NEXON 斥资 250B Won 押注自主游戏独角兽

As a funding chill persists for early-stage game studios, private companies and the government have joined forces to raise 250 billion won in a bid to find a way out of the slump.

The goal is to rebuild the foundation of South Korea's game industry by providing continuous funding from early discovery through to later-stage growth. Details were announced on NexonTag.

In August, NEXON, its subsidiary Nexon Partners, and venture capital firm Kona Venture Partners announced a large-scale, long-term investment program in partnership with the Fund of Funds under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Under this plan, Kona Venture Partners and Nexon Partners formed the 120 billion won Kona Global IP Fund, which includes 60 billion won from the Fund of Funds' IP account. NEXON is adding another 130 billion won separately.

■ Two-Stage Model Bridges Development and Funding Gap

At the root of the recent funding crunch for game startups is the industry's production structure. Most IT apps can launch quickly after an initial investment and prove user numbers or revenue to attract follow-on funding.

Games, by contrast, require a long development period and heavy additional costs before official release, even after reaching Series A. Because studios need sustained capital before any commercial metrics can be proven, generalist investors looking for quick returns have increasingly shied away from the sector.

"Generalist investors hesitate to enter the game sector because it requires long-term follow-on funding before commercial results appear," said Ryu Tai-young, Managing Director at Kona Venture Partners. When capital dries up, developers stick to safe, proven formulas, leading to homogeneous content and weaker national competitiveness.

To close this structural gap, the public-private program split the investment into two stages. Kona Venture Partners, a game-focused VC, handles early-stage discovery and screening. It objectively evaluates the founding team's capabilities, technical strength, and the originality of its game concepts to make initial investments. Once a project gains traction, NEXON steps in directly with follow-on capital for scale-up.

NEXON stepped back from initial screening to safeguard the independence and fairness of the market, dispelling concerns that a major publisher might try to absorb promising talent and studios into its own subcontracting network or a particular ecosystem. The goal is an environment where projects are judged solely on market viability and potential, with policy funds serving as a catalyst and private capital driving follow-on growth.

■ Game Industry Eyes "AI-Native Design" as AI Era Arrives

Backers of the program view today's market downturn as an ideal opportunity to secure next-generation growth drivers. In particular, analysts see advances in AI as an inflection point for the industry on par with the rise of mobile platforms in the early 2010s.

"Rather than simply layering technology on top of existing games, it is crucial to put AI at the core from the planning stage when designing new gameplay experiences," said Kim Han-joon, Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of Nexon HQ.

AI boosts efficiency across production and live service—including art assets, programming, quality assurance (QA), and marketing—allowing small teams to deliver large-scale projects. It can also create new forms of gameplay, such as game worlds that adapt in real time to player actions or in-depth interaction with AI characters.

Accordingly, the fund will target three main areas. First, it will focus on finding original intellectual property (IP) that can create long-term value across generations in global markets, much like Nintendo's flagship franchises, rather than chasing short-term trends.

Second, it targets businesses that scale step by step, running live service alongside development and guided by user-acquisition (UA) data, a standard in the global mobile market.

Third, the fund is also open to tech-driven companies that use emerging technologies such as AI to overhaul existing production pipelines or deliver new gameplay experiences.

■ Beyond Publisher Dependence: Nurturing Self-Reliant Companies

This project sets itself apart from traditional strategic investments that are contingent on securing distribution channels for the parent company. Because global distribution platforms now let small studios reach overseas players directly, funding is not conditional on publishing through NEXON.

Instead, developers are granted autonomy to grow along their own path, with NEXON providing business support only when needed during global expansion.

As a result, investment evaluations look beyond the quality of individual projects to focus on managerial capability and self-reliance as an independent business. With AI coding tools lowering development barriers, a founder's background is no longer a constraint. Key evaluation criteria now center on initiative in opening up markets and adaptable business sense.

Ryu advised, "Developers should guard against becoming so absorbed in development that they miss market trends, or complacently assuming that a good game will automatically secure follow-on funding and distribution deals. A flexible strategy that prepares multiple contingency plans—a Plan B and Plan C—throughout production and operations is essential."

Kim likewise stressed that the investment is in game companies themselves—those capable of growing into unicorns over the long term—rather than individual game titles. Beyond generating financial returns and finding new IP suited for the AI era, the ultimate goal of this public-private partnership is to restore capital circulation in South Korea's sluggish game investment market and rebuild an ecosystem where innovative startups continue to emerge.

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