"This Time, It's a Shooter"... Nexon and NCSoft Target Western Markets Side by Side [Daily IT Pick]

" Courtesy of Nexon. [Financial News] After strong results driven by successful new releases last year, Nexon and NCSoft are accelerating their push into North American and European markets with shooter games, a dominant global genre. Their strategy is to move beyond a revenue structure centered on MMORPGs focused on China and the domestic market, and instead build their position as global publishers by developing new IP tailored to Western players' tastes. According to the games industry on the 12th, Nexon and NCSoft are both launching user tests for new shooter titles this week.
Nexon will run a global closed alpha test from the 12th to the 16th for "NAKWON: LAST PARADISE," a PvPvE extraction shooter set in a zombie apocalypse world and aimed at the North American and European markets. The game is expected to be similar in genre to Nexon's previous title "ARC Raiders," which sold more than 14 million copies worldwide and became a hit, particularly in Western markets. This move is seen as a clear bid to capture the shooter genre, which now dominates the global games market.
Shooter titles regularly occupy the top ranks of the global PC platform Steam's charts. As of today, five shooter games, including Krafton's "PUBG: Battlegrounds" and ARC Raiders, are in the top 10 of Steam's most-played chart. Nexon has been stepping up its Western push, for example by appointing Patrick Söderlund, head of ARC Raiders developer Embark Studios, as the first chair of Nexon's Japan subsidiary.
Söderlund previously oversaw the "Battlefield" series, one of the foundational franchises in the shooter genre. Image from NCSoft's new title "Time Takers. " Courtesy of NCSoft.
" Courtesy of Nexon. [Financial News] After strong results driven by successful new releases last year, Nexon and NCSoft are accelerating their push into North American and European markets with shooter games, a dominant global genre. Their strategy is to move beyond a revenue structure centered on MMORPGs focused on China and the domestic market, and instead build their position as global publishers by developing new IP tailored to Western players' tastes. According to the games industry on the 12th, Nexon and NCSoft are both launching user tests for new shooter titles this week.NCSoft plans to launch Time Takers in the third or fourth quarter of this year. Its new lineup also includes "Cinder City," an open-world tactical shooter that could be released as early as this year. The company is also seeking to broaden its reach by actively leveraging major external IP with strong global recognition.
At the G-STAR 2025 international game show last year, NCSoft officially announced plans to reinterpret Sony's "Horizon" series—one of the most popular console franchises in the West—and bring it to the global market.
wongood@fnnews.com Joo Won-gyu Reporter