Nexon will invest 250 billion won over five years to fill the investment gap in Korea's early-stage game market and support startups. The company aims to address the structural funding gap in the domestic game ecosystem by combining large-scale private capital with the government's content industry promotion policy.
Nexon said Tuesday that it is launching a long-term investment program targeting early-stage domestic game developers. Totaling 250 billion won over the next five years, the program will invest in early-stage game developers from the seed to Series A stages.
Nexon established Nexon Partners for this project. Nexon Partners joined hands with game-focused venture capital firm Kona Venture Partners to launch a 120 billion won strategic fund, the "Kona Global IP Investment Association." The fund includes 60 billion won from the fund-of-funds under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's IP account.
This investment follows an open ecosystem model that also invests in intellectual property (IP) that Nexon does not directly publish, with the company clarifying its direction as an "investment for the entire Korean game industry." Kona Venture Partners, a game-focused VC, will boost early-stage investment through the strategic fund using fund-of-funds capital, after which Nexon will directly inject approximately 130 billion won to serve as priming capital for the investment needed for subsequent growth.
Investment targets include developers of next-generation games utilizing new technologies, as well as IP with global expansion potential. In particular, the company has boldly expanded the definition of games, leaving open the possibility of investing in a wide range of IP content such as "gamified AI."
Previously, from 2012 to 2019, Nexon operated the "Nexon & Partners Center" (NPC), which supported promising game startups with office space, legal advice, and publishing. This project inherits NPC's support philosophy but is a significantly expanded version.
"Recently, the domestic early-stage game development market has continued to see even promising developers struggle to raise funds due to weakened investment sentiment," CEO Lee Jung-hun said. "In this market situation, we will operate it as a long-term ecosystem investment program that addresses the early-stage funding gap through public-private cooperation and discovers next-generation global IP that will emerge from the AI transition period."
