SEOUL, June 26 (AJP) - Employees at Neople, a key subsidiary of gaming giant Nexon and the developer of the popular Dungeon & Fighter franchise, have begun a strike, marking the nation’s first labor walkout in the gaming sector.
The strike, which began on Wednesday, June 25, involves unionized workers from Neople’s Seoul office, who stopped reporting to work immediately. Employees at the company’s Jeju headquarters are joining on a staggered schedule — June 26, 27, and 30 — as part of a phased escalation.
At the heart of the dispute is the company’s decision to significantly reduce its “GI” bonus, a performance-based incentive historically tied to the success of new game launches.
The labor union contends that Neople cut this bonus without worker consultation, despite reporting a record 1.3783 trillion won (about $990 million) in revenue in 2024. Much of that revenue came from the strong performance of Dungeon & Fighter Mobile in China.
Under longstanding practice, GI bonuses were calculated based on two years of post-launch performance. However, the most recent bonus was roughly two-thirds of the typical payout, prompting the union to demand the reinstatement of full bonuses and greater transparency.
Specifically, workers are asking for a profit-sharing bonus equal to 4 percent of Neople’s 2023 operating profit — approximately 39.3 billion won — to be equitably distributed among employees.
The strike follows weeks of stalled dialogue between the union and management. Initially, workers pursued a legal protest in order to avoid disrupting live game operations. But after receiving no formal response from company leadership, the union moved forward with a full-scale walkout.
Neople was reported to have offered the highest average annual salary in the Korean game industry last year, at 220 million won (about $158,000). But the union pushed back on that figure, noting that many workers have base salaries closer to 60 million won, and that the company’s headline figures were inflated by irregular bonuses awarded to a small segment of staff.
In a statement, Neople said the bonus adjustments were a one-time decision reflecting delays in overseas game launches.
The company emphasized that Dungeon & Fighter Mobile was the only Nexon title to qualify for the GI bonus in 2024, and that total performance-based pay amounted to 15 percent of its operating profit.
Neople also cited its proposal during this year’s wage negotiations of a one-time “spot bonus” of up to 33 million won per employee, which the union ultimately rejected.
Union representatives said the offer failed to address what they described as deeper, structural issues surrounding compensation equity and workload distribution.
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