Krafton: 26 Game Projects to Secure a Franchise IP

During its company-wide town hall meeting, Krafton announced its management strategy for 2026 and its mid-to-long-term growth plans. CEO CH Kim presented the company's strategic direction under the theme of "Franchise IP & Expanded Value". This year, the South Korean publisher will continue to pursue its mid-to-long-term strategy to secure a 'Big Franchise IP'. As announced by Kim in 2025, this strategy will focus on three key areas: increasing investment in first-party production, expanding publishing volume and optimising resource allocation.

Over the past year, Krafton has been preparing for franchise IP development by strengthening its creative leadership and upgrading its game development and publishing frameworks. In 2026, the company will increase development of new titles with the potential to become franchise IPs, while accelerating the growth of the PUBG franchise.

"We will remain focused on Krafton's core gaming business as we begin to move into the execution phase of producing new titles. While expanding the PUBG IP Franchise as a content platform, we will begin to create Franchise IPs via our new title pipeline and creative leadership." - Krafton CEO CH Kim

In 2025, to boost game development, Krafton strengthened its creative leadership by establishing a small-team development structure centred on 15 newly recruited key players. This structure enables targeted or early releases, such as Early Access or limited market launches. This allows teams to quickly validate a game's potential before committing additional resources and scaling up successful titles. The company currently has a development pipeline comprising 26 projects, which is intentionally structured around early validation and clear decision gates. Twelve titles, including Subnautica 2, Palworld Mobile and No Law, are scheduled for release within the next two years. The scale-up process will also include existing IPs that have already demonstrated traction, such as inZOI and Mimesis, which were released in Early Access last year and have each surpassed one million sales. Both titles are strategic IPs for this year, and there are plans to develop them into franchise IPs with long-term product life cycles.

The company continues to maintain a steady performance with its PUBG IP franchise, expanding it through cultural collaborations and long-term service improvements. PUBG's expansion as a content platform runs alongside the development of new franchise IPs, which reinforces diversification rather than replacing it. "Krafton plans to expand sandbox-oriented UGC that leverages PUBG's core gunplay, mechanics, and physics engine, consolidating an ecosystem where players can create and share their own content. Further, mobile and cross-platform titles will extend reach across established and emerging global markets. New titles such as PUBG: Black Budget and PUBG: Blindspot will test the PUBG IP’s expansion into new genres, while new platform advancements will bring PUBG to the next step for growth," the company said.

While maintaining its identity as a game developer, Krafton continues to explore opportunities based on its gaming technology. Since 2021, the company has primarily used AI technologies to enhance gameplay experiences and improve development efficiency, introducing concepts such as CPCs (Co-Playable Characters). In October, Krafton announced its transition to becoming an AI-first company, with the aim of automating workflows and reinvesting time and resources into creative game development. Looking ahead, the company is evaluating how its game technology could be applied to areas such as physical AI and robotics. These areas are considered long-term exploratory opportunities rather than short-term business initiatives.