Aju Press - Asia News Hub

Journalist

Kim Dong-young김동영

ReporterSamsung Biologics, CJ CheilJedang, LG Chem, Celltrion, Naver, Krafton, Nexon, Hyundai Mobis etc. & energy, game, food, bio, petrochemical, AI

Kim Dong-young is a bilingual journalist at AJU Press (AJP), covering Korean tech, energy, and bio/pharma.
He reports from the field at events like CES and APEC, runs AJP's YouTube channels,
and is pursuing a master's at Sogang's MOT program. "I try everything in this AI era that can improve yet preserve the facts. Journalism still serves as my core."

Latest by Kim Dong-young

South Korea takes state-led route in AI race as latecomer SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - America's biggest technology companies are preparing to pour roughly $725 billion into artificial intelligence infrastructure this year. South Korea cannot come close to matching that private-sector firepower. So Seoul is reaching for something Silicon Valley does not need nearly as much — the state balance sheet. The government's 2027 budget bill submitted to the National Assembly on Sept. 3 lifts spending on AI and three linked mega-projects by 97.2 percent to 21.3 trillion won ($15.8 billion), equivalent to about 2.6 percent of total government expenditure of 820.9 trillion won. Their share was about 1.5 percent this year. Gartner forecasts worldwide AI spending will reach $2.59 trillion in 2026, up 47 percent from a year earlier. The four biggest U.S. hyperscalers — Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Meta — alone plan around $725 billion in capital expenditure this year, up 77 percent from 2025, according to Value Add VC's tracker. Korea's wager is different. Private AI investment in the country came to a paltry $1.78 billion in 2025, compared with $285.9 billion in the United States, according to Stanford University's 2026 AI Index. Still, Korea ranked first globally in AI patents per 100,000 people, at 14.31, and third in notable AI models released. The mismatch points to the problem Seoul is trying to solve through state-led investment. Korea has technological capability, but the pools of private capital needed to scale it remain far smaller than in the United States. The treasury is moving to fill part of that gap. The 2027 money goes beyond R&D. It includes another 10,000 high-end graphics processing units, 3.1 trillion won for physical AI and roughly 2,000 domestically produced robots to be deployed in defense, policing, firefighting, care services and agriculture. Korea has reason to believe the factory floor could be its strongest AI battlefield. It already has the world's highest industrial robot density, with 1,220 robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers, according to the International Federation of Robotics. Singapore is second at 818, while Germany and Japan have 449 and 446, respectively. If Korea cannot match the United States in software capital or China in industrial scale, Seoul is betting that it can compete where AI meets manufacturing. China illustrates the size of the challenge. It installed 295,000 industrial robots in 2024, accounting for 54 percent of all installations worldwide, and operates roughly 2 million robots, according to the IFR. South Korea is therefore trying to combine its semiconductor and automation strengths with a government-financed AI layer. AI colleges will expand from KAIST to all four national science and technology institutes, alongside new industry-linked graduate programs. The science ministry's budget rises 24.5 percent to a record 29.6 trillion won next year. Deputy Prime Minister and Science Minister Bae Kyung-hoon, who oversees 9.4 trillion won of the ministry's budget, has framed physical AI as an export strategy. Korea will "export the Republic of Korea's factories to the world" on a homegrown physical AI platform, he told a fiscal strategy meeting at the presidential compound in June. The budget push sits inside a much larger corporate investment drive unveiled by President Lee Jae Myung that month. Samsung Electronics, SK hynix and suppliers plan about 800 trillion won in new semiconductor investment, including fabrication plants in southwestern Korea, while SK Group, GS Group and Naver are backing an initial 550 trillion won buildout of AI data centers. Those sums are corporate investment rather than direct government expenditure. Seoul is seeking to accelerate them through infrastructure, policy support and public investment. "We must secure the core elements of AI faster than any other country," Lee said in announcing the three mega-project strategy. Nvidia is another part of the buildout. Chief Executive Jensen Huang said his company had agreed to supply 260,000 GPUs to the Korean government and four conglomerates, describing Korea as "the only government that has directly purchased AI chips for national R&D." The supply would push Korea's chip stock above 300,000 units from about 65,000 and feed new computing infrastructure, including a 2.41 trillion won national computing center in Haenam that broke ground in August. The model stands in sharp contrast to the United States. Washington's AI leadership has largely been financed by corporations and venture capital, with federal spending concentrated on research, procurement and strategic programs rather than attempting to replicate hyperscaler investment. Japan has taken a more interventionist approach, setting aside about 1.23 trillion yen ($8 billion) for advanced chips and AI this fiscal year, while India's five-year IndiaAI Mission totals 103.72 billion rupees ($1.09 billion). China offers the closer parallel, having long used government guidance funds and industrial policy to direct capital toward semiconductors, AI and other strategic technologies. Seoul is also extending its strategy beyond chips and robots. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Wednesday presented a "K-AI City" strategy in Busan that would apply AI to building permits, municipal control rooms and other urban functions. Wonju, Cheonan-Asan, Saemangeum and Gwangju have been selected as pilot areas. Land Minister Kim Yun-duk said the program would be judged by whether it made everyday life safer rather than by the sophistication of the technology itself, promising "a people-centered AI city, where technology is not the goal itself." Money, however, may not remain Korea's biggest constraint. Electricity is emerging as another. The semiconductor factories and AI data centers planned across the country could require an additional 25 to 30 gigawatts of power, roughly equivalent to the output of 20 nuclear reactors, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing government estimates. Nuclear power currently supplies nearly a third of Korea's electricity. The initial AI data-center plan alone calls for about 8.4 GW of capacity, backed by SK, GS and Naver, with another 10 GW envisaged by 2035. Korea may therefore find that financing GPUs and factories is easier than supplying them with enough electricity. There is also a fiscal vulnerability built into Seoul's strategy. National tax revenue is forecast to jump 49.8 percent next year, with the semiconductor upcycle creating much of the fiscal room for the government's spending expansion. The global AI boom is generating extraordinary profits and tax receipts from Korea's memory-chip industry. Seoul is recycling part of that windfall into an attempt to build a broader domestic AI industry. A reversal in the memory cycle would weaken both sides of the equation at once. For now, the government is treating the race as one Korea cannot afford to sit out. Ha Jung-woo, standing vice chair of the Presidential Council on National AI Strategy since Aug. 31, described it Tuesday as "an all-out national contest that decides industry, security and growth." Unlike the United States, where companies are financing most of that contest, Korea is making the government one of its biggest early investors. AJP Takeaways - Korea nearly doubles 2027 spending on AI and three linked mega-projects to 21.3 trillion won. - Private AI investment remains a fraction of U.S. levels despite Korea's strength in patents and notable AI models. - Seoul is betting heavily on physical AI, building on the world's highest industrial robot density. - Electricity demand and reliance on the semiconductor upcycle pose longer-term risks to the state-led strategy. 2026-09-09 15:59:35
Smilegate divorce may top Chey's as Korea's costliest at $1.79 bln SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - A Seoul court ordered Smilegate founder Kwon Hyuk-bin to pay his estranged wife roughly 2.4 trillion won ($1.79 billion) in stock, the largest divorce settlement in South Korean history. The Seoul Family Court granted the divorce petition filed by the wife, surnamed Lee, and ordered that the award be paid in shares rather than cash. "The marriage has broken down to a point beyond repair," the court said, adding that both spouses bore equal responsibility for the collapse. On that basis it granted the divorce but dismissed Lee's claim for consolation money and instead arranged for her to a direct stake in the privately held firm behind hit titles such as "Lost Ark" and "Epic Seven." The ruling caps a legal fight that began in November 2022, when Lee sued Kwon roughly two years after the couple separated, accusing him of neglecting the family. She had sought half of his holdings, arguing that she once held a 30 percent founding stake and served as a registered director while shouldering more than two decades of domestic work. The court valued Kwon's Smilegate shares at about 7.1 trillion won and set the division at 35 percent. Kwon, who denied any fault and opposed the divorce, contended that Lee never invested in or worked for the company and could not be considered a co-founder. The award eclipses the 944 billion won granted in July to Roh Soh-yeong in her divorce from SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, itself the country's largest at the time. The dispute remains before the Supreme Court on appeal over how the sum should be paid. Born in 1974, Kwon graduated from Sogang University with a degree in electronic engineering, married Lee in 2001 and founded Smilegate the following year. He became chairman of the affiliated Heemang Studio foundation in 2012 and took the title of chief visionary officer in 2020, the year the couple began living apart. AJP Takeaways - A Seoul court ordered Smilegate founder Kwon Hyuk-bin to hand about 2.4 trillion won ($1.8 billion) in company stock to his estranged wife, the largest divorce settlement in South Korean history. - The court ordered payment in Smilegate shares rather than cash, an unusual remedy that would give Lee a direct stake, though the two sides were found equally at fault and her claim for consolation money was dismissed. - The judgment is a first-instance ruling and could be appealed, as Kwon disputes that Lee qualifies as a co-founder. 2026-09-09 15:10:16
Korea picks 32 startups for cross-ministry finals SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - South Korea's startup ministry named 32 early-stage companies to advance to the cross-ministry finals of its flagship entrepreneurship contest. The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced Tuesday that 32 firms emerged from its two preliminary leagues, 10 from the artificial intelligence league and 22 from the innovation startup league. The firms were drawn from about 344 and 630 applicants respectively. This year nine ministries including the science and education ministries, each run a specialized league while funneling their top performers into a combined final field of 130 teams. An AI firm called Intellicia, which offers market-research solutions built on synthetic data generated to spare clients the time and cost of conventional surveys, won the AI league. Finalists gather for a kickoff event on Sept. 22, after which 20 teams will reach a grand championship offering up to 500 million won and preferential treatment in follow-up support programs. "We will create many opportunities and offer active support so that these early-stage founders keep pushing ahead with innovation and bold challenges," said Mok Seung-hwan, head of the ministry's startup and venture innovation office. The program runs under the same ministry that oversaw Startup for All, the separate tournament-style audition that drew a record 62,944 applicants earlier this year before the exposure of 5,000 finalists' personal data triggered a public apology. AJP Takeaways - Seoul's marquee startup contest returns with a tighter, nine-ministry structure after this summer's data-leak fallout, signaling the government wants continuity without another trust crisis. - The winners point to where Korean early-stage capital is flowing: synthetic-data market research and semiconductor-process safety, both AI-adjacent industrial plays. - With nine ministries now funneling talent into one final and up to 500 million won on the line, the contest has become the government's single largest gateway for early-stage founders. 2026-09-09 14:11:31
'Dave the Diver' tops 10 million in a Korean first SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - South Korean studio Mintrocket said that its diving-and-sushi adventure "Dave the Diver" has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, the first domestic single-player packaged game to cross that mark. The milestone announced Tuesday comes as Korean developers, long dominant in free-to-play online titles, increasingly bet on premium single-purchase games for console and PC. "Dave the Diver," released in full in mid-2023, casts players as a diver who harvests marine life by day and runs a sushi restaurant by night, blending exploration, collection and management. Sales have kept climbing three years after launch on the strength of new content, platform expansion and outside collaborations, Mintrocket said, evidence that the title has matured into a durable franchise rather than a one-off hit. The game debuted on PC before reaching PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and Xbox, and a mobile version launches globally on Apple's App Store and Google Play on Sept. 17. The "In the Jungle" downloadable content released in June sold about 1 million copies in roughly two months, while cameo appearances in "Fortnite" and franchise collaborations with China's KFC and Sushiro have widened the game's reach. The success arrives amid a broader shift that has drawn government notice, following Pearl Abyss's "Crimson Desert," which sold 5 million copies within 26 days of its March release, and earlier console breakthroughs from Neowiz's "Lies of P" and Shift Up's "Stellar Blade." Nexon, Mintrocket's parent, has separately leaned into single-player development with titles including "The First Berserker: Khazan." AJP Takeaways - Mintrocket, a Nexon studio, said on Sept. 8, 2026, that "Dave the Diver" has sold more than 10 million copies worldwide, the first South Korean single-player packaged game to reach that level. - The game's "In the Jungle" expansion sold about 1 million copies in roughly two months after its June 2026 release, and a global mobile version arrives Sept. 17, 2026. - The milestone reinforces a Korean industry pivot toward premium console and PC games, alongside Pearl Abyss's "Crimson Desert," which sold 5 million copies within 26 days of its March 2026 launch. 2026-09-09 10:47:04
Ransomware gangs turn on each other, Group-IB says SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - Rival ransomware crews are increasingly fighting among themselves, weaponizing supply chains and enlisting artificial intelligence, in a shift South Korea felt early when one breach exposed dozens of its banks. Ransomware groups logged 2,393 attacks on their public leak sites in the first quarter, up 4.5 percent from the previous quarter, across 79 active groups, according to Group-IB's 2026 ransomware ecosystem report released Tuesday. The structure that once organized the trade is breaking down. A handful of large ransomware as a service operations used to recruit affiliates and split the proceeds, but affiliates skimming funds and operators refusing to pay have eroded trust in the criminal underground. The report said that it led to pushing more attackers to work alone and sharpening competition. Korea has already lived that scenario. The threat has already surfaced in Korea. Ransomware reports to the Korea Internet & Security Agency jumped to 192 in the second half of 2025 from 82 in the first half, and the January attack on conglomerate Kyowon Group crippled about 600 of its 800 servers and exposed as many as 9.6 million user accounts. AI is deepening the threat across the attack chain, Group-IB said, citing its use to help build the payload behind the group known as The Gentlemen and to set ransom demands based on victims' cyber insurance coverage. The firm urged companies to watch underground markets for stolen access before intrusions begin and to fold contractors and service providers into their security reviews. AJP Takeaways - Group-IB's 2026 ransomware ecosystem report, released Sept. 9, 2026, counted 2,393 attacks posted to leak sites by 79 active groups in the first quarter, up 4.5 percent from the previous quarter, as criminal operators fragmented into competing independent crews. - Ransomware reports to the Korea Internet & Security Agency rose to 192 in the second half of 2025 from 82 in the first half. - Attackers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to develop malware and calibrate ransom demands, prompting Group-IB to urge firms to monitor underground access markets and extend security assessments to contractors and service providers. 2026-09-09 10:22:26
Public Home Shopping faces origin-fraud probe over seafood sales SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - State-run Public Home Shopping is under investigation over suspicions that it sold about 9,935 packages of skate and flatfish labeled as domestic but believed to be foreign-caught, earning roughly 284 million won ($211,923). The Gunsan Coast Guard in North Jeolla Province searched the shopping network's offices on May to examine suspected country-of-origin violations, after notifying the company of the concern in late February and questioning officials in March. The materials were released Tuesday by Rep. Choi Soo-jin of the opposition People Power Party. The seasoned skate aired in September last year and January this year, selling 7,331 packages for 182 million won. The dressed flatfish moved 2,604 packages across broadcasts in February last year and January, bringing in 102 million won. Both products carried domestic-origin labels. Investigators have largely built their case and plan to refer it to prosecutors this month, Choi said. "That Public Home Shopping sells tainted food every year is an act that deceives the public, who trust a public institution and buy its goods," she said, urging a sweeping overhaul of the company's pre-sale screening. Public Home Shopping rejected the account, saying the products' origin has not been determined and that a supplier is suspected of passing off foreign goods as domestic. "The investigation is ongoing, and it has not been confirmed whether the products are foreign or domestic," the company said, adding it is cooperating with authorities as a victim and vets all merchandise before sale. The company, under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, has issued six product recalls totaling about 2.35 billion won since 2020, covering cases from sesame oil mislabeling to inadequately sterilized broth. AJP Takeaways - Public Home Shopping, the state-run network under South Korea's Ministry of SMEs and Startups, is under Coast Guard investigation over suspicions that skate and flatfish sold as domestic were actually foreign-caught, following a raid on May 27, 2026. - The products in question moved about 9,935 packages for roughly 284 million won ($211,923) across broadcasts between February 2024 and January 2026, with investigators planning to refer the case to prosecutors in September 2026. - Public Home Shopping denies deceiving customers, saying origin has not been confirmed and that a supplier is the suspected party, while lawmaker Choi Soo-jin cites six prior recalls worth 2.35 billion won since 2020 as evidence of repeated screening failures. 2026-09-09 09:57:35
Naver courts France in widening global AI push SEOUL, September 09 (AJP) - Naver proposed that French companies join it in building artificial intelligence computing complexes for the European market, widening a drive that has carried South Korea's largest internet firm into India and Saudi Arabia this year. Chief Executive Choi Soo-yeon made the pitch at a Korea-France business roundtable in Paris Monday (local time), held during President Lee Jae Myung's state visit. "We want to combine France's stable energy base and Naver's experience in the AI ecosystem to build an AI factory that European companies and startups can use," she said. Naver unveiled the project, which it calls an AI factory, with Nvidia Corp. in June. Brookfield Asset Management will commit up to $9 billion through a special purpose vehicle for a first 200-megawatt phase, and Nvidia has taken a $1 billion equity stake in Naver. Choi told the roundtable that Naver would help French firms and institutions build industry specific systems, citing BOKI, a finance model developed with the Bank of Korea. The company also pitched Hy-NuRI, a reactor model built with Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power that runs cut off from outside networks. Naver separately signed a memorandum of understanding with France's National Audiovisual Institute to apply its AI to the institute's audiovisual archives. The company invested in Mistral AI in 2024 and operates Naver Labs Europe, a research center in Grenoble. Naver signed a memorandum of understanding with Tata Consultancy Services in New Delhi on April 20 to explore AI, cloud and consumer service business in India. Naver Cloud's Saudi joint venture, Naver Innovation, signed further agreements at the LEAP 2026 technology show that ran in Riyadh through Sept. 3. Naver Webtoon has drawn more than 2 million readers in France with over 70 original titles, the company said. Choi presented a $100 million intellectual property adaptation fund at the Lumiere Summit in Saint Paul de Vence on Sept. 7. AJP Takeaways - Naver proposed on Sept. 8, 2026, that French companies jointly build AI computing complexes in Europe, speaking at a Korea-France business roundtable in Paris held during President Lee Jae Myung's state visit to France. - Naver's AI factory project, announced with Nvidia in June 2026, covers a first 200-megawatt phase backed by up to $9 billion arranged by Brookfield Asset Management and a $1 billion equity investment from Nvidia. - Naver signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with Tata Consultancy Services in New Delhi on April 20, 2026, and its Saudi joint venture Naver Innovation exchanged eight agreements at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh in early September 2026. 2026-09-09 09:37:05
Samsung Biologics, union to bargain under mediators' watch SEOUL, September 08 (AJP) - Samsung Biologics and its labor union agreed to hold further bargaining under the watch of state mediators, carrying a wage dispute at the South Korean contract drug manufacturer into a second mediation session on Sept. 15. The two sides are to read through their collective agreement clause once more, with management tabling a proposal and giving reasons for any demand it rejects, the union said in a statement on Tuesday. The announcement comes right after the first post-mediation session at the Incheon Regional Labor Relations Commission. "Post-mediation has no particular limit on the number of sessions, so it does not look likely to wrap up today," the union said ahead of the meeting. The next session is set for 2 p.m. on Sept. 15. Talks first collapsed on March 23, prompting a partial walkout in late April and a full strike from May 1 to 5, the first in the company's history. The union has since refused overtime and holiday shifts. The revised Trade Union Act took effect on March 10, curbing company damage claims against striking workers and widening the grounds on which unions may lawfully press a dispute. AJP Takeaways - Samsung Biologics and its labor union agreed on Sept. 8, 2026, to hold additional bargaining sessions observed by mediators at the Incheon Regional Labor Relations Commission, with a second post-mediation session scheduled for Sept. 15, 2026. - The dispute over pay and personnel rules escalated after mediation collapsed on March 23, 2026, producing a partial strike in late April and the company's first full walkout from May 1 to 5, 2026, followed by a work-to-rule campaign refusing overtime and holiday shifts. - Samsung Electronics unions called off an 18-day strike on May 20, 2026, after post-mediation at the National Labor Relations Commission, while South Korea's revised Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act, the Yellow Envelope Act, took effect on March 10, 2026, limiting damage claims against strikers. 2026-09-08 17:11:19
Korea's AI committee pledges results as budget nearly doubles SEOUL, September 08 (AJP) - South Korea's presidential artificial intelligence committee marked its first anniversary with a pledge to turn a year of policy blueprints into gains that businesses and households can feel, a week after the government proposed nearly doubling AI spending. "Global AI competition is spreading beyond technology development into an all-out national contest that decides industry, security and growth," said Ha Jung-woo, standing vice chair of the Presidential Council on National AI Strategy Committee, at a keynote at Seoul Square on Tuesday. Korea has the potential to build a full-stack AI ecosystem on its technology, infrastructure and manufacturing strengths, he told around 150 officials. "If the past year was the time to lay the groundwork, now is the time to build a bigger leap on that base," Ha said, adding that the committee's second term would focus on clearing obstacles in the field. Ha took the post on Aug. 31, three months after losing a National Assembly by-election in Busan's Buk-gu A district to independent Han Dong-hoon by 1.7 percentage points. He had quit in April as President Lee Jae Myung's first senior secretary for AI to run, and Lee returned him to a seat left empty since May. The 2027 budget bill sent to the National Assembly last week earmarks 21.3 trillion won ($15.8 billion) for AI and three mega-projects spanning semiconductors, physical AI and data centers, up 97.2 percent from this year's 10.8 trillion won. The AI Basic Act, Asia's first comprehensive AI law, took effect on Jan. 22, and the committee in February approved a national action plan of 99 tasks. The Science Ministry has since narrowed its sovereign model contest to LG AI Research, SK Telecom and Upstage. The government broke ground on August on a 2.41 trillion won national AI computing center in Haenam, which is to secure 15,000 GPUs by 2028. The 260,000-chip national build-out announced at last October's APEC summit runs on Nvidia hardware. AJP Takeaways - South Korea's Presidential Council on National AI Strategy Committee marked its first anniversary on Sept. 8, 2026, with standing Vice Chair Ha Jung-woo pledging to move the presidential body from strategy-setting to execution. - The 2027 budget bill submitted to the National Assembly on Sept. 3, 2026, allocates 21.3 trillion won to AI and three mega-projects covering semiconductors, physical AI and AI data centers, up 97.2 percent from 10.8 trillion won in 2026. - Ha Jung-woo took the post on Aug. 31, 2026, after losing the June 3, 2026, National Assembly by-election in Busan's Buk-gu A district to independent Han Dong-hoon by 1.7 percentage points, having resigned as President Lee Jae Myung's senior secretary for AI future planning in April 2026. 2026-09-08 16:03:19
Will Korea's most-loved game StarCraft become a K-game? SEOUL, September 08 (AJP) - South Korean game publisher Nexon is moving to bring the iconic StarCraft franchise under its arm through a licensing deal with Blizzard Entertainment, aiming to roll out the first new mainline installment of the battle game loved for nearly three decades in 16 years. The Chosun Ilbo reported that the deal was "on the verge of being finalized," after which Nexon would hold development rights to a successor to the existing series. "We can't say anything at all about anything related to StarCraft," a Nexon spokesperson said when asked about the report. The California-based Blizzard has not commented publicly. Yet Blizzard's official StarCraft website has begun behaving strangely. Text reading "Transmission Failure!" flickered across the site, background art distorted and the screen turned red as if sending a hidden message to its global fan base. The kind of malfunction that arrives suspiciously close to BlizzCon, which opens Sept. 12. Fans pulled the site apart. A Reddit user posting as beyond1sgrasp dug eight hidden messages out of the developer console, and the community decoded them within hours. They read like the opening reel of a horror film: a Terran unit called Theta Squadron is en route to the Roxara Lunar Mining Complex, carrying cargo described as pivotal to research. One message is dated Aug. 8, 2575, roughly 70 years after the events of StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void, the latest major installment in the series apart from the remastered original. Roxara is not new. The moon appears in older StarCraft lore tied to Dominion bioweapon experiments and StarCraft: Ghost, the shooter whose development effectively ground to a halt in 2006. And the clues all seem to point toward BlizzCon at the Anaheim Convention Center. The published main-stage schedule leaves a conspicuous one-hour gap between the first World of Warcraft panel and the Diablo developer update, giving fans another opening for speculation over a possible StarCraft announcement. Blizzard has reportedly also been incubating a StarCraft shooter under Dan Hay, the Ubisoft veteran who previously ran the Far Cry franchise before joining Blizzard as a vice president. In April, Blizzard posted a job opening for a design director for an unannounced AAA open-world shooter being built in Unreal Engine, a notable departure for a studio known for developing much of its technology in-house. For Nexon, a deeper Blizzard partnership would not come out of nowhere. The two companies have already tested the commercial logic through Overwatch. Nexon signed a Korean PC publishing agreement with Blizzard in March and took over the Korean PC service on Aug. 12, handling localized services and live operations while Blizzard retains the intellectual property and leads development. Walter Kong, Blizzard's senior vice president and head of development for live games and mobile, said at a news conference in Busan on Aug. 23 that the groundwork for the partnership had been laid as far back as 2022. Nexon scored highly against Blizzard's checklist for live-service operating experience, genre expertise and familiarity with Korean players, he said. "The whole goal of this partnership is to get closer to our fans," said Ben Bell, executive producer and senior vice president for Overwatch. Nexon's reach among Korean PC players, he said, lets Blizzard listen more closely to what would make the game better in the region. Media reports have suggested since April 2025 that Nexon emerged as the preferred bidder for StarCraft rights after competing with Krafton, Netmarble and NC. Founded in South Korea by Kim Jung-ju in 1994, Nexon moved its headquarters to Tokyo in 2005 and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2011. Its main development and operating base remains deeply rooted in South Korea. Korea is also where StarCraft never really died. StarCraft arrived in 1998 alongside the country's broadband boom, filled its PC bangs and helped turn competitive gaming into a professional occupation years before esports became a global industry. After StarCraft: Remastered, Blizzard gave the Korean server its own warning. "The Land of the Calm Dawn has mastered the art of war, and emerged as home to the most renowned StarCraft players on Earth. Do not arrive idle to this melee." Korean players often describe StarCraft as a folk game — one that has survived long enough to be played across generations, from older players who discovered it in the late 1990s to their children and younger relatives. "It’s just one of those games you can play together with your nephews or relatives on national holidays like Chuseok," said Kim Jong-chul, a 55-year-old businessman. "Plus, the computer requirements are quite low, so any kind of computer or laptop can run it. Gather round any computers on a holiday, and you’re set." That audience is Nexon's biggest asset if it gets StarCraft. It is also the risk. Nexon has taken on major outside franchises before without always turning them into lasting successes. Its planned mobile adaptation of Final Fantasy XI, announced with Square Enix in 2015, was ultimately cancelled. Blizzard itself has an even longer history of struggling to expand StarCraft beyond its real-time strategy roots, cancelling or shelving at least two shooter projects. A new StarCraft therefore would arrive carrying more than the expectations normally attached to a sequel. For Korean players who have kept the original alive for nearly three decades, whoever takes control of StarCraft's next chapter would inherit not merely a valuable game license, but one of the country's most enduring pieces of gaming culture. AJP Takeaways - Nexon is nearing a licensing deal with Blizzard Entertainment for development rights to a new StarCraft title, the Chosun Ilbo reported on Sept. 2, citing a senior games industry official. Blizzard and parent Microsoft would retain ownership of the intellectual property. - Blizzard's official StarCraft website began displaying deliberate glitch effects, and fans decoded eight hidden lore messages set in the year 2575, nine days before BlizzCon 2026 opens in Anaheim, California, on Sept. 12. - Nexon took over Korean PC publishing of Blizzard's Overwatch on Aug. 12 under a March 29 agreement, and was named preferred bidder for StarCraft rights over Krafton, Netmarble and NCSoft in 2025. - A Nexon spokesperson declined to discuss anything related to StarCraft when asked about the report, and Blizzard has not commented publicly. No title, genre, platform or release window has been announced. 2026-09-08 14:41:41