NEOWIZ CEO-designate Park Sung-jun attended a local publisher event in Shanghai to announce plans to expand the 'Cats & Soup' IP in China. The core of the announcement is the launch of a new series title in the Chinese market this August.

Park attended the 'Kingsoft Shiyou Night' event held at the North Bund in Shanghai on the evening of the 30th. Kingsoft Shiyou, a gaming subsidiary of China's largest software company, Kingsoft, signed a publishing agreement with NEOWIZ in May 2023 and has been managing the Chinese service for 'Cats & Soup' since April 2024. The event was attended by IP rights holders, including representatives from Finland's Rovio Entertainment, as well as channel partners and local media.

At the event, Park attributed the game's five years of stable user ratings to the ongoing support of global users and partners, noting that the fifth anniversary serves as both a reflection on past achievements and a starting point for the next phase. He also highlighted that 'Cats & Soup' has surpassed 80 million cumulative global downloads over its five-year service period. 'Cats & Soup' is a healing idle game launched in August 2021, which celebrated its fourth anniversary with a major update last August.

Park also announced that a new title in the 'Cats & Soup' series will officially meet Chinese users this August. While the specific title was not disclosed in local reports, it is highly likely to be 'Cats & Soup: Magic Recipe,' the official sequel NEOWIZ launched globally on April 28. Given that the game began service in regions excluding China, Vietnam, and Russia, and received an import game license (ISBN) from China's National Press and Publication Administration last May, the connection is strong. The license application at the time was filed by Chengdu Kingsoft, a Kingsoft affiliate.

Furthermore, Park expressed his intention to deepen cooperation with Kingsoft Shiyou to continuously introduce new content utilizing the 'Cats & Soup' IP. Kingsoft Shiyou also stated that the partnership would extend beyond a single product to include series titles and derivative content centered on the 'Cats & Soup' IP, adding that they are exploring ways to integrate the healing-themed IP into various content formats and consumption environments.

Meanwhile, Park Sung-jun is the development lead who spearheaded the global success of 'Lies of P' and its expansion, 'Lies of P: Prelude.' He has served as the director of Round8 Studio since 2019 and as the head of the New Development Group since 2023. NEOWIZ announced his nomination as the new CEO on June 8; following approval at the regular board meeting in August, he will serve as co-CEO alongside current CEO Bae Tae-geun. He is the first developer-turned-CEO in the company's history.