre games at the same time is Krafton's push to expand its "franchise IP". Chief Executive Kim Chang-han (김창한) said on a second-quarter earnings conference call that it had built PUBG and Subnautica as multiple growth axes. He said it would secure new franchise IP through a "repeatable growth system" that discovers and verifies IP and then scales it up.

The prototype of this system is PUBG. Battlegrounds started as a single battle royale game and has expanded into a platform combining a range of gameplay and content. Second-quarter PUBG PC and console monthly active users rose more than 20 percent from a year earlier, and revenue increased more than 70 percent. First-half revenue from the PUBG franchise also rose 25 percent from a year earlier.

Subnautica 2 is an example showing the potential to extend the franchise-building strategy to a different genre. While it is in a completely different genre from PUBG, focusing on deep-sea exploration and survival, it maintained the core gameplay of the existing IP while broadening the content scope.

Krafton assessed this as the result of finding an IP with genre differentiation and a fandom and scaling it up. Since its early access launch in May, sales surpassed 5 million copies in 22 days, and first-half revenue from the Subnautica IP totaled 232.5 billion won.

Kim said it would strengthen the system for securing and nurturing franchise IP based on the experience and decision-making capabilities accumulated in the process. He explained that it would turn one-off success into a structure that can be repeatedly applied to finding new IP.

◆New-title pipeline broadened across different genres

The new Gamescom titles also show this direction. "NO LAW" is an immersive open-world FPS RPG in which players resolve situations through various methods such as infiltration, frontal combat and tool use. "Project Zeta" is a multi-team tactical arena in which 4 teams of 3 compete for objects, moving away from the lane-based structure of existing MOBA games.

"Age Twister" is a two-player co-op adventure that uses generational shifts and abilities, while "Tarae: Unbound" is an action RPG featuring an Eastern-style worldview. The PUBG IP will also expand through "PUBG: Deadnet" into gameplay different from the existing battle royale. The lineup includes both in-house development and externally developed publishing titles.

The announcement can be seen not only as promoting new titles but also as a process of checking market reaction and franchise potential for each work. It is a step to expand the discovery, verification and scale-up approach that proved results with Subnautica 2 to a pipeline of candidates across different genres.

◆Results underpin move... new-title performance is the next key

Improved performance underpins the ability to verify multiple new titles at the same time. Krafton posted record half-year results, with first-half revenue of 2.66 trillion won and operating profit of 972.5 billion won. That was up 73.3 percent and 38.3 percent, respectively, from a year earlier. Second-quarter revenue and operating profit were 1.29 trillion won and 410.9 billion won, up 94.9 percent and 67 percent, respectively.

Still, the share of the PUBG franchise in its results remains large. While the Subnautica IP has become a second growth axis, the direction of being a "franchise company that crosses genres" has not yet changed the revenue structure itself.

Cost burdens from expanding new titles are also emerging. The second-quarter operating margin was 31.8 percent, down 5.3 percentage points from a year earlier, and the first-half figure was 36.5 percent, down 9.2 percentage points. Higher costs from consolidating ADK and spending on game production and e-sports, among other items, had an impact.

As it secures and verifies multiple candidates for new franchises, how efficiently it converts earnings secured from existing IP into the next franchises is also expected to become important.

The 5 new titles unveiled at Gamescom are in development with the goal of release by 2027. Even if genres and IP differ, actual launch results will need to back the effort to make users expect a common quality and fun from the Krafton name.

Ultimately, how many of the 5 new titles grow into long-term franchises is expected to be the first test of the publisher-brand strategy of "If Krafton makes it, it's fun."