South Korean studio NCSoft has eliminated staff as part of a broader restructuring effort, the news agency reported Yonhap. The number of workers affected and which teams will be impacted is currently unknown.
In a translated story, co-CEOs Taek-Jin Kim and Byung-Moo Park revealed that the company is “deteriorating” financially. Second quarter of 2024 earnings show declines in quarterly and annual sales of 7% and 16% and 66% and 75% in operating profit for the same time periods.
Therefore, the CEOs said that NCSoft “is at risk of falling into a chronic deficit company.” [This is] seriously damaging the creativity and inspiring spirit that NC originally had.”
Kim and Park said the “large-scale change” is “for the company's survival and future. We promise active support and compensation to those affected.”
NCSoft's next business steps
In the future, NCSoft will transform its subsidiaries into a quartet of independent studios: NCAI and the current StudioThrone and Freedom), Studio Y and Studio G.
These teams will be provided with institutional support, but will otherwise act as their own developers “with genre expertise and technological competitiveness based on their own development culture and philosophy.”
Unannounced projects and support functions were also canceled or reduced as a result of the restructuring. However, the two CEOs said the “immediate pain” will help NCSoft in the long run.