Nexon Co., a Korean video game publisher listed in Japan, has established an organization dedicated to overseas strategic businesses, including global projects using its key intellectual property rights, a move to ensure sustainable growth by diversifying its sales to other markets such as Japan and North America.

According to sources on Wednesday, Nexon recently launched a global strategy task force, which started with about 30 key R&D officials working at Nexon Korea. The team will oversee various projects to achieve the company’s goal to increase its presence in new global markets next year. Currently, the company is heavily reliant on sales in Korea and China.

The first target is Japan. Nexon believes that its various IPs can sufficiently appeal to users in the large Japanese game market. The company owns a number of popular game titles such as Dungeon & Fighter, Kingdom of the Winds, KartRider and Maple Story.

In particular, the Japanese market has great growth potential in the entertainment IP field and Nexon is developing IP business as its core activity along with game publishing.

According to Sensor Tower data, Japan’s $7.2 billion market for IP-based mobile games took the No. 1 spot by beating the U.S.’s $4.5 billion last year.

By Hwang Soon-min and Minu Kim

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]