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Nexon

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Nexon Co, Ltd.
Native name
Company typePublic
TYO: 3659
IndustryVideo games
FoundedDecember 26, 1994; 29 years ago (1994-12-26)
Seoul, South Korea
Founders
HeadquartersMinato-ku, Tokyo[1],
Japan
Key people
Owen Mahoney (CEO)[2]
Shiro Uemura (CFO)[3]
Revenue¥253.7billion (2018)[4]
¥98.3billion (2018)[4]
¥107.7billion (2018)[4]
OwnerNXC (46.7%)[5]
Number of employees
6,441 (Dec. 2018)
Subsidiaries§ Organization
Websitecompany.nexon.co.jp/en/

Nexon Co., Ltd. (Korean: 주식회사 넥슨/Japanese: 株式会社ネクソン) is a Japanese (formerly South Korean) video game publisher that specializes in online games for PC and mobile. It maintains over 80 titles.[6] 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. As of March 2022, it is the second largest game company in South Korea after Krafton, as well as the fourth-largest online game company in Asia outside of Japan in terms of revenue and market capitalization, after Tencent Games, NetEase and Krafton, ahead of Netmarble, 37 Entertainment, and NCSoft.[7]

History

Nexon Group was established in Seoul, South Korea on December 26, 1994, and is currently based in Japan. It also has offices located in South Korea, the United States, Taiwan and Thailand.[6] Nexon developed and published its first title, Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds, in 1996, which the company continues to service.[8] Many title releases followed such as Dark Ages: Online Roleplaying, Elemental Saga, QuizQuiz, KartRider, Elancia, and Shattered Galaxy;[9] some of which are maintained by a company spun off of Nexon, Kru Interactive.[10] 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.[11][12] The game was localized in many locations such as Japan, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, North America, Europe, Brazil, and Vietnam.[13] Nexon is also the developer of Dungeon & Fighter, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Neople.[14][15] Dungeon & Fighter is one of the most popular free-to-play online PC games in China.[15][16]

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.[17]

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.[18]

On March 9, 2016, Nexon acquired Big Huge Games, a mobile game developer in Maryland.[19]

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.[20] However, on July 8, 2019, Reuters reported the plan was abandoned.[21]

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.[22]

On June 2, 2020, Nexon announced plans to invest $1.5 billion in listed entertainment companies.[23] By March 2021, Nexon had deployed $874 million of that amount on investments into Hasbro, Bandai Namco Holdings, Konami, and Sega Sammy Holdings. Nexon stated that they have no interest in outright acquiring or taking activist investor positions in these companies.[24]

Nexon signed with Bandai Namco Holdings, Square Enix and Microsoft for a 10-year Japanese–South Korean video gaming partnership contract for media franchises through 2032, for example HoPals Echoes crossover project.[citation needed]

Nexon, which was known to be the largest video game company in South Korea, was overtaken by Krafton in July 2021.[25]

In January 2022, Russo brothers-owned film production company AGBO sold a $400 million minority stake to Nexon, which is valued at $1.1 billion as Nexon takes a 38% stake.[26]

In February 2022, it was reported by Bloomberg that Saudi Arabian-based Public Investment Fund had purchased just over a 5% stake in Capcom and Nexon, reportedly worth $883 USD million, while American investment company KKR acquired an 8.5% stake.[27]

Organization

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.[28] The subsidiary that publishes a game does not necessarily indicate the region(s) 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.

Nexon Group Companies
Region Company name[29]
Japan NEXON Co., Ltd.
Korea NEXON Korea Corporation; NEOPLE INC.; Nexon Networks Corporation; Nexon Games; NEXON COMMUNICATIONS Co., Ltd.; Nexon Space Co., Ltd.; Thingsoft Inc.; N Media Platform Co., LTD.; JoongAng Pangyo Development Co., Ltd; Ngine Studios; TDF Co., Ltd.
China Lexian Software Development (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
North America Nexon America Inc.; Nexon US Holding Inc.; Big Huge Games, Inc.; Pixelberry Studios
Other NEXON TAIWAN LIMITED; Nexon Thailand Co., Ltd.; Embark Studios AB; NEXON NETWORKS VINA COMPANY LIMITED

Games

Year Title Developer Publisher Notes
1996 Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds Nexon Nexon
1999 Elancia Nexon Nexon
Dark Ages Nexon Nexon
2001 Asgard Nexon Nexon
Crazy Arcade Nexon Korea Nexon
2003 MapleStory Wizet Nexon
TalesWeaver Softmax Nexon
2004 Crazyracing Kartrider Nexon Korea Nexon
Mabinogi devCAT Nexon
2005 Sudden Attack Nexon GT Nexon
Dungeon Fighter Online Neople Nexon
2007 Elsword KOG Studios Nexon Publisher in Korea only.
2008 Counter-Strike Online Nexon Nexon
2009 Crazy Shooting Bubble Fighter Nexon Nexon
2010 Vindictus devCAT Nexon
Dragon Nest Eyedentity Games Nexon No longer the publisher.
2011 Cyphers Nexon Nexon
2012 FIFA Online 3 Electronic Arts Nexon Publisher in Korea only.
2013 ArcheAge XL Games Nexon Publisher in Korea only.
Final Fantasy XIV Square Enix Business Division 5 Nexon Publisher in Korea only.
Counter-Strike Online 2 Nexon Nexon
2014 FreeStyle 2 Smilegate Nexon
Closers Naddic Games Nexon Publisher in Korea only.
2015 DomiNations Nexon
Big Huge Games 		Nexon Publishing rights was handed over to Big Huge Games in 2020.
MapleStory 2 NSquare Nexon
2016 Tree of Savior IMC Games Nexon
Choices: Stories You Play Nexon Nexon
Sudden Attack 2 Nexon GT Nexon
2017 Dynasty Warriors: Unleashed Nexon Nexon
Dark Avenger 3 Nexon Nexon
AxE (Alliance x Empire) Nexon Nexon
2018 FIFA Online 4 EA Spearhead Nexon
MapleStory M Nexon Nexon
2019 KurtzPel KOG Studios Nexon
Godzilla Defense Force Neople
Studio 42 		Nexon
Crazy Arcade BnB M Nexon Nexon
Traha Moai Games Nexon
2020 KartRider Rush+ Nexon Nexon
V4 Nexon Nexon
The Kingdom of the Winds: Yeon Nexon Nexon
2021 Blue Archive Nexon Nexon
KonoSuba: Fantastic Days Nexon Nexon
2022 DNF Duel Arc System Works
Eighting
Neople 		Nexon
TBA Project HP Nexon Nexon
KartRider: Drift Nexon Nexon
Dungeon & Fighter Mobile Nexon Nexon
Veiled Experts Nexon Nexon
ARC Raiders Nexon
Dave the Diver Nexon
Dungeon & Fighter 2D mobile Nexon
Dynasty Warriors 9 Mobile Nexon
Gwanggateo the Great Nexon
Hero Sky Nexon
HEXIA Nexon
Magia Nexon
Mabinogi Mobile Nexon
Project BBQ Nexon
Project Magnum Nexon
TALESWEAVER M Nexon
4 Towers Nexon

See also

References

  1. ^ "Locations". NEXON Corporate Profile (in Japanese). Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  2. ^ Eric Johnson (February 12, 2014). "Nexon Names New CEO: Ex-EA Exec Owen Mahoney". Re/code.
  3. ^ Chris Shimamoto (May 15, 2014). "Nexon Surges as Online Game Maker Plans Share Buyback". Bloomberg News.
  4. ^ a b c "Consolidated Financial Results for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2016 [IFRS]" (PDF). Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  5. ^ "NEXON CO., LTD. : Shareholders Board Members Managers and Company Profile | JP3758190007 | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  6. ^ a b Bruce Einhorn (August 21, 2014). "Nexon, Asia's 'Freemium' PC Game Pioneer, Gets More Mobile". Bloomberg Businessweek.
  7. ^ "Top 25 gaming companies". Newzoo.com. 2015. Retrieved September 16, 2015.
  8. ^ Bruce Einhorn. "What is Nexus?". Nexus Atlas. Retrieved December 21, 2014.
  9. ^ "Nexon Holdings history". KoreanGameWatch.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved October 5, 2011.
  10. ^ "Kru Interactive Profile". Kru Interactive. Archived from the original on September 30, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
  11. ^ John Gaudiosi (May 23, 2012). "Nexon Celebrates Seventh Anniversary Of MapleStory Game With Continued Success". Forbes.
  12. ^ "Nexon Holdings(NXC)". Korea Game Watch. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  13. ^ "Maplestory". Nexon Korea Corporation. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2011.
  14. ^ Forbes Staff (April 24, 2013). "What Next for Kim Jung-Ju and Korean Online Gaming Company Nexon?". Forbes.
  15. ^ a b Lulu Yilun Chen and Jungah Lee (May 28, 2014). "Tencent $1 Billion Game Shows Global Hunt for Mobile Hits". Bloomberg News.
  16. ^ Xu Lin (February 7, 2014). "Top 10 free online games with highest revenues". China.org.cn.
  17. ^ "Nexon America Inc et al v. Gameanarchy LLC et al".
  18. ^ Kyt Dotson (December 7, 2014). "Despite Setbacks Nexon Sets $1.2 billion IPO for Dec. 14". SiliconANGLE.
  19. ^ "Nexon acquires DomiNations developer Big Huge Games". VentureBeat. March 10, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  20. ^ "Nexon founder to sell controlling stake in gaming company's holding..." Reuters. January 3, 2019.
  21. ^ "Nexon founder scraps what could have been $16 billion gaming deal:..." Reuters. July 9, 2019.
  22. ^ "The Lego Group acquires bricklink, the world's largest online LEGO® fan community and marketplace to strengthen ties with adult fans". November 25, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  23. ^ Leung, Ruby. "Korean Gaming Giant Nexon To Spend $1.5 Billion On Global Entertainment Companies". Forbes. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  24. ^ "Nexon invests $874 million in Hasbro, Bandai Namco, Konami, and Sega Sammy". VentureBeat. March 28, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  25. ^ "Krafton feeds game pipeline upon fast move to the top-tier group ahead of IPO - Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea". m.pulsenews.co.kr (in Korean). Retrieved December 25, 2021.
  26. ^ Vlessing, Etan (January 5, 2022). "Joe and Anthony Russo's AGBO Sells $400M Stake to Nexon". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 5, 2022.
  27. ^ "Saudi acquires 5% stake in Capcom and Nexon gaming firms worth $1bn". Middle East Monitor. February 6, 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2022.
  28. ^ "Consolidated Financial Results for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2017" (PDF). NEXON Investor Relations. Retrieved July 17, 2018.
  29. ^ "Consolidated Financial Results for the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2020 [IFRS]" (PDF). NEXON Investor Relations. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
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