NCSOFT's Mobile Casual Division is entering external developer game publishing within the year. While it previously focused on acquiring and nurturing studios, moving forward it will take on flagship titles from non-subsidiary developers as well and bring them onto its proprietary platform. Anel Ceman, Senior Vice President and Head of the Mobile Casual Division, revealed that related news could be unveiled within a month or two.

On August 26, at Gamescom 2026 in Cologne, Germany, Ceman met with reporters to explain the current business status and plans through 2030 for the Mobile Casual Division. Having built his career in the European mobile casual industry, he joined NCSOFT in August last year to lead the organization.

Ceman agreed with the assessment that the overall market is in a state of stagnation, but explained that trends diverge when broken down by genre. While downloads are declining, in-app purchases are increasing, and the puzzle genre has grown by more than 20%. He did not disclose the base timeline or source for the growth rate. An increasing number of companies are also shifting toward hybrid casual, which combines ad revenue with in-app purchases.

Ceman defined these two genres as NCSOFT's core focus. Citing the example of Dream Games reshaping the market in 2021 within the match-3 genre, he added that even markets that appear stagnant continue to evolve.

Not a Holding Company, but a Platform: OptiFlow Connecting Four Studios

In less than two years, NCSOFT acquired four mobile casual studios across four countries: Germany's JustPlay, Vietnam's Lihuhu, South Korea's SpringComes, and Slovenia's Moving Eye. The total investment scale exceeds $300 million. Based on this track record, Ceman introduced NCSOFT as the third-largest strategic acquirer in the global gaming industry.

The axis connecting these studios is 'OptiFlow,' a proprietary platform currently being built. Ceman defined this structure as a platform rather than a holding company, presenting a vision that connects the four studios and the new publishing business to OptiFlow. OptiFlow covers marketing, user acquisition, data and AI, and live operations.

Ceman described the ecosystem in three layers. At the top is the content layer, where games made by the studios and published titles reside. In-house developments, publishing titles, and acquired games all fall here. The second is the data intelligence layer, handling predictive LTV (lifetime value), return on ad spend (ROAS), experimentation, and churn prediction. These results aggregate into the third layer, OptiFlow, which runs user acquisition, distribution, and live operations across the entire portfolio as a single engine.

It has been about a year since construction began. Ceman highlighted that system efficiency increases as games and data accumulate, citing the ability to apply methods proven at one studio across the entire portfolio as a key strength.

The organization has also changed. The mobile casual unit was elevated from a center to a division, reporting directly to the CEO. He explained that this was not merely a name change, but a structural reorganization that strengthened both authority and responsibility.

"JustPlay's Growth Driven by LiveOps and iOS"

In response to a question regarding JustPlay's monthly active users (MAU) increasing by 70% year-over-year, Ceman cited two factors. The first is customer lifetime value. Features such as LiveOps, gamification, and challenges boosted user engagement. The second is distribution. As Apple App Store policies changed last year, iOS, which had previously lagged behind Android, saw a larger margin of growth. He noted that since iOS is still catching up to Android in terms of functionality, there is even greater room for expansion.

Regarding the sustainability of the rewarded model, his answer was that the market itself is expanding. While the portion of user acquisition budgets allocated to rewarded networks was negligible just two years ago, some companies now spend up to 30%. He interpreted the presence of larger players remaining in the market as room for growth. Efforts are underway to expand JustPlay's model to other studios within the group, with plans to open it to external studios around next year.

AI utilization is divided into distribution and monetization. In distribution, ad creative production is key. Scaling requires continuously producing thousands of new video ads and playable ads, and attaching AI speeds up production. He explained that performance forecasting and budget allocation for thousands of campaigns running simultaneously across the portfolio are also areas impossible to manage manually. In monetization, LiveOps is the pillar. Machine learning models are used to determine which offers and features to display to which users and at what time.

He viewed game generation differently. Ceman stated that while AI can make simple games, it will take time before it can create games that generate global revenue, taking a phased approach. Phase 1 focuses on playable ad production, while also using AI to generate assets such as UI, characters, and puzzle blocks.

He explained that decision-making speed has also transformed since introducing OptiFlow. While forming a hypothesis a few years ago meant requesting data analysts and waiting one to two weeks for results, team members can now ask questions in Korean or English and receive instant analytical results.

"Targeting 30% of 5 Trillion Won Revenue by 2030"

NCSOFT's revenue target for 2030 is 5 trillion won. Ceman set a goal for the mobile casual business to account for about 30% of that, or 1.5 trillion won. This is a figure that needs to be raised from its 22% share in Q2.

First, NCSOFT plans to selectively acquire studios that bring cumulative benefits across the portfolio. It currently has studios in Europe, South Korea, and Vietnam, and is also considering markets where mobile casual development talent is concentrated, such as China, India, and Türkiye, as potential candidates.

Next is the publishing strategy. By providing global distribution to developers with no intention of selling their company, the focus will be placed on two titles with a high proportion of in-app purchases. Last is expansion: taking titles with proven performance in one market, putting them on the shared platform, and operating them globally.

Ceman emphasized, "We came to find diamonds in the rough. Now, we connect them to the world."