By Sagar V. Mankar 
South Korea’s gaming giants Nexon and Krafton achieved record-breaking financial results in 2024, despite a challenging year for the country’s gaming industry.
According to data from FnGuide, Nexon became the first South Korean gaming company to exceed KRW 4 trillion in annual revenue, with an estimated KRW 4.13 trillion ($3.26 billion).
Krafton also recorded its highest-ever annual revenue at KRW 2.78 trillion ($2.19 billion).
Nexon’s operating profit is estimated at KRW 1.13 trillion ($894 million), while Krafton’s reached KRW 1.23 trillion ($973 million).
Nexon’s Dungeon & Fighter Mobile was a standout performer in China, generating KRW 1.52 trillion ($1.2 billion) within seven months of its May 2024 launch. This remarkable figure is more than five times the game’s revenue in South Korea over three years. The game also set a record as the highest-grossing global mobile game among South Korean titles.
Meanwhile, Krafton saw massive growth with PUBG Mobile (known as BGMI locally) in India, which surpassed $200 million in cumulative revenue in 2024. 60% of this revenue came after the game’s re-release in May 2023. On PC, PUBG also performed well, with global average concurrent users on Steam increasing by 45% year-over-year to 310,000 in Q4 2024 and peak concurrent users rising to 800,000.
Looking to the future, Nexon plans to capitalize on its Dungeon & Fighter intellectual property by releasing First Berserker: Kazan, a third-person action RPG for multiple platforms, including PC, PlayStation, and Xbox.
Krafton, on the other hand, is focusing on innovation within the PUBG franchise, introducing AI-powered Co-Playable Characters (CPCs) to enhance gameplay. The company also plans to launch a life simulation game, inZOI, in March 2025, which will also integrate CPCs.
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Sources: IT Chosun