Kang Ki-hyun and Kim Hyung-suk, co-CEOs of Smilegate Super Creative—the developer behind 'Epic Seven' and 'Chaos Zero Nightmare'—have announced their resignations. Smilegate confirmed the news on the 24th.

The company stated that both will remain in their roles until the transition process is complete. "In particular, PD Kim Hyung-suk plans to step down after responsibly overseeing the upcoming first-anniversary launch of 'Chaos Zero Nightmare'," the company explained. It added, "We will strive to ensure that 'Epic Seven' and 'Chaos Zero Nightmare' continue to receive the unwavering support of our users." 'Chaos Zero Nightmare' was released on October 22 of last year and will mark its first year of service this October.

Specific departure dates and a successor structure have not yet been determined. Smilegate stated, "We will work to quickly establish a new leadership structure at Super Creative through a stable handover process." The company did not provide further details regarding the reasons behind their resignations.

CEO Kang Ki-hyun is a veteran developer with experience on titles such as 'Kingdom Under Fire', 'Shining Lore', and 'Rappelz'. CEO Kim Hyung-suk proved his development capabilities with 'Soccer Spirits' and later served as the original PD for 'Epic Seven' and general PD for 'Chaos Zero Nightmare'. The two, who first met while working at Gala Lab, co-founded Super Creative in August 2015.

They subsequently launched 'Epic Seven' in August 2018, which gained global success for its 2D animation style. Based on this performance, Smilegate Megaport signed a share acquisition agreement on April 3, 2019, securing a 64% stake in Super Creative. While the acquisition price was undisclosed at the time, it was later confirmed to be ₩119.47 billion through the following year's Smilegate Holdings consolidated audit report. In December 2022, Super Creative was merged into Smilegate Holdings and reorganized as an internal development studio, with both leaders overseeing the development of their latest title, 'Chaos Zero Nightmare', until recently.