Nexon
Nexon Co., Ltd. is a South KoreanJapanese video game publisher that specializes in online games for PC and mobile. It maintains over 80 titles. Nexon was founded in Seoul, South Korea in 1994 by Kim Jung Ju and Jake Song. In 2005, the company moved its headquarters to Tokyo, Japan.
History
Nexon Group was established in Korea on December 26, 1994, and is currently based in Japan. It also has offices located in Korea, the United States, Taiwan and Thailand. Nexon developed and published its first title, , in 1996, which the company continues to service. Many title releases followed such as Dark Ages: Online Roleplaying, Elemental Saga, QuizQuiz, KartRider, Elancia, and Shattered Galaxy; some of which are maintained by a company spun off of Nexon, Kru Interactive. In 2003, Wizet developed MapleStory in Korea, which later became one of their most successful titles and has been serviced for more than a decade. The game was localized in many locations such as Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, North America, Europe, Brazil, and Vietnam. Nexon is also the developer of Dungeon & Fighter, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Neople. Dungeon & Fighter is one of the most popular free-to-play online PC games in China.In April 2013, the programmer "DrUnKeN ChEeTaH" was sued by Nexon America for operating GameAnarchy, a popular subscription based cheat provider for Combat Arms. Nexon was awarded $1.4M in damages.
Nexon went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on December 14, 2011, in an initial public offering, the largest in Japan for 2011 and the second largest by a technological company for 2011 worldwide.
On March 9, 2016, Nexon acquired Big Huge Games, a mobile game developer in Maryland.
On January 3, 2019, the Korea Economic Daily reported Nexon founder Kim Jung-ju and associates have put their 98.64-percent stake up for sale. However on July 8, 2019, Reuters reported the plan was abandoned.
On November 25, 2019, The Lego Group announced the acquisition of Bricklink, the world's largest Lego fan community from Nexon, for an unknown price, which is expected to finish before the end of 2019.
On June 2, 2020, Nexon announced plans to invest $1.5 billion in listed entertainment companies.
Nexon maintains various offices around the world that engage in the publishing and/or development of Nexon's games. Each region's local consolidated subsidiaries are independently managed and are responsible for developing their own strategy for their products and services. The subsidiary that publishes a game does not necessarily indicate the region that a game is available in. For example, some of Nexon Korea's games are published directly by Nexon Korea yet are available worldwide with no separate service published under the local consolidated company's portfolio.
Region | Nexon Group companies |
Japan | NEXON Co., Ltd.; gloops, Inc.; PURERO, Inc |
Korea | NEXON Korea Corporation; BLOCKCHAIN ENTERTAINMENT LAB Co., Ltd.; NEOPLE INC.; Nexon Networks Corporation; NEXON GT Co., Ltd.; NEXON COMMUNICATIONS Co., Ltd.; Nexon Space Co., Ltd.; Thingsoft Inc.; BOOLEAN GAMES; NEXON RED Corp.; N Media Platform Co., LTD.; JoongAng Pangyo Development Co., Ltd; Ngine Studios; NAT Games Co., Ltd.; 10Years Co., LTD. |
China | Lexian Software Development Co., Ltd. |
North America | Nexon America Inc.; NEXON M Inc.; Rushmo America, Inc.; Nexon US Holding Inc.; Big Huge Games, Inc; Pixelberry Studios; NEXON OC Studio |
Other | NEXON Europe GmbH; NEXON TAIWAN LIMITED; Nexon Thailand Co., Ltd.; Embark Studios |
Games
List of PC games
List of mobile games
Game pipeline (in-house and through publishing agreements)
2020 and beyond
- Dave the Diver
- Dungeon & Fighter 2D mobile
- Dynasty Warriors 9 Mobile
- FINAL FANTASY XI R
- Gwanggateo the Great
- Hero Sky developed by InnoSpark
- HEXIA
- Magia
- Mabinogi Mobile
- Project BBQ
- TALESWEAVER M
- 4 Towers