To be fair, the way Nexon handles the closure of a game is elegant. They close the shop first, switch to a 'Free Day' where all items are given away for free, and issue full refunds for all payments, regardless of whether the items were used. It is like a hospice's final meal, serving a patient their favorite food before the end. Their public notices are consistently composed with a somber, tidy tone: "It is with a heavy heart that we share this unfortunate news," or "We have determined that it is difficult to provide a satisfactory service in the long term." Translated, this simply means: We are shutting it down because it doesn't make money.

That touch has become significantly colder since the leadership changed and the company's overall philosophy shifted. They made it clear in a capital markets briefing: projects that fail to meet profitability standards will be downsized or discontinued. Some called this 'trimming the fat.' That isn't wrong. But when a knife cuts through flesh, it eventually hits the bone.

Look at where that blade landed this year. Crazy Arcade launched in 2001. It is exactly twenty-five years old this year. It is the starting point where Nexon mascots Dao and Bazzi first appeared, and the first work in the 'Crazy Park' lineage from which KARTRIDER and Bubble Fighter branched out. It is said that at one point, 20 million people in Korea had played it. That long-standing foundation is closing its doors in August. Bubble Fighter, which inherited the IP, left first in June after a 17-year run.

Dao and Bazzi are the faces that, along with MapleStory, defined 'Nexon' and were the protagonists of the national games that built the company into what it is today. If you add the original KARTRIDER to the list, the entire playground where Dao and Bazzi played has been bulldozed. The company has effectively moved its own identity into the 'below standard' column of its quarterly earnings report. The decision to let go of those twenty-five years was finalized in a single briefing.

Of course, there is a counterargument: isn't Nexon a company that knows how to keep things alive? That is true. Last year, they recorded ₩4.5072 trillion in annual revenue—an all-time high—and joined the '4 Trillion Club' for two consecutive years. MapleStory has grown even larger, Dungeon & Fighter saw its Korean revenue more than double at age twenty, and FC Online remains rock solid. Their coffers are overflowing. But that is exactly the point. What Nexon protects is 'what makes money,' not 'what is foundational.' They revere the goose that lays the golden eggs, but they measure the mother that birthed the company against a profitability chart. In their pursuit of absolute efficiency, the company is erasing the very records of its own birth.

A company that does the exact opposite is not far away. At the 2016 Rio Olympics closing ceremony, when it was time to introduce the next host city, the person who popped up in the middle of the stage was none other than the Prime Minister of Japan—dressed as Super Mario, holding a red ball, emerging from a green pipe. It was the moment a game character born in the 1980s became a national calling card, and it is known that the Japanese government spent over ₩12 billion on that short show. The fact that Mario has not been retired even after turning forty is the result of decades of polishing, maintaining, and nurturing.

Nexon is undoubtedly first-class at both saying goodbye and reviving games. But a foundation is not something you can just pull up and move because it seems to have withered. You may be able to plant new things in the garden where you pulled out the roots, but the sense of legitimacy will not grow back.