Krafton Inc. () is a South Korean

video game publisher A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or externally by a video game developer. They often finance the development, sometimes by paying a video game developer ...

and holding company based in

Bundang District Bundang District () is the largest and most populous district (''Administrative divisions of South Korea, gu'') of Seongnam, a major city in the Seoul Capital Area, South Korea. Bundang District is one of South Korea's wealthiest and highest devel ...

Seongnam Seongnam (; ) is the fourth largest city in South Korea's Gyeonggi Province after Suwon and the 10th largest city in the country. Its population is approximately one million. It consists of three administrative districts: Bundang District, J ...

. It was created in November 2018 to serve as the parent company for Bluehole, founded by

Chang Byung-gyu Chang Byung-gyu (; born 25 April 1973) is a South Korean business executive and investor. He is best known as the founder and chairman of Krafton, a video game publishing and holding company. Chang was the first and second chairman of South Korea ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

in March 2007, and its subsidiaries. The company has published several notable video game titles including ''

TERA Tera or TERA may refer to: People * Tera Hunter, American professor of history * Tera Patrick (born 1976) American pornographic actress * Tera people, an ethnic group in Gombe State, Nigeria Places * Téra, Niger * Tera, Paphos, Cyprus * ...

'', '' PUBG: Battlegrounds'', ''

New State Mobile ''New State Mobile'' (formerly ''PUBG: New State'') is a multiplayer online battle royale video game developed by PUBG Studios and published by Krafton. The game was released on November 11, 2021, for iOS, iPadOS and Android through the App S ...

,'' ''

The Callisto Protocol ''The Callisto Protocol'' is a 2022 survival horror game developed by Striking Distance Studios and published by Krafton. It was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on December 2, 2022. The game was ...

'', and ''

InZOI ''InZOI'' (stylized ''inZOI'') is a life simulation game developed by inZOI Studio and published by Krafton. The game was released in early access for Windows on 28 March 2025. On June 9, 2025, during Apple's WWDC 2025, Craig Federighi announce ...

''.

History

Following the success of '' PUBG: Battlegrounds'', which had led to both investment from

Tencent Holdings Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese multinational technology conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is ...

, and expansion and acquisition of studios, Bluehole opted to establish Krafton on 5 November 2018, to serve as a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

for its video game properties. "Krafton" was selected based on the names of

craft guild A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

s of the Middle Ages. Kim Chang-han, the CEO of the PUBG Corporation (current PUBG Studios) that developed ''PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'', was named as CEO for Krafton. The company announced its plans to file for an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in July 2021, filing its initial approval for listing on the

Korea Stock Exchange Korea Exchange (KRX, ) is the sole securities exchange operator in South Korea. It is headquartered in Busan, and has an office for cash markets and market oversight in Seoul. History The Korea Exchange was created through the integration of K ...

in April 2021. The firm planned to raise (US$5 billion) at a market valuation of (). The IPO was held on 10 August 2021; while its value dropped by 8.8% from the original asking price at the end of trading, it still ended with Krafton being valued at .

Subsidiaries

Bluehole has acquired several development studios since its founding. On 5 November 2018, all subsidiaries were reorganized under one parent company: Krafton Game Union.

Bluehole Studio

Bluehole Studio was founded in

in March 2007 by Chang Byung-gyu. Chang previously established

Neowiz Neowiz Holdings Corporation () is a holding company headquartered in Seongnam, South Korea. It was founded in 1997 by Sung Kyun Na and is best known for the video game developer and publisher Neowiz. History Neowiz was founded in 1997 by 8 f ...

in 1997, along seven other co-founders, moved on to found

search engine A search engine is a software system that provides hyperlinks to web pages, and other relevant information on World Wide Web, the Web in response to a user's web query, query. The user enters a query in a web browser or a mobile app, and the sea ...

developer First Snow in 2005, and sold that venture in 2006. The company announced on 22 April 2015 that they had changed their name to simply Bluehole. In August 2017, Chinese holding company

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...

announced that it had, following a rejected acquisition bid, invested an undisclosed amount of money into Bluehole. Bluehole initially denied that any investment had been made, but later stated that they were in talks with

in multiple partnerships, including the acquisition of an

equity stake In finance, equity is an ownership interest in property that may be subject to debts or other liabilities. Equity is measured for accounting purposes by subtracting liabilities from the value of the assets owned. For example, if someone owns a ...

in Bluehole by Tencent. Subsequently, Tencent acquired 1.5% of Bluehole for a total of . Tencent reaffirmed their intents to fully acquire Bluehole in November 2017. Korean magazine

The Korea Times ''The Korea Times'' () is a daily English-language newspaper in South Korea. It is a sister paper of the ''Hankook Ilbo'', a major Korean language, Korean-language daily. It is the oldest active daily English-language newspaper in South Korea. ...

suggested that an

, through which Bluehole would become a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

, was "out of question" due to Chang Byung-gyu's position as

chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of both Bluehole and the

Fourth Industrial Revolution "Fourth Industrial Revolution", "4IR", or "Industry 4.0", is a neologism describing rapid technological advancement in the 21st century. It follows the Third Industrial Revolution (the "Information Age"). The term was popularised in 2016 by K ...

committee. At the time, 38 Communications, a company that tracks unlisted Korean stocks, valued the company at . Tencent plans to invest further to acquire further 10% ownership, raising their total stake to 11.5%.

PUBG Studios

PUBG Studios (formerly Ginno Games, Bluehole Ginno Games and PUBG Corporation) is an internal studio of Bluehole's that developed one of the establishing

battle royale game A battle royale game is an online multiplayer video game genre that blends last-man-standing gameplay with the survival, exploration, and scavenging elements of a survival game. Battle royale games involve dozens to hundreds of players, who ...

s, ''

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds ''PUBG: Battlegrounds'' (previously known as ''PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds'') is a 2017 battle royale video game published by Krafton, and developed by Krafton's PUBG Studios. The game, which was inspired by the Japanese film '' Battle Ro ...

'' (''PUBG''), based on user mods in other games by

Brendan "PlayerUnknown" Greene Brendan Greene (born 29 March 1976), better known as PlayerUnknown, is an Irish video game developer. He is best known for his work on battle royale video game '' PUBG: Battlegrounds''. He left active development on the game to form PUBG Specia ...

and who was hired by PUBG Studios to develop it into a full title. Originally, Ginno Games had been founded by Kim Chang-han to develop MMOs, but around 2014, he had been forced to lay off a third of his staff as their last product had not performed well. He sold Ginno Games to Bluehole on 27 January 2015, with the sale to close on 27 March that year. At the time, Ginno Games employed 60 people. Ginno Games changed their corporate name to Bluehole Ginno Games in May 2015. Shortly after Bluehole's acquisition in 2015, Chang-han reached out to Greene to offer him support to build out his battle royale at Bluehole Ginno, which Greene accepted. ''PUBG'' was first released in

early access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release Software release life cycle, developm ...

in March 2017 as a highly popular game. Following the success of ''PUBG'' in 2017, Bluehole Ginno Games was renamed PUBG Corporation in September 2017. A second office was established in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

, in late 2017, with two further offices in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

opened later. On 12 March 2018, PUBG Corporation acquired

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

-based studio MadGlory, which was renamed PUBG MadGlory. Greene, having been based in the Seoul offices of PUBG Corporation, left that division in March 2019 to lead a new subsidiary, PUBG Special Projects, at the

office, later renamed to PUBG Productions. PUBG Productions announced their first game ''Prologue'' at

The Game Awards 2019 The Game Awards 2019 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2019. The event was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los ...

in December. Unrelated to ''Battlegrounds'', ''Prologue'' is called an exploration of gameplay and technology, and said "to give players unique and memorable experiences, each and every time they play". At the end of 2019

Tencent Games Tencent Games () is the video game publishing subdivision of Tencent Interactive Entertainment, the digital entertainment division of Tencent Holdings. It has five internal studio groups, including TiMi Studio Group. Tencent Games was founde ...

announced some big plans for PUBG in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

's upcoming future, as well as its general

eSports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

. Krafton fully merged PUBG Corporation into their internal studio system in December 2020, rebranding the team as PUBG Studios. On 9 November 2020, it was announced that Krafton will participate in '' G-Star 2020'' to introduce their upcoming multiplayer online game

Elyon Elyon or El Elyon ( ''ʼĒl ʻElyōn''), is an epithet that appears in the Hebrew Bible. ' is usually rendered in English as "God Most High", and similarly in the Septuagint as ("God the highest"). The title ' is a common topic of scholarly de ...

through ''Krafton'', an e-sports reality show where celebrities and streamers entered a special school that specialized in battlegrounds conduct episodes and talk related to PUBG Series 3. Celebrities

(G)I-dle I-dle (; stylized in all lowercase), formerly known as (G)I-dle (), is a South Korean girl group formed by Cube Entertainment in 2018. The group consists of five members: Miyeon, Minnie (singer), Minnie, Soyeon, Yuqi, and Shuhua. Originally a se ...

Song Yuqi Song Yuqi (, ; born September 23, 1999), known mononymously as Yuqi, is a Chinese singer-songwriter, dancer and record producer. She is a member of the South Korean girl group I-dle, which debuted as (G)I-dle under Cube Entertainment in May 20 ...

and

Ailee Amy Lee (born May 30, 1989), known professionally as Ailee, is an American singer and songwriter based in South Korea. Amassing digital sales success in South Korea, she has released four studio albums, six extended plays, and twenty one singles ...

and streamers Chyo Man and Choi Kwang-won appeared in the show. In September 2020, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

banned PUBG Mobile in the country along with several apps published by Chinese vendors, in this case Tencent Games, due to data privacy issues. To relaunch the game back in India, Krafton took back the control of

Intellectual Property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

(IP) of the game for the

n region from Tencent. An aesthetically new version of PUBG Mobile,

Battlegrounds Mobile India ''Battlegrounds Mobile India'' (''BGMI''), previously known as ''PUBG Mobile India'', is a version of ''PUBG Mobile'', available in India. It is an online multiplayer battle royale game by Krafton. The game was initially released on 2 July 2021 ...

, was launched on 2 July 2021 for Android and on 18 August 2021 for

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

. This time the game was published by Krafton, Inc. In February 2021, PUBG Studios announced the development of '' PUBG: New State'', the second installment in the ''

PUBG Universe Krafton Inc. () is a South Korean video game publisher and holding company based in Bundang District, Seongnam. It was created in November 2018 to serve as the parent company for Bluehole, founded by Chang Byung-gyu in Seoul in March 2007, and i ...

'', set in the future (2051). Drones, shields, weapon customization, neon sights, reviving teammates and 'recruiting' knocked out enemies are just some of the new mechanics in ''PUBG: New State''. The game released on 11 November 2021, and reported through a presentation that to date the game had exceeded 55 million pre-registrations on

Google Play Google Play, also known as the Google Play Store, Play Store, or sometimes the Android Store (and was formerly Android Market), is a digital distribution service operated and developed by Google. It serves as the official app store for certifie ...

and

App Store An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not i ...

. On 27 January 2022, a name change was announced, going from being called "''PUBG: New State''" to being called "''New State Mobile''". According to Krafton this was done to create a unique mobile-centric experience, and through that change they were putting it into practice. In Fall 2024, Krafton signed a licensing agreement with

Pocketpair is a Japanese video game development company based in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The company was founded by Takuro Mizobe in 2015 and is best known for their games ''Craftopia'' and ''Palworld''. The company's first title was the roguelike deck-building ...

for ''

Palworld is an action-adventure, survival, and monster-taming game created and published by Japanese developer Pocketpair. The game is set in an open world populated with animal-like creatures called "Pals", which players can battle and capture to use ...

''s intellectual property. PUBG Studios announced it has begun developing a mobile version of the game.

Striking Distance Studios

In June 2019, a new studio called Striking Distance was opened in conjunction with

Glen Schofield Glen Schofield is an American video game artist, designer, director, and producer. He was formerly the vice president and general manager at Visceral Games, co-founder of Sledgehammer Games, founder and former CEO of Striking Distance Studios, and ...

, the co-founder of

Sledgehammer Games Sledgehammer Games, Inc. is an American video game developer company formed in 2009 by Glen Schofield and Michael Condrey. The pair formerly worked at EA Redwood Shores and are responsible for the creation of ''Dead Space (2008 video game), Dead ...

. Striking Distance, headed by Schofield as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

, was set to develop narrative-driven games based on ''PUBG''. The studio's first game is ''

'', a

survival horror Survival horror is a Video game genre, subgenre of horror games. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical action games through limited ammunition or weapons, health, speed, and visio ...

game. It was originally intended to be set within the ''PUBG'' universe but that never went into fruition. It was released on December 2, 2022. In August 2024, the studio announced '' EDACTED', a new game set in the Callisto Protocol universe. '' EDACTED' was released on 28 October 2024, receiving initial positive reviews. Striking Distance Studios is headquartered in San Ramon, California.

RisingWings

RisingWings is a game development company formed by the merger of Pnix and Delusion. RisingWings focuses primarily on casual

mobile games A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to handheld game conso ...

. RisingWings is based in

Dreamotion Inc.

Dreamotion is a South Korean video game development company founded in July 2016. They primarily focus on developing

. Dreamotion was acquired by Krafton on 13 May 2021.

Thingsflow

Thingsflow Inc. an interactive content production company known for Hellobot, a chat-based content platform that allows users to engage with bot-driven characters through dedicated apps and messenger services. As of May 2021, Hellobot has more than four million users throughout Korea and Japan. On 29 June 2021 this company was acquired by Krafton.

Unknown Worlds Entertainment

Unknown Worlds Entertainment Unknown Worlds Entertainment is an American video game developer based in San Francisco. The studio is best known for the ''Natural Selection (video game), Natural Selection'' and ''Subnautica'' series. In October 2021, the studio was acquired by ...

, founded in 2001 in San Francisco, California, is a video game studio renowned for titles like ''

Natural Selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...

'' and ''

Subnautica ''Subnautica'' is a 2018 action-adventure survival game developed and published by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. The player controls Ryley Robinson, a survivor of a spaceship crash on an alien oceanic planet, which they are free to explore. The ...

''. In October 2021, the studio was acquired by Krafton. In August 2022, they announced the development of '' Moonbreaker'', a turn-based strategy game set in a sci-fi universe crafted by author

Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy, science fiction, and young adult books. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the '' Mistb ...

. The game had its full release on February 2, 2024. The studio is currently developing ''

Subnautica 2 ''Subnautica 2'' is an upcoming Action-adventure game, action-adventure survival game under development by Unknown Worlds Entertainment. It is a sequel to 2018's ''Subnautica'' and the third game in the series after 2021's ''Subnautica: Below Zer ...

'', the sequel to ''

'' (2018) and '' Subnautica: Below Zero'' (2021). Subnautica 2 is scheduled to enter early access in 2025 and will initially be available on Windows PC and Xbox Series X/S platforms.

5minlab Corporation

5minlab is a South Korean company founded in 2013, known for developing Smash Legends, Baam Squad, Toy Clash, among others. It is also known for developing live Q&A broadcast systems and providing AR/VR software and content to large corporations and broadcast companies. This company was acquired by Krafton in February 2022. Notable games developed by 5minlab after its acquisition by Krafton include ''Kill the Crows'', a fast-paced top-down western arena shooter, and ''Private Military Manager''. The studio is currently developing ''Dinkum Together'', a multiplayer spin-off of the life simulation game ''Dinkum,'' by James Bendon. In February 2025, it was announced that Krafton had acquired publishing rights for all titles within the Dinkum IP.

Neon Giant

In November 2022, it was announced that Krafton had acquired

Neon Giant Neon Giant AB is a Swedish video game developer headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden. It was founded by Tor Frick, Arcade Berg, Jonathan Heckley and Erik Gloersen in 2018. History Neon Giant was founded in April 2018 as an independent venture by ...

, the

Uppsala Uppsala ( ; ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the capital of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Loc ...

-based developer of '' The Ascent''.

Krafton Montreal Studio

Krafton had opened ''Krafton Montreal Studio'', its first Canadian studio, in February 2023. As its first game, the studio is developing a game based on the South Korean fantasy novel

The Bird That Drinks Tears ''The Bird That Drinks Tears'' (; abbreviated as ) is a series of epic high fantasy novels by the South Korean author Lee Yeongdo first published in 2003. Set in a world inhabited by four major races; humans; the powerful bird-like Rekon; the ...

by Lee Yeongdo.

Tango Gameworks

On August 11, 2024, Krafton announced their purchase of

Tango Gameworks Tango Gameworks Inc. is a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. Founded in March 2010 by Shinji Mikami, previously of Capcom, the company was acquired by ZeniMax Media in October that year after suffering financial issues. Tango develo ...

and the intellectual property rights to '' Hi-Fi Rush'' from

Microsoft Gaming Microsoft Gaming is an American multinational video game and digital entertainment division of Microsoft based in Redmond, Washington, established in 2022. Its five development and publishing labels consist of: Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda Soft ...

following the studio's closure earlier that June. The development studio acts as Krafton's first video game subsidiary based in Japan, with the rights to previous Tango games remaining with Microsoft Gaming's

ZeniMax Media ZeniMax Media Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Rockville, Maryland. The company was founded in 1999 by Christopher Weaver and Robert A. Altman as the parent company for Weaver's video game publisher Bethesda Softworks. ...

division. Following the acquisition, Krafton plans "to continue developing the ''Hi-Fi Rush'' IP and explore future projects", while also forged a strategic partnership with Microsoft, including help integrate Tango among the others Krafton's studios and support future ''Hi-Fi Rush'' projects.

InZOI Studio

In early 2025, it was announced that Krafton had founded InZOI Studio, the development studio behind the simulation game

Defunct subsidiaries

L-Time Games

L-Time Games was founded in June 2009. The company attracted a and a investment from Knet Investment Partners and IMM Investments, respectively. L-Time Games was acquired by and merged into Bluehole in January 2014.

Maui Games

Maui Games was a mobile game developer founded in 2013 by Woonghee Cho, previously head of

business development Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between business organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the cre ...

for Neowiz. Bluehole Studio announced on 16 January 2015 that they were acquiring the company, which was completed in October that year. At Bluehole's January 2017 shareholders' meeting, it was decided that Maui Games would enter

liquidation Liquidation is the process in accounting by which a Company (law), company is brought to an end. The assets and property of the business are redistributed. When a firm has been liquidated, it is sometimes referred to as :wikt:wind up#Noun, w ...

, which was effective immediately. Nine staff members of Maui Games, a fraction of that company's total employee count, were reemployed directly within Bluehole.

Pnix

Pnix (formerly Bluehole Pnix) was a

mobile game A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any Mobile device, portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet computer, table ...

developer. The company was founded as Pnix Games in 2012. Bluehole announced that they had acquired Pnix Games, alongside Squall, on 22 April 2015. Pnix Games changed their corporate name to Bluehole Pnix in June 2016. Corporate name again changed to Pnix in 2018 after being a subsidiary of Krafton. In 2020 Pnix was merged with Delusion to form a RisingWings.

Squall

Squall (formerly Bluehole Squall) was a mobile game developer. The company was founded as Squall by Park Jin-seok, a founding member of Neowiz, in 2013. Bluehole announced that they had acquired Squall, alongside Pnix Games, on 22 April 2015. Squall changed their corporate name to Bluehole Squall in March 2016. Corporate name again changed to Squall in 2018 after being a subsidiary of Krafton. It was shut down by Krafton after internal conflicts in 2020.

Red Sahara Studio

Red Sahara Studio was a mobile game developer headed by Lee Ji-hoon. On 12 March 2018, Bluehole completed the acquisition of the studio in a

stock swap In corporate finance, a stock swap is the exchange of one equity-based asset for another, where, during the merger or acquisition, the swap provides an opportunity to pay with stock rather than with cash; see . Overview The acquiring company ...

deal. Red Sahara was developing a mobile game based on ''TERA''.

Delusion

Delusion Studio was founded in April 2011 headed by Kang Moon-chul. On 22 June 2018, Bluehole announced the acquisition of the studio. Delusion developed mobile games such as ''Guardian Stone'', ''Jellipo'', ''House of Mice'' and, most notably, ''Castle Burn''. In 2020 Delusion was merged with Pnix to form RisingWings.

En Masse Entertainment

En Masse Entertainment was Krafton's North American publishing arm. The company was established as Bluehole Interactive in June 2008. On 26 February 2010, the company announced that it had changed its corporate name to En Masse Entertainment. In September 2020, En Masse Entertainment announced that it would be shutting down its offices after 10 years of service in the gaming industry, where it was decided that Krafton would be publishing TERA's Console version globally - taking over a self-publishing role, in place of En Masse Entertainment, whereas the PC version would be published by

Gameforge Gameforge AG is a German video game development studio headquartered in Karlsruhe that specializes in online games. The company is wholly owned by the Rösner Holding GmbH holding company. The company's portfolio contains client-based massively ...

R&D

Krafton AI, headquartered in Seoul, is a

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

center focused on advancing

deep learning Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that focuses on utilizing multilayered neural networks to perform tasks such as classification, regression, and representation learning. The field takes inspiration from biological neuroscience a ...

technologies. Research directions include vision and animation,

language model A language model is a model of the human brain's ability to produce natural language. Language models are useful for a variety of tasks, including speech recognition, machine translation,Andreas, Jacob, Andreas Vlachos, and Stephen Clark (2013)"S ...

voice synthesis Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware products. A text-to-speech (TTS) system converts normal langua ...

, and

reinforcement learning Reinforcement learning (RL) is an interdisciplinary area of machine learning and optimal control concerned with how an intelligent agent should take actions in a dynamic environment in order to maximize a reward signal. Reinforcement learnin ...

. At CES 2025, Krafton introduced two deep learning-based game technologies developed in collaboration with

NVIDIA Nvidia Corporation ( ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang (president and CEO), Chris Malachowsky, and Curti ...

: PUBG Ally and Smart Zoi. Smart Zois are included in the early access version of

, together with other deep learning-powered solutions such as the ''3D printer'', to generate 3D assets from images, and more. In April 2025, Krafton and NVIDIA discussed deepening their collaboration, with focus on

Agentic AI Agentic AI is a class of artificial intelligence that focuses on autonomous systems that can make decisions and perform tasks without human intervention. The independent systems automatically respond to conditions, to produce process results. The ...

and Embodied AI.

Supported studios and companies

Krafton supports various studios and companies worldwide, including: * EF Games, Madrid, Spain * Spoonlabs, Seoul, South Korea * Wolf Haus Games, Montreal, Canada * IMM Investment's India fund * Ruckus Games, Frisco, Texas * Cashfree, Bengaluru, India * Nautilus Mobile, Pune, India * Neptune (Kakao Games subsidiary), South Korea In April 2025, Krafton announced Blue Ocean Games, a $30 million venture capital fund. The mission of the fund is to support about 100 indie game developers over three years.

Games

Games developed or published as "Bluehole Studio"

Games developed or published as "Krafton"

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Companies, South Korea Bundang Tencent Companies based in Gyeonggi Province Video game companies established in 2018 Video game companies of South Korea Video game development companies South Korean companies established in 2018 Holding companies of South Korea 2021 initial public offerings Companies listed on the Korea Exchange Companies in the KOSPI 200