Netmarble Corporation
Native name
넷마블 주식회사
TypePublic
KRX: 251270
IndustryMobile game
Web game
FoundedMarch 1, 2000 (2000-03-01)
FounderBang Jun-hyuk
HeadquartersGuro District, Seoul, South Korea
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Park Sean (CEO)[1]
ProductsOnline games
Increase KRW 294 billion (2016)[2]
Increase KRW 209 billion (2016)[2]
Total assetsIncrease KRW 1,957 billion (2016)[2]
Total equityIncrease KRW 1,310 billion (2016)[2]
Owner
Number of employees
3,000 non-consolidated in Korea (2016)[2]
SubsidiariesHybe Corporation (19.90%)
Kabam
Kung Fu Factory
Jam City, Inc. (minority stake)
Website

Netmarble Corp. (Korean: 넷마블 주식회사) is a South Korean mobile game developer. It is South Korea's largest mobile-gaming company which was founded in 2000 by Bang Jun-hyuk.[4]

Overview

Netmarble developed Lineage 2: Revolution in 2015 and released to the public that same year. As of 2019 L2R became one of the highest-grossing mobiles in the market; exceeding 924 million dollars in 11 months since its release. Currently, Netmarble continues to update and bring new content to L2R.

Netmarble produces role-playing mobile games. As of 2015, it had more than 3,000 employees and served over 120 countries worldwide. In May 2017, Bang took the company public, raising $2.4 billion.[4]

Netmarble has developed mobile games including Seven Knights, Raven (Evilbane in the U.S.) and Everybody's Marble. It also claims a large shareholder stake in SGN, a casual game developer, and has a strategic partnership with CJ ENM.[5]

Since 2015, the company has licensed Disney-owned properties to produce games such as Marvel: Future Fight (2015),[6] Disney Magical Dice (2016),[7] and Star Wars: Force Arena (2017).[8][9][10][11]

In 2017, Netmarble acquired North American interactive entertainment company Kabam.[12]

In 2018, Netmarble named Park Sean as its new CEO. Park, the former chief strategy officer of the operator of KakaoTalk, co-headed Netmarble with incumbent chief Kwon Young-sik.[1]

In April 2018, Netmarble acquired 25.71% in Big Hit Entertainment, the agency of Korean boy group BTS and TXT, becoming its second largest shareholder.[13] As of 2021, Netmarble owns 19.31% of the Big Hit Entertainment after it changed its name to HYBE Corporation[14]

Netmarble and Disney's partnership significantly deteriorated near the end of 2018 when the former announced that it can no longer support Disney Magical Dice and Star Wars: Force Arena, and eventually shut down both games, leaving Future Fight as the only Disney-based game it supported.

In February 2021, the company acquired Los Angeles based developer Kung Fu Factory.[15]

On August 20, 2021, the company established a subsidiary label known as Metaverse Entertainment which partnered up with Kakao Entertainment to manage musical artists.[16] Five days later, Kabam released a sequel to Future Fight, titled Marvel Future Revolution, which was an ambitious online open-world superhero action RPG that ran on Unreal Engine 4, employed several notable voice actors and offered a more cinematic presentation. On January 25, 2023, the label debuted a virtual girl-group known as Mave:.[17]

As of 2021, Netmarble shareholders consisted of Bang Jun-hyuk (24.12%), CJ ENM (21.78%), Tencent (Han River Investment Pte. Ltd.) (17.52%), NCsoft Corp. (6.8%) and Others (29.78%).[18]

Following the poor performance of Future Revolution, Netmarble announced the game's shutdown in the summer of 2023.

Games

Year Title Developer Publisher Notes
2003 GunZ: The Duel MAIET Entertainment Netmarble Publisher in Korea only
Grand Chase KOG Studios Netmarble One of many publishers
2007 SD Gundam Capsule Fighter Online Softmax Netmarble
2008 Uncharted Waters Online Koei Tecmo Netmarble Publisher in North America and Europe only
Prius Online CJI Netmarble
2012 Scarlet Blade Liveplex Netmarble
District 187: Sin Streets Netmarble Netmarble
2014 Seven Knights Netmarble Nexus Netmarble
2015 Marvel: Future Fight Netmarble Monster Netmarble
2016 Lineage 2: Revolution Netmarble Neo Netmarble
2017 Star Wars: Force Arena Netmarble Monster Netmarble Shut down on January 12, 2019
Arena of Valor TiMi Studio Group Netmarble Publisher only in Korea
2018 The King of Fighters All Star Netmarble Neo Netmarble
BTS World Takeone Company Corp Netmarble
2020 Seven Knights 2 Netmarble Nexus Netmarble
Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross Netmarble F&C Netmarble
2021 Marvel Future Revolution Netmarble Monster Netmarble
2022 Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds Netmarble Neo Netmarble
2023 Paragon: The Overprime Netmarble F&C Netmarble
Game of Thrones[19] Netmarble Neo Netmarble
Tower of God: New World Netmarble Netmarble In all countries on July 27, 2023
TBA RF Project Netmarble Netmarble
Shangri-La Frontier Netmarble Nexus Netmarble

References

  1. 1 2 "Netmarble names Park Sean as new CEO". Yonhap News. February 26, 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "넷마블게임즈 주식회사 감사보고서" (in Korean). Dart. March 17, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Netmarbel Corporate Governance". Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Profile: Bang Jun-hyuk". Forbes. February 28, 2019.
  5. ↑ "넷마블 분기보고서" (in Korean). Dart. September 30, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Marvel: Future Fight launches from Netmarble". Marvel Entertainment. April 30, 2015. Archived from the original on December 26, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2017 – via Marvel.com.
  7. ↑ Jones, Elton (April 28, 2016). "Disney Magical Dice: Top 10 Tips & Cheats You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  8. ↑ Minotti, Mike (November 17, 2016). "Star Wars: Force Arena for mobile sure looks like a MOBA". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  9. ↑ Brooks, Dan (January 12, 2017). "Dream Teams: How Star Wars: Force Arena Puts You in Control of the Galaxy's Greatest". StarWars.com. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  10. ↑ Shaul, Brandy (January 12, 2017). "Netmarble Launches Star Wars: Force Arena on iOS, Android". AdWeek. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Star Wars: Force Arena". Netmarble Game. Retrieved July 26, 2017 – via StarWarsForceArena.com.
  12. ↑ "Netmarble buys Kabam's Vancouver studio". gamesindustry.biz. December 20, 2016.
  13. ↑ Herman, Tamar. "Netmarble Games Becomes Second-Largest Shareholder Of BTS's Label, BigHit Entertainment". Forbes.
  14. ↑ "HYBE Corporate Governance". hybecorp.com. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  15. ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (February 19, 2021). "Netmarble acquires Kung Fu Factory". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  16. ↑ "메타버스엔터테인먼트, 공식 회사 홈페이지 오픈" [Metaverse Entertainment opens its official company website]. Ch netmarble. November 8, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  17. ↑ Jang, Woo-young (January 11, 2023). "메이브, 4인조 완전체 비주얼 첫 공개…러블리→힙 '4色 매력'" [Mave, 4-member complete visual first released...Lovely→Hip 'Charm of 4 Colours']. Osen (in Korean). Archived from the original on January 15, 2023. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  18. ↑ "Netmarble Corporate Governance". Netmarble. August 13, 2021.
  19. ↑ "Netmarble: A New Game of Thrones Mobile MMORPG". BlueStacks. February 2, 2022. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
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