NCsoft finalizes spin-off of quality assurance, software development divisions

The game company is carrying out the spinoffs as it seeks to moderate sliding profitability, turning internally and externally for CEOs.

NCsoft's headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi [NCSOFT]

NCsoft plans to spin off two of its major divisions into separate subsidiaries by Oct. 1, appointing two CEO candidates to lead each new company.

The game publisher is pushing ahead with the spinoff to enhance competitiveness in its primary game business and to establish a management structure conducive to an efficient decision-making process.

NCsoft convened a board meeting on Monday and finalized the decision.

The two divisions separating from the parent company are quality assurance (QA) and application software development and supply. They will exist as fully-owned subsidiaries under NCsoft and are tentatively titled NC QA Company and NC IDS Company.

NC QA Company will focus on software quality assurance services, computer programming, system integration and management. The main business areas of NC IDS Company are software development and supply, as well as consultation on computer system integration.

NCsoft will hold an extraordinary shareholder meeting on Aug. 14 to finalize the split and the establishment of the two new companies.

The two CEO candidates for NC QA and NC IDS Company are Kim Jin-seop, left, and Lee Jae-jin. [NCSOFT]

The CEO candidate for NC QA is NCsoft’s Kim Jin-seop, currently the director of the company’s QA Center. Kim joined NCsoft in 2003 and has been heading the QA center since 2018.

NCsoft tapped former Woongjin Thinkbig CEO Lee Jae-jin to head its software development subsidiary. Lee is known as an IT management specialist who joined Woongjin Group in 2004. He served in the top spot at Woongjin and Woongjin Thinkbig from 2018 to 2024.

The game company’s plans for spin-offs were outlined last month on the back of a continuing decline in profitability. It offered voluntary resignation packages as part of efforts to downsize its workforce in May, as well as a large-scale restructuring during which 20 percent of the executives resigned.

Co-CEO Park Byung-moo also mentioned that the company was reviewing a spinoff of certain divisions to be completed by the end of this year.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]