Krafton Pearl Abyss

Krafton Pearl Abyss is a South Korean video game developer and publisher, based in Gwacheon, South Korea, and mostly owned by Styhon Entertainment through Styhon Games.

Krafton Pearl Abyss also holds an annual convention under the name NCCon, which has been open to the public since its foundation as PDXCon in 2017.

They have satellite studios in the United States, Canada, Europe, New Zealand, Japan and Russia, their mobile division NC Plarium residing in Israel, and their publishing division En Masse residing in Venice Beach.

Their portfolio includes games and franchises such as Black Desert Online, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Sniper Elite, World of Tanks/World of War War Thunder, Raid: Shadow Legends, Eve Online and Guild Wars 2; and the portfolio is a huge part of their successes in Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific. They are also helping build the eSports scene within Africa.

Their rivals include, ,  and Tencent's own studios  and.

History
Krafton Pearl Abyss was born in November 2020, out of a merger between South Korean video game publishers Krafton Game Union, NCSoft and Pearl Abyss, American video game developer Machine Zone, Belarusian video game publisher Wargaming.net, and Russian video game publishers Nival and Gaijin Entertainment, under Styhon Games & Interactive Ventures. With these, Styhon Games also integrated Gameforge and newly-acquired studios Rebellion Developments, BlitWorks, Demiurge Studios, Platinum Games, Nixxes Software, Phoenix Labs, Hardsuit Labs, Abstraction Games, Grinding Gear Games and Klei Entertainment.

They acquired PDXCon from their sister company on November 30, 2020. They arranged to hold one more PDXCon in 2021, before rebranding to NCCon.

In December 2020, Kakao Games arranged a deal with Styhon Games & Interactive Ventures to distribute their PC games within South Korea, with the exception of some Krafton Pearl Abyss games.

The same month, KPA entered board games publishing by establishing a board games division within NC En Masse. It will also absorb Rebellion Unplugged and White Wolf Publishing to form board games divisions within NC UK and the newly established NC Nordic.

Before January 1, 2021, Gung-Ho and Zynga shareholders sold and absorbed Gung-Ho Online Entertainment and Zynga respectively into KPA, with SoftBank receiving 3% stake on the venture and the shareholders getting minor stakes in Styhon's parent company Salovaara Ventures Group.

Cross-studio events
After the formation of Krafton Pearl Abyss, they started holding an annual company-wide multi-sport event in Seoul, nicknamed "Kraftolympics" which was streamed on their Twitch channel KraftonPearl. Team California, consisting of employees from NC En Masse, Rumble Games, Jam City and the NC Plarium studios from Palo Alto, San Mateo and San Diego, won the most medals during the first Kraftolympics.

Linux support
Krafton Pearl Abyss has dedicated itself to, amongst other things, developing Linux versions for all of its current and upcoming games.

Studios
The company is divided into three internal divisions: North Division (located in Moscow), West Division (located in Anyang) and East Division (located in Seongnam), with their publishing division NC En Masse being the fourth.

NC En Masse
NC En Masse is an American video game and board game publisher founded and owned by Krafton Pearl Abyss. They are headquartered in, with satellite offices in Austin, Las Vegas, Buena Park and Seattle, a network operation/secure data center also in Las Vegas, and a customer service office in Aliso Veijo. They release and maintains all Rebellion and Krafton Pearl Abyss titles in North America, mainly the United States.

NC En Masse was formed, when, during the merger of Krafton Pearl Abyss, the following were merged into one: En Masse Entertainment, NC West, Pearl Abyss America,, Zynga ATX, Jam City Las Vegas, GungHo Online Entertainment America, Machine Zone Las Vegas and PUBG Global Publishing. The new company retained the offices, except for the Manhattan Beach (Pearl Abyss), El Segundo (GungHo) and Santa Monica (PUBG) offices, as the staff from those offices were moved into the new headquarters in Venice Beach.

NC En Masse also serves as a holding company for KPA's international distribution operations, such as NC Southeast Asia (which currently runs Garena and Playpark), NC Germany (Gameforge), NC UK and NC Japan.

International offices

 * NC Asia Pacific - formerly PUBG Corporation's Shanghai office
 * NC Southeast Asia - Singapore, also publishes in Singapore and Malaysia; born out of a merger between SEA Group, Pearl Abyss SEA, Garena, GungHo Online Entertainment Asia Pacific Pte.Ltd. and Asiasoft divisions AS Online Sdn Bhd, Asiasoft Online Pte Ltd and PT Asiasoft
 * NC Taiwan - Taipei, also published in Macao and Hong Kong; integrated with Pearl Abyss Taiwan Corp and Gravity Communications
 * NC Gamania - joint venture with Gamania Online Entertainment, also based in Taipei; formerly GungHo Gamania
 * NC Thailand - Bangkok; merger between Gravity Game Tech and Asiasoft Corporation PCL
 * NC Vietnam - merger between Asiasoft Co Ltd and Trilight Cove's Vietnam operations
 * NC Indonesia - Jakarta; formerly Gravity Game Link; integrated with Asiasoft's Indonesian operations
 * NC Indochina - publishes in Burma and Cambodia; formerly Trilight Cove Enterprises
 * NC Hong Kong - formerly Pearl Abyss HK Limited
 * NC Philippines - Makati City; merger between and Asiasoft's Philippines operations
 * NC Korea Services - Seoul; merger between Nettention (Pearl Abyss) and Gravity's publishing and maintenance operations
 * NC Japan - headquartered in Tokyo, with an additional office in Chiyoda; integrated with PUBG Corporation's and Pearl Abyss's Japanese operations and Gung-Ho Online Entertainment
 * NC Australia - East Melbourne; formerly Madman Interactive
 * NC India - Bangalore; formerly Zynga India, also works as a large-scale infrastructure/backend development office
 * NC Europe SAS - Paris; formerly Gravity Europe SAS
 * NC UK - headquartered in Oxford, with offices in Cambridge and London; formed out of a merger between NC Europe, Jagex's publishing operations and Rebellion Developments's publishing operations
 * NC UK Board Games - formerly Rebellion Unplugged
 * NC Ireland - Dublin; formerly Zynga Ireland
 * NC Nordic - Stockholm
 * NC Nordic Board Games - formerly White Wolf Publishing
 * NC Western Europe - Netherlands; formerly Pearl Abyss EU BV
 * NC Germany - headquartered in Munich, with offices in Karlsruhe and Berlin; formed out of a merger between ProSieben.Sat1 Games, Gaijin Europe, Gameforge and Wargaming Mobile/Wargaming Berlin
 * NC Russia, CEE & CIS - 90/10 joint venture with Mail.ru Group, headquartered in Moscow, with locations in Riga, Budapest and Nicosia; formed out of a merger between Gravity CIS Inc, Gaijin Entertainment LLP (Latvia), Gaijin Distribution Kft (Hungary) and Gaijin Network (Nicosia)
 * NC South America - Buenos Aires, handles the Latin American and Carribean distribution of KPA games; formerly Level Up! Games's Latin American operations
 * NC Brazil - Sao Paulo; merger between Level Up! Games Brazil and PUBG Corporation's Sao Paulo office

Gaijin Entertainment (North Division)

 * Gaijin Entertainment - integrated with Nival's Moscow studio
 * Nival - integrated with Gaijin Entertainment's studio in St. Petersburg
 * Nival Limassol - Cyprus
 * Dagor Technologies - Moscow

Pearl Abyss (West Division)
Peal Abyss is a division focused on Black Desert Online, EVE Online, World of War, Path of Exile and mostly single-player focused/narrative games. It consists of development groups Pearl Abyss & Rebellion and the solo development studio PlatinumGames.
 * Pearl Abyss - Anyang
 * - Reykjavik, London and Shanghai
 * Pearl Abyss Capital - South Korea; investment and management consulting
 * Pearl Abyss Iceland hf - investment and management consulting
 * RedFox Games - San Jose, unknown stake acquired by Pearl Abyss in June 2017
 * Grinding Gear Games - Auckland; 80/20 joint venture with the company founders
 * Pearl Abyss Canada - Vancouver; acquired by Garena as in 2020; integrated into KPA
 * AudioMotion Studios - motion capture studio in Oxford; acquired by Rebellion in 2003, integrated into KPA in 2020
 * Pearl Abyss Australia Pty Ltd - Sydney; formerly Wargaming Sydney/BigWorld, integrated into KPA in 2020
 * Pearl Abyss Kiyv - Ukraine; formerly
 * Pearl Abyss Russia - St. Petersburg; formerly
 * - Seoul; integrated into KPA in 2020
 * - London; integrated into KPA in 2020
 * Wargaming - Minsk and Guildford
 * - Osaka
 * PlatinumGames Tokyo
 * Rebellion Developments
 * - Chiyoda; integrated into KPA in 2020
 * Rebellion North - Wakefield
 * Rebellion Warwick
 * Rebellion Liverpool
 * Rebellion Liverpool

NC Krafton (East Division)
NC Krafton itself is formed out of a merger between NCSoft and Krafton Game Union, with the brand styling adapted from Krafton. It consists out of NC, NC Plarium, NC Entertainment, PUBG Corporation, six development studios and five support studios.

NC Plarium
NC Plarium is NC Krafton's mobile and casual games division, dedicated to games for iOS, iPadOS and Android games. Founded as in 2009, they develop mobile games, casual games and MMORPGs, as well as content related to Krafton Pearl Abyss's intellectual property for apps such as Facebook Messenger, WeGame and Line. Their games include Raid Shadow Legends, World of Warships Blitz and QuizUp.

They are headquartered in, with its own development studios in Cedar Falls, Burlingame and Kiyv. They also own subsidiaries Rumble Games, Jam City and Griptonite Games; with multiple international development and localization branches, and the Glu platform.

The company includes the following:
 * NC Plarium - headquartered in Herzliya, with additional studios in Cedar Falls (formerly of Jam City), Burlingame (formelry of Glu Mobile) and Kiyv (formerly of the original Plarium)
 * NC Plarium Ltd. - Vancouver; formerly This Game Studio
 * NC Plarium Toronto - merger between Glu Toronto/Blammo Games, Zynga Toronto/Five Mobile and Jam City Toronto
 * OOO NC Plarium - merger between Gaijin Arts (Gaijin's mobile division), Plarium Krasnodar and Wargaming Moscow; headquartered in Moscow, with an additional studio in Krasnodar with support teams in Voronezh and Sevastopol.
 * NC Plarium GmbH - Berlin; merger between Jam City Berlin and Wargaming Mobile/Wargaming Berlin
 * NC Plarium ApS - Copenhagen; formerly Wargaming Copenhagen
 * TOV NC Plarium - headquartered in Kharkiv, with support teams in Lviv, Sevastopol and Odesa; formed out of Plarium's studios in Ukraine
 * NC Plarium Sàrl - Neuchâtel; formerly
 * NC Plarium Zrt - Budapest; formerly
 * NC Plarium SRL - Buenos Aires; formerly Jam City Buenos Aires
 * NC Plarium Ltda - Bogota; formerly Jam City Bogota/Brainz; which develops World War Doh among other projects
 * NC Plarium Oy - Helsinki; acquired as Small Giant Games by Zynga in 2018, integrated into KPA in 2020
 * NC Plarium Palo Alto LLC - merger between Machine Zone's Palo Alto headquarters/studio and its subsidiaries Epic Action LLC and Epic War LLC, who work on Mobile Strike and Final Fantasy XV: A New Empire respectively
 * NC Plarium Michigan LLC - Portage; formerly Plarium Michigan Studio
 * NC Plarium San Mateo LLC - merger between Glu's San Mateo studio and Iron Tiger Studios
 * NC Plarium San Diego LLC - merger between Jam City San Diego, Zynga San Diego and
 * Rumble Games - San Francisco; integrated with Glu's San Francisco studio/HQ, Zynga's HQ and the Jam City San Francisco/TinyCo assets
 * - Kirkland, with an art and development outsourcing studio in Hyderabad
 * - headquartered in Los Angeles, with an additional studio in Burbank

History
During the formation of Krafton Pearl Abyss, Plarium - then owned by Styhon Games - absorbed Machine Zone, Miniclip SA, Iron Tiger Studios, Wargaming Mobile, Gaijin Arts, Glu, Zen Studios and Jam City.

NC Entertainment
NC Entertainment (formerly Gravity Game Arise) is a division of NC Krafton, dedicated to exploiting the intellectual properties owned by NC Krafton and Pearl Abyss divisions in such fields as animation production and film development. On January 1, 2021, NC Entertainment and iQiyi established a joint venture which would see two KPA properties get adapted into webseries.

They're headquartered in Tokyo, with additional offices in Rebellion Film Studios in Oxford, England. The group of companies includes:
 * NC Entertainment K.K. - located in Tokyo
 * NC Entertainment Ltd - located in Rebellion Film Studios in Oxford
 * Rebellion Productions - 50/50 joint venture with Rebellion Developments
 * Rebellion Film Studios
 * Rebellion VFX

PUBG Corporation
In addition to these studios, NC Krafton also owns PUBG Corporation, with offices in Seoul, South Korea and Madison, Wisconsin, United States.
 * PUBG Corporation
 * PUBG MadGlory - New York
 * Striking Distance Studios - California
 * PlayerUnknown Productions - Amsterdam

NC Core
NC (colloqually known as NC Core) is a full-fledged video game digital distribution service, online gaming and digital rights management platform by Krafton Pearl Abyss. Internally referred to as the Unified Gaming Platform Project and formerly codenamed NC GG, NC will launch in the summer of 2021, after all games are finished being migrated into the platform. It will be available for iOS, iPadOS, Android, macOS, Windows and Linux.

History
Inherited from the Plarium, Gaijin Entertainment, Wargaming and Machine Zone acquisitions, the MZ platform, Gaijin inCubator, Unified Premium Account/Wargaming.net and Plarium Play, as well as the En Masse launcher, Gameforge, Playpark and Garena, along with Glu Mobile's technology assets, are in process of combining into one new gaming service. NCSoft's Purple will also serve as part of the platform, giving access to mobile games to PC players; same goes with Garena+, which will provide the social gaming elements, and Gaijin.Net & Asiasoft Passports, which will provide better authorization amongst other game service features.

NC Tek
NC Tek is a suite of middleware created by NC Krafton, Gaijin Entertainment and Pearl Abyss, with internet features development support from NC En Masse. It's compatible with NC Core and consists of the Euphoria animation engine, the BigWorld technology for virtual worlds and MMORPGs, and Dakor Engine.

NC Tek's development team is housed inside:


 * Pearl Abyss Australia Pty Ltd, in Sydney


 * NC Boss Alien, in Brighton


 * Dakor Technologies, in Moscow, and


 * NaturalMotion, in London

Glu
The new Glu website (operated by NC Plarium under NC Plarium Sàrl and Rumble Games) is a free browser game platform. The new Glu was formed out of a merger between the Glu, PlayFirst, GluPlay, CrowdStar and Miniclip brands and related technology assets.

Other events

 * League of Legends: