On September 18, during Tokyo Game Show (TGS) 2026, NHN held a group interview with the heads of its Korean and Japanese game business divisions, unveiling its global game business strategy based on cross-border collaboration and its first co-developed title, 'Fantasy World's Puchipoyong'.
The interview was attended by Sang-ho Kim, Head of NHN's Game Business Division, and Haruki Murakami, Executive Director and Chief Producer at NHN PlayArt. The two companies explained that they established a joint development framework where NHN PlayArt designs the core gameplay mechanics and fun, while NHN rapidly implements and verifies them.
NHN began building its experience in the Japanese gaming market with the establishment of 'Hangame Japan' in 2000, and founded its Japanese gaming subsidiary NHN PlayArt in 2013. Since then, the company has expanded the foundation for collaboration between the two organizations through internal events such as 'Games Week', 'AI Sprinthon', Korea-Japan executive workshops, and new employee exchange programs.
The two companies' first joint project, 'Fantasy World's Puchipoyong' (Japanese title: 幻想世界のぷちぽよん), is a title currently under development with the goal of securing a next-generation original IP. As one of three new games unveiled for the first time at TGS 2026, it combines NHN PlayArt's core fun design with NHN's development and verification capabilities. An official Korean website and social media channels have also been launched for domestic players.
Chief Producer Murakami said, "We expect this to serve as an example of what kind of results can be produced when NHN PlayArt's gameplay design is combined with NHN's execution and verification." Division Head Kim stated, "'Fantasy World's Puchipoyong' is both the fruit of our collaboration and a stage for validating our process. We plan to expand and apply the collaboration framework established here to other future projects."
To support Korea-Japan collaboration, NHN established a new organization dedicated to its Japan business and cross-country exchanges, assigning specialized project managers fluent in Japanese. Video conferencing, translation, and task management functions were unified under the collaboration platform 'Dooray'.
NHN PlayArt has set up a booth at TGS 2026, held from September 17 to 21, marking its return after eight years, and is showcasing a total of seven titles, including new upcoming games such as 'Fantasy World's Puchipoyong' and active live service titles.
