Netmarble
 | |
Native name | 넷마블 주식회사 |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| KRX: 251270 | |
| Industry | Video game |
| Founded | March 1, 2000 |
| Founder | Bang Jun-hyuk |
| Headquarters | Guro District, Seoul, South Korea |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Park Sean (CEO)[1] |
| Products | Video games |
 KRW 294 billion (2016)[2] | |
| KRW 209 billion (2016)[2] | |
| Total assets | KRW 1,957 billion (2016)[2] |
| Total equity | KRW 1,310 billion (2016)[2] |
| Owner | |
Number of employees | 3,000 non-consolidated in Korea (2016)[2] |
| Subsidiaries | Kabam Kung Fu Factory Jam City, Inc. (minority stake) |
| Website | [1] |
Netmarble Corp. (Korean: 넷마블 주식회사) is a South Korean game developer and publisher, which was founded in 2000 by Bang Jun-hyuk.[4]
Overview
[edit]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,[citation needed] 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 Marvel Future Revolution, Netmarble announced in June 2023 that the game would shut down on August 25, 2023.[19] On January 19, 2024, Netmarble shut down its metaverse subsidiary, laying off 70 employees.[20]
Games
[edit]| 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 | Shut down on August, 25th 2023. |
| 2022 | Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds | Netmarble Neo | Netmarble | |
| 2023 | Paragon: The Overprime | Netmarble F&C | Netmarble | |
| Game of Thrones[21] | Netmarble Neo | Netmarble | ||
| Tower of God: New World | Netmarble | Netmarble | In all countries on July 27, 2023 | |
| 2024 | Solo Leveling: Arise | Netmarble | Netmarble | |
| TBA | RF Project | Netmarble | Netmarble | |
| Shangri-La Frontier | Netmarble Nexus | Netmarble |
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Netmarble names Park Sean as new CEO". Yonhap News. February 26, 2018.
- ^ a b c d e "넷마블게임즈 주식회사 감사보고서" (in Korean). Dart. March 17, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
- ^ a b "Profile: Bang Jun-hyuk". Forbes. February 28, 2019.
- ^ "넷마블 분기보고서" (in Korean). Dart. September 30, 2018.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Jones, Elton (April 28, 2016). "Disney Magical Dice: Top 10 Tips & Cheats You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
- ^ Minotti, Mike (November 17, 2016). "Star Wars: Force Arena for mobile sure looks like a MOBA". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Shaul, Brandy (January 12, 2017). "Netmarble Launches Star Wars: Force Arena on iOS, Android". AdWeek. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
- ^ "Star Wars: Force Arena". Netmarble Game. Retrieved July 26, 2017 – via StarWarsForceArena.com.
- ^ "Netmarble buys Kabam's Vancouver studio". gamesindustry.biz. December 20, 2016.
- ^ Herman, Tamar. "Netmarble Games Becomes Second-Largest Shareholder Of BTS's Label, BigHit Entertainment". Forbes.
- ^ "HYBE Corporate Governance". hybecorp.com. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
- ^ Sinclair, Brendan (February 19, 2021). "Netmarble acquires Kung Fu Factory". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
- ^ "메타버스엔터테인먼트, 공식 회사 홈페이지 오픈" [Metaverse Entertainment opens its official company website]. Ch netmarble. November 8, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Netmarble Corporate Governance". Netmarble. August 13, 2021.
- ^ Derrick, Connor (June 5, 2023). "Marvel Future Revolution announces it will end service and leave storefronts in the coming months". www.pocketgamer.com. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
- ^ 김, 주환 (January 19, 2024). "기세 꺾인 메타버스…넷마블F&C, 메타버스월드 전원 권고사직". Yonhap News Agency (in Korean). Retrieved March 5, 2024.
- ^ "Netmarble: A New Game of Thrones Mobile MMORPG". BlueStacks. February 2, 2022. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
External links
[edit]- Official website
- Business data for Netmarble:
