When asked, "Is 5 trillion won in sales by 2030 really achievable?" NCSoft exudes confidence [Daily IT Pick]

[The Financial News]"The company has given guidance that it will generate 5 trillion won in revenue in 2030. But when I did the math, even if NCSoft spends the maximum 1 to 2 trillion won in cash it can use for acquisitions, and even if revenue increases only by that amount, it still seems short of the target. That would mean the remaining amount has to come from growth in the company’s own businesses. Is that really possible?"This question was raised on the morning of the 12th at the 2026 NC Management Strategy Meeting held at NCSoft’s Pangyo R&D Center in Seongnam City. When co-CEO Bak Byeongmu declared goals of "2.5 trillion won in revenue this year, 5 trillion won in revenue by 2030, and a return on equity (ROE) of at least 15%," a wave of skeptical questions followed.
NCSoft’s provisional revenue for 2025 is about 1.5 trillion won. The plan to more than triple that figure in just four years, after only recently emerging from operating losses, sounds somewhat unrealistic.
Even if the company pushes mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and its new title pipeline as aggressively as possible, the question remains whether the 5 trillion won target is attainable, given that the highest annual revenue ever recorded by a South Korean game company is about 4.5 trillion won, based on last year’s provisional results from Nexon.
Bak, however, appeared brimming with confidence.
He stated, "The efficiency of M&A will be far greater than a simple 1-to-1 ratio of investment to sales, such as a price-to-sales ratio (PSR) of 1. The most conservative estimate for revenue from our existing live games is 1.5 trillion won." He added, "We are now performing well even in genres that used to be our weak spots, and we have several explosive new intellectual properties (IP) lined up through 2029, so I am confident we can hit our targets." (The quote has been lightly paraphrased for clarity due to technical terminology.)
In short, Bak argued that the efficiency of M&A will exceed market expectations, and that the company’s improved fundamentals, together with a more diversified pipeline and lineup, make the targets realistic and achievable.
He also noted, "Over the past two years, we have carried out everything we promised," and asked, "Please watch us deliver on this new commitment as well."
NCSoft then laid out its concrete growth strategy.
The three core strategies are: advancing its legacy intellectual property (IP), securing new IP, and expanding its mobile casual gaming business. Building on the position it has established in the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) genre, the company plans to strengthen existing IP such as "Lineage" and "Aion: The Tower of Eternity," while also developing new IP in a variety of genres, including shooters.
In particular, NCSoft has designated mobile casual games as a new growth engine. At present, mobile casual titles account for only a negligible share of the company’s game revenue. By 2030, NCSoft aims to develop this segment so that mobile casual games make up 30–35% of its total revenue.
Since last year, NCSoft has been actively recruiting talent and pursuing M&A in the mobile casual space.
The company has also signaled that it will soon publish a new mobile casual game based on a major IP.
Looking ahead, Bak identified three strategic priorities: boosting productivity through the use of AI, expanding in global markets, and reaching new customer segments.
NCSoft plans to move beyond its traditional focus on markets such as South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, and actively enter Europe, Western markets more broadly, Southeast Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and India.
In addition to in-house development, the company also plans to actively sign publishing agreements with external studios.
wongood@fnnews.com Joo Won-gyu Reporter