Netmarble

Netmarble

Netmarble

South Korean mobile game developer

Netmarble Corp. (Korean: 넷마블 주식회사) is a South Korean mobile game developer, which was founded in 2000 by Bang Jun-hyuk.[4]

Quick Facts Native name, Company type ...

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,[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

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References

  1. [1]
    "Netmarble names Park Sean as new CEO". Yonhap News. February 26, 2018.
  2. [2]
    "넷마블게임즈 주식회사 감사보고서" (in Korean). Dart. March 17, 2017. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
  3. [3]
    "Netmarbel Corporate Governance". Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  4. [4]
    "Profile: Bang Jun-hyuk". Forbes. February 28, 2019.
  5. [5]
    "넷마블 분기보고서" (in Korean). Dart. September 30, 2018.
  6. [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. [7]
    Jones, Elton (April 28, 2016). "Disney Magical Dice: Top 10 Tips & Cheats You Need to Know". Heavy.com. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  8. [8]
    Minotti, Mike (November 17, 2016). "Star Wars: Force Arena for mobile sure looks like a MOBA". VentureBeat. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  9. [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. [10]
    Shaul, Brandy (January 12, 2017). "Netmarble Launches Star Wars: Force Arena on iOS, Android". AdWeek. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
  11. [11]
    "Star Wars: Force Arena". Netmarble Game. Retrieved July 26, 2017 – via StarWarsForceArena.com.
  12. [12]
    "Netmarble buys Kabam's Vancouver studio". gamesindustry.biz. December 20, 2016.
  13. [13]
    Herman, Tamar. "Netmarble Games Becomes Second-Largest Shareholder Of BTS's Label, BigHit Entertainment". Forbes.
  14. [14]
    "HYBE Corporate Governance". hybecorp.com. Retrieved August 13, 2021.
  15. [15]
    Sinclair, Brendan (February 19, 2021). "Netmarble acquires Kung Fu Factory". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved May 19, 2023.
  16. [16]
    "메타버스엔터테인먼트, 공식 회사 홈페이지 오픈" [Metaverse Entertainment opens its official company website]. Ch netmarble. November 8, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  17. [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. [18]
    "Netmarble Corporate Governance". Netmarble. August 13, 2021.
  19. [19]
    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.
  20. [20]
    김주환 (January 19, 2024). "기세 꺾인 메타버스…넷마블F&C, 메타버스월드 전원 권고사직". 연합뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  21. [21]
    "Netmarble: A New Game of Thrones Mobile MMORPG". BlueStacks. February 2, 2022. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
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