Korea-based MMO developer NCsoft has appointed their chief financial officer, Jaeho Lee, as the new CEO of NC West, the company’s recently formed European and North American subsidiary. More »
NCsoft’s move today to a single new label for their studios marks more than just a shift in management teams and consolidation of subsidiaries. It’s also the first step in the company’s decision to refocus their efforts on large, triple-A massively multiplayer games, David Reid, NC West president of publishing told Kotaku today.
“This transition is really about ratifying a completely dedicated business to the triple-A titles”, Reid said. “We would consider ourselves in the class of five-ish companies in the world that can be successful in this market. We are a leader here and we are doubling down in those efforts”.
“If you are successful in this business, you are fabulously successful”.
In so doing, NCsoft plans to shed some of their lighter fare, including “moving away from” Dungeon Runners, Reid said. He declined to say if that meant killing the free-to-play, humorous online game, saying only that there were no announcements about the game at this point.
Reid says that another important step in the company’s strategy is their deal with Sony to create several online games for the Playstation 3.
NCsoft is consolidating their European and U.S. subsidiaries, including ArenaNet, under a single lable, NCsoft West, the company announced today.
While the headquarters for the newly named company will be established in Seattle by the end of 2008, the offices in Europe and Austin will not be closed. The announcement today does not address whether there will be job cuts in Europe, Austin or at ArenaNet.
NC West will be led by Chris Chung as CEO, Jeff Strain as president, product development, David Reid as president, publishing, and Patrick Wyatt as CTO as well as yet to be announced European executives.
“We are confident that by combining our subsidiaries into a unified global organisation under Chris Chung’s leadership, NC West will become a more powerful force to be reckoned with in the western MMO market,” said TJ Kim. “Chris has become a guiding force within our company and has been extremely successful at every position he has held with us. His detailed first-hand knowledge of all aspects of our business is invaluable and will help establish NC West as a global leader.”
Official release on the jump.
