(File photo by Krafton)
South Korean gaming giant Krafton Inc., renowned for its mega-hit PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), hired former executives of not only global major game developers but also technology leaders such as Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. for overseas markets, especially India.
Krafton said on Tuesday it has appointed Jin Oh, ex-president of Riot Games Inc., the US game developer of the popular online battle arena video game League of Legends, as chief global publishing officer (CGPO).
Oh was managing director of Blizzard Entertainment Inc. known for the industry’s most acclaimed games such as Diablo, leading the localization of popular titles including World of Warcraft and StarCraft in Southeast Asia and South Korea.
He was also chief executive officer of Garena, a Singaporean game developer and publisher of free online titles such as Free Fire, a free-to-play battle royal game.
“The appointment was a move to strengthen the competitiveness of overseas businesses through discovering intellectual property, expanding our publishing businesses,” said a Krafton official. “The new CGPO’s leadership will help us when we are securing IP with active mergers and acquisitions.”
APPLE, SAMSUNG
Jin Oh, Krafton’s new chief global publishing officer (Courtesy of Krafton)
Oh was the latest in a string of high-profile global information technology (IT) experts to join Krafton, which is rapidly expanding its business worldwide to become an international game publisher.
The company hired Richard Yoon, who led Apple’s WW health business at the iPhone maker’s headquarters in Cupertino, California, as head of strategy and global operation late last year.
In May, Krafton appointed Thomas Ko, who led the global expansion of Samsung Pay, the Galaxy smartphone manufacturer’s mobile payment and digital wallet service, as head of its publishing platform.
Ko was head of business and strategy for Epic Games Inc. known for an online game and game platform Fortnite before joining Krafton.
TOP PUBLISHER IN INDIA
Krafton tapped those executives with various overseas businesses to become the top game publisher in India, the world’s most populous country, industry sources in Seoul said.
The company plans to introduce at least six titles this year in the country where PUBG made a huge success.
Krafton, which generated 94% of its sales of 665.9 billion won ($483.8 million) in overseas markets, is strengthening the competitiveness of its global publishing business.
Krafton has secured IP for nine games this year for equity investments, after obtaining those for 10 titles in 2023, seven in 2022 and two in 2021. It invested in UK game studio Red Rover Interactive and US developer C77 Entertainment Inc.
Game companies can diversify their profit sources with the publishing business as it allows them to offset potential weaknesses in sales of titles they developed.
Krafton’s crosstown rivals joined the move.
NCSOFT Corp. last month invested 4.8 billion won in Swedish Moon Rover Games and 37 billion won in smaller South Korean game developer Vic Game Studios on Monday.
Com2us Corp. launched BTS Cooking On: TinyTan Restaurant, a cooking simulation game featuring K-pop sensation BTS developed by Grampus.
By Ju-Hyun Lee
deep@hankyung.com
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.
