Nexon America lays off “small number” of staff

Nexon America has laid off a “small number” of staff as part of a reorganisation at the company.

The publisher confirmed the redundancies to PocketGamer.biz, after news of the job losses emerged on social media. It did not specify the number of employees impacted by the decision.

The company has established a new Western Development Group in Los Angeles, California, led by Hanbyeol Oh.

As a result of the reorganisation, it said it had cut some staff, with severance offered to those impacted. Despite the layoffs, Nexon America is hiring for new positions in development roles including engineers and designers.

A spokesperson did not clarify what job roles had been affected by the layoffs.

Western Development Group

“Earlier this month, our new CEO Junghun Lee outlined a long-term IP growth strategy for both new games and extensions on existing franchises like MapleStory,” said a Nexon spokesperson.

“A key element of the initiative is hyperlocalisation – a strategy for hiring teams to adapt our games to match the tastes of local players in large markets like Europe and North America. A big step in this process is the establishment of the Western Development Group here in Los Angeles, led by Nexon veteran Hanbyeol Oh.

“Unfortunately, the re-organisation includes the elimination of a small number of roles, with severance offered to those leaving. However, Nexon America is now hiring to fill out the new development team, including engineers and designers.

“It’s an exciting time at Nexon America and we look forward to sharing more on our plan.”

New growth strategy

On September 3rd, Nexon president and CEO Junghun Lee and CFO Shiro Uemura outlined a new growth strategy for the firm. The company said it planned to centralise its organisational structure around IP growth with the aim of growing its established IP and developing new “blockbusters”.

Its ambition is to grow revenue to ¥750 billion and operating income to ¥250 billion by 2027, Uemura said.

In July, Nexon-owned studio Pixelberry Games, developer of the Choices: Stories You Play mobile game, was sold to Series Entertainment.

Earlier this year, Nexon launched Dungeon & Fighter Mobile in China. The title has generated more than $800 million on the App Store alone in its first four months, according to AppMagic estimates. This doesn’t take into account player spending on third-party Android stores, which could put that figure significantly higher.