Krafton announced on July 29 that it has launched its first global brand campaign through digital signage at Tokyo's Shibuya Scramble Crossing, one of Japan's most prominent advertising locations.

According to the company, the campaign is designed to strengthen brand recognition and showcase Krafton's intellectual property (IP) portfolio in Japan, one of its key markets for global franchise expansion. The initiative forms part of the company's long-term strategy to build and scale "big franchise IPs" with extended product life cycles (PLCs).

The campaign features 16 major franchises, including Mimesis, which recently surpassed 2 million cumulative copies sold, and PUBG: Battlegrounds.

In June, Mimesis became the first Korean game to receive the Excellence Award in the Game Design category at the CEDEC Awards 2026, presented during CEDEC, Japan's largest conference for game developers organized by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA).

The offline campaign ran from June 20 to June 26 and also featured collaboration content between PUBG Mobile and the anime series Naruto Shippuden, a title well known among Japanese players. An accompanying online campaign across social media platforms, including YouTube and X, will continue through Aug. 2.

Kingnet announced on July 29 the official launch of its new 3D massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), Yulgang: Next, in South Korea.

Yulgang: Next is based on the intellectual property (IP) of the popular martial arts comic Yulgang (The Ruler of the Land). The game blends the original work's youthful martial arts atmosphere with modern gameplay systems. Featuring cel-shaded graphics, it supports cross-platform play across mobile devices and PCs.

Players can create a variety of combat styles by combining primary skills, ultimate abilities and support skills. The game offers five playable classes—Blade Warrior, Sword Warrior, Spear Warrior, Bow Warrior and Healer—each with distinct roles and combat characteristics.

The game also includes faction battles centered on the Orthodox and Unorthodox sects, along with player-versus-player (PvP) content, guilds, party systems and companion features designed to encourage cooperative and community-based gameplay.

To celebrate the launch, Kingnet will release the game's second original soundtrack, "Together," performed by South Korean singer Song Ga-in, at 6 p.m. on July 29. The ballad, inspired by the original comic's emotional themes and martial arts world, will be available through major music streaming platforms.

Kingnet is also hosting a series of in-game launch events. A seven-day login campaign will reward players with progression items and a high-grade pet. Additional events will offer rare in-game items and special prize drawings. Players who verify pre-downloads or PC gameplay through the game's official community will also be eligible to win prizes including an iPhone 17, a Nintendo Switch 2, gaming laptops and graphics cards.

AUTOCRYPT said on July 29 that it is expanding its global business through a partnership with German automotive software company Elektrobit, combining software platforms with cybersecurity technologies.

Under the strategic partnership, AUTOCRYPT has secured exclusive distribution rights in South Korea for Elektrobit's key software solutions. The two companies will also pursue co-selling opportunities with automakers and automotive suppliers in Korea and overseas to expand new business opportunities.

Elektrobit provides technologies for automotive operating systems, digital cockpits, high-performance computing (HPC), and AUTOSAR, the international software standard for the automotive industry. AUTOCRYPT offers technologies supporting compliance with UNECE UN R155, UN R156, and ISO/SAE 21434, as well as public key infrastructure (PKI), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) security, and vehicle security testing platforms.

The two companies plan to combine Elektrobit's software platform with AUTOCRYPT's cybersecurity technologies to target Asian markets, including South Korea, India, and China.

According to AUTOCRYPT, the partnership represents business opportunities worth about 122 billion won, including an estimated 8 billion won in revenue from exclusive distribution rights for Elektrobit's key solutions in South Korea and approximately 22 billion won in new business opportunities through joint sales initiatives.

Building on the collaboration, AUTOCRYPT plans to expand beyond automotive cybersecurity into Physical AI security spanning mobility, robotics, defense, and smart infrastructure.

AhnLab reported double-digit revenue growth from its global business, led by Rakeen, its joint venture in Saudi Arabia.

The company said on July 29 that it posted preliminary consolidated revenue of 71.3 billion won and operating profit of 5.4 billion won for the second quarter of 2026. Compared with the same period a year earlier, when it recorded revenue of 62.3 billion won and operating profit of 3.5 billion won, revenue increased 14.5% and operating profit rose 55.6%.

According to AhnLab, revenue growth was driven by increased demand for products related to the National Network Security Framework (N2SF) and zero-trust security, including endpoint detection and response (EDR) and XTG solutions.

On a standalone basis, the company reported revenue of 64.3 billion won and operating profit of 7.6 billion won, up 17.1% and 14.1%, respectively, from a year earlier. Revenue increased by 9.4 billion won, while operating profit rose by 940 million won.

For the first half of 2026, consolidated revenue reached 130.4 billion won and operating profit totaled 7.3 billion won, representing year-on-year increases of 9.1% and 62.3%, respectively.

On a standalone basis, first-half revenue came to 116.7 billion won and operating profit reached 12.5 billion won. Compared with the same period last year, revenue increased by 10.9 billion won, or 10.3%, while operating profit rose by 3.0 billion won, or 31.1%.

Krafton said on July 29 that it has released its speech artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model, A.X K2 Raon-Speech, on the global AI platform Hugging Face.

A.X K2 Raon-Speech is a speech language model unveiled as part of the second-phase results of the Korean government's Sovereign AI Foundation Model project, led by the Ministry of Science and ICT. Krafton is participating in the project as a member of SK Telecom's development team.

The model combines SK Telecom's A.X K2 small language model with Krafton's proprietary speech encoder and codec technologies. Unlike conventional AI voice dialogue systems that often lose emotional nuance and intonation in users' speech, A.X K2 Raon-Speech is designed to generate natural spoken responses that preserve both emotional expression and vocal inflection.

According to the company, A.X K2 Raon-Speech is built on a 21-billion-parameter architecture and ranks first in overall Korean-language performance and third in overall English-language performance among open speech language models with fewer than 30 billion parameters.

Kakao said on July 30 that it has launched an external advisory panel under its AI & Technology Ethics Subcommittee to strengthen the company's artificial intelligence (AI) ethics governance framework.

The initiative is aimed at proactively addressing social risks emerging from the spread of agentic AI and establishing an AI policy framework aligned with a rapidly evolving regulatory environment.

The advisory panel consists of seven experts: Kim Myung-ju, Executive Director of the Korea AI Safety Institute (AISI); Lee Min-seok, professor at the College of Software Convergence at Kookmin University; Lee Sang-wook, professor in the Department of Philosophy at Hanyang University; Lee Won-tae, distinguished professor at Kookmin University; Byun Soon-yong, professor in the Department of Ethics Education at Seoul National University of Education; Yoo Jae-yeon, adjunct professor in the Division of Social Innovation Convergence at Hanyang University; and Jung Byung-soo, head of the Learning & Development Center at UNICEF.

The advisory panel held its kickoff meeting last month and officially began operations through its first regular meeting on July 29. The group plans to convene regularly throughout the year and provide guidance on establishing Kakao's AI ethics standards and governance direction.

Krafton posted record first-half revenue and operating profit, driven by continued growth of the PUBG franchise and the successful early access launch of Subnautica 2 in May.

The company said during an earnings conference call on July 29 that consolidated first-half revenue reached 2.6616 trillion won, while operating profit totaled 972.5 billion won, up 73.3% and 38.3%, respectively, from a year earlier. First-half operating profit represented 92% of the company's total operating profit for all of 2025.

Second-quarter revenue rose to 1.2902 trillion won, with operating profit increasing to 410.9 billion won, up 94.9% and 67.0%, respectively, from the same period last year. Both figures marked record highs for a second quarter.

Revenue from the PUBG franchise increased 25% year over year during the first half, while Subnautica 2 surpassed 5 million copies sold within 22 days of its early access release.

Revenue by business segment totaled 924.2 billion won from PC games, 1.1537 trillion won from mobile games, 37.7 billion won from console games and 546.0 billion won from other businesses.

On PC, new game modes such as Genopoint and Payday, together with collaboration content featuring Stellar Blade, boosted engagement for PUBG: Battlegrounds. Combined with the success of Subnautica 2, PC revenue reached 560.4 billion won in the second quarter.

On mobile, PUBG Mobile recorded its highest-ever daily revenue following the launch of the Phoenixtra X-Suit, contributing to a 5.5% year-over-year revenue increase to 45.1 billion won.

Krafton plans to expand its portfolio of well-made game modes in the second half. The company said Genopoint generated strong engagement metrics and sustained player demand for permanent availability, prompting follow-up development. Two additional well-made modes are scheduled for release in the second half of this year, with development also underway for various new modes targeted for launch between 2027 and 2028.

The company will continue expanding World of Wonder (WOW), the user-generated content (UGC) platform for PUBG Mobile. During the second quarter, UGC modes accounted for a mid-teen percentage of total playtime among users of PUBG Mobile Korea, Japan and Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), compared with approximately 20% for the traditional battle royale mode.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Bae Dong-geun said user-generated content has already gained meaningful traction among players.

"Going forward, we plan to introduce popular intellectual properties, new maps and monetization systems into the UGC ecosystem to increase player engagement and attract new users," CFO Bae said.

The newly introduced WOW Token will be used to purchase items within creator-developed maps, leading to a virtuous cycle of content consumption, replayability, and conversion to paid users. The token operates separately from existing battle royale currency. CFO Bae emphasized that because monetization is in its early stages, Krafton is prioritizing creator ecosystem expansion and user engagement over near-term revenue.

Krafton plans to continue content updates for Subnautica 2 for approximately two years before its full commercial launch, although an exact release date has not been finalized.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kim Chang-han noted that about half of the current player base consists of new users who did not play the original Subnautica, giving Krafton an opportunity to expand its global fanbase, develop the game into a broader franchise, and explore IP expansion beyond gaming.

The company will unveil five new titles at Gamescom 2026 next month in Germany, all targeted for release by 2027. The lineup includes a new project based on the PUBG franchise, as well as NO LAW, Project ZETA, Age Twisters, and TARAE: Unbound.

Krafton is also enhancing PUBG Ally, its on-device AI feature powered by a compact AI model running entirely on players' devices. Having validated the technology and its service potential, the company is developing an upgraded version based on user feedback while evaluating new gameplay and monetization opportunities.

"Going forward, we aim to build multimodal large language models (LLMs) and world models," CEO Kim said. "Based on those technologies, we plan to expand into applications for both games and physical AI."

Krafton is recruiting AI researchers through its US subsidiary Ludo Robotics and plans to support future physical AI development through a combination of internal investment and external funding.

Nexon announced on July 30 that it is launching two new limited-edition plate designs for the Nexon Hyundai Card Edition2, created in collaboration with Hyundai Card and themed around the online game Dungeon & Fighter (DNF).

The new card plates are inspired by Michaela, the Tenth Apostle character from DNF. The collection includes two designs: "Cozy," featuring a friendly super-deformed (SD) character style, and "Fury," which incorporates original artwork enhanced with holographic effects.

To celebrate the launch, Nexon is holding a promotional event for users of the Nexon Pack version of the Nexon Hyundai Card Edition2.

Customers who have not previously participated in Nexon Hyundai Card promotions can receive 50,000 Nexon Hyundai Card Point2 by spending a cumulative 50,000 won or more with the Nexon Pack card by September 17. Those who subsequently spend an additional cumulative 250,000 won and complete designated DNF in-game missions will receive an additional 150,000 points, along with game items including a +10 Equipment Amplification Ticket and a Clone Rare Avatar Full Set.

Existing promotion participants are also eligible for rewards. Users who spend a cumulative 300,000 won or more with the Nexon Pack card and complete the required in-game missions during the same promotional period will receive the same in-game item rewards.

Gravity announced on July 30 the release of “Shambles: The Green Abyss,” a major downloadable content (DLC) expansion for the roguelike text adventure game “Shambles: The Heirs of Apocalypse.”

Developed by EXRIX, Shambles: The Heirs of Apocalypse is a roguelike text adventure game. The new DLC can be played after downloading the base game and purchasing the expansion through Google Play, Apple’s App Store or Steam.

Shambles: The Green Abyss introduces a new storyline that was not covered in the original game. The expansion includes a large-scale content update featuring a new western region, additional bosses, cards and equipment. It also adds a new narrative arc titled “Greenpia and Roa Story.”

Players can experience an expanded storyline and unlock a new ending. The additional story follows the trail of Expedition Team 1, whose members disappeared during the events of the base game, while introducing new enemies and encounters.

To celebrate the launch, Gravity is offering promotional discounts for 14 days beginning July 30. During the event period, Shambles: The Green Abyss DLC will be available at a 10% discount, while Shambles: The Heirs of Apocalypse will be offered at a 50% discount.

NEOWIZ said on July 22 that it has begun pre-registration for Kingdom 2: Blazing Battlefield ("Kingdom 2"), a new mobile massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by its subsidiary FOW Games.

Unlike conventional class-based combat systems, Kingdom 2 allows players to combine races and weapons to create their own combat style. Players can choose one of three races and one of five weapon types, enabling a total of 15 different character combinations.

The game features a variety of content, including field hunting, party dungeons, the Tower of Infinity and world boss battles. Players can also strengthen their characters through rune upgrades, mana infusion and artifacts. Cooperative content includes guild housing, research and festivals.

Players who pre-register will receive a summon voucher that can be used to obtain a rare-grade armor appearance, along with enhancement materials and in-game gold. NEOWIZ will also hold a prize drawing offering Samsung Galaxy S26+ smartphones and Google Play Gift Cards to selected participants.

LG CNS announced on July 21 that it is launching an AI Transformation (AX) Training Program aimed at preparing job seekers for careers in artificial intelligence through hands-on industry training.

The program is part of the government's K-Digital Training (KDT) AI Campus initiative, which is backed by a 130 billion won investment to train 10,000 AI engineers. Overseen by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the initiative selected LG CNS as one of its training providers, with courses scheduled to begin on July 28.

LG CNS will offer two specialized tracks: a Model Context Protocol (MCP)-based Agentic AI Service Developer course and a Knowledge Graph-based AI Data Engineer course.

The Agentic AI Service Developer program is designed to teach participants how to build enterprise-grade agentic AI services using advanced AI technologies, including large language models (LLMs) and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).

The AI Data Engineer course focuses on applying knowledge graph technology to structure enterprise data so that AI systems can utilize it more effectively.

LG CNS said its AI specialists will serve as mentors throughout both programs, providing participants with practical expertise and hands-on experience that can be applied directly in industrial settings.

"We will actively contribute to nurturing future talent equipped with practical AX capabilities through the AI Campus," said Lee Ho-goon, executive vice president in charge of LG CNS's Public, Telecom and Education AX Business. "Building on the AX technology expertise we have accumulated across diverse industries, we will continue expanding our business-specialized AX training programs."

SGA Solutions announced on July 21 that it has been selected as a solution provider for South Korea's ICT SME Information Security Support Program.

The program, jointly administered by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), is designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises strengthen their cybersecurity capabilities, particularly those with limited security personnel and investment resources.

SGA Solutions will participate in the Honam regional consortium led by Piolink, providing endpoint security solutions including VirusChaser 10 AI, VirusChaser MyPC Guardian and PatchChaser.

The company will be responsible for strengthening endpoint security for participating SMEs. Endpoints include user devices connected to corporate networks, such as desktop PCs, laptops and smartphones.

VirusChaser 10 AI is an AI-powered antivirus solution that uses a deep learning engine to detect previously unknown and emerging malware variants. VirusChaser MyPC Guardian is a diagnostic solution that assesses the security status of individual PCs and identifies vulnerabilities. PatchChaser enhances endpoint security by identifying vulnerabilities and applying operating system and software patches before they can be exploited.

SGA Solutions said it expects the project to improve the overall endpoint security posture of SMEs across the Honam region.

Joycity announced on July 21 that its mobile military strategy game Gunship Battle: Total Warfare is launching a collaboration with the global science fiction animation franchise Robotech.

Robotech is a science fiction series centered on the transformable Veritech Fighter and an interstellar war. The collaboration will be rolled out in two phases. The first phase will run from July 29 through Aug. 26, with the second phase scheduled to begin after the first campaign concludes.

During the event, players will be able to experience an exclusive storyline in which they repair the legendary space battleship SDF-1 while fighting against the Zentradi forces.

The collaboration will also introduce a new shooting mini-game, Veritech Interception, along with exclusive fighter aircraft and squadron skins based on the VF-1A and VF-1J Veritech Fighters.

Additional Robotech-themed content, collaboration events and special missions will also be available throughout the campaign.

A South Korean court has dismissed Webzen Inc.'s request for a preliminary injunction seeking to block game developer Hound 13 Inc. from independently publishing its game Dragon Sword. As a result, Hound 13 will proceed with the release of Dragon Sword: Awakening on Steam as scheduled.

​According to legal sources on July 23, the Civil Agreement Division 60 of the Seoul Central District Court dismissed Webzen's injunction application against Hound 13 on July 22.

​The conflict between the two companies escalated following the launch of Dragon Sword. Released on Jan. 21 as a free-to-play online game, the title underperformed relative to market expectations. The companies subsequently blamed each other for prolonged development cycles and disappointing financial performance, with publisher Webzen and developer Hound 13 offering conflicting accounts.

​Hound 13 initially declared the publishing agreement terminated, asserting that Webzen failed to pay 60% of the minimum guarantee (MG) due after launch and attempted to acquire the developer at a depressed valuation.

​Webzen countered that Hound 13 unilaterally announced the agreement's termination without meeting legal requirements and publicly disclosed the dispute. Webzen subsequently paid the remaining MG balance specified in the contract.

​In a statement issued on July 23, Hound 13 said, "The court determined that Webzen failed to fulfill its contractual obligations within the agreed deadline and expressed a clear intention to refuse payment. Consequently, the court ruled that Hound 13's termination of the agreement was lawful and valid."

​The company added, "The court also found that Webzen failed to provide sufficient evidence regarding alleged unauthorized use of localization materials. It further ruled that the launch of Dragon Sword: Awakening would not cause irreparable harm to Webzen."

​With the injunction denied, Hound 13 will launch Dragon Sword: Awakening globally on Steam on July 23. The title was developed as a single-player buy-to-play package after Hound 13 concluded the publishing agreement had been legally terminated.

​Unlike the original Dragon Sword, which featured a gacha monetization model, Dragon Sword: Awakening was redesigned into a Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) style. Players progress through story content by collecting and team-building characters, with enhanced console user interface features and revamped character designs.

​Meanwhile, Webzen stated its intention to appeal the court's decision.

​"The company plans to file an immediate appeal to seek a renewed judicial determination on key factual and legal matters," a Webzen representative said.

​A Hound 13 representative remarked, "The court's decision on the preliminary injunction validated most of our arguments, and we expect a consistent outcome in future proceedings." The representative added, "The original Dragon Sword is currently operated by a third-party service provider outside our control. We have requested service termination and asset transfer, but the process remains stalled."

GITSN Inc. returned to profitability in the second quarter of 2026, driven by growing sales of its Alpha-H wireless backdoor hacking detection system.

​The company said on July 23 that it recorded KRW 4.9 billion in consolidated revenue and KRW 460 million in operating profit for the second quarter.

​Revenue surged 82% from KRW 2.69 billion a year earlier. Operating profit turned around from an operating loss of KRW 1.14 billion in the same period last year, while net profit reached KRW 390 million.

​First-half cumulative revenue increased 50.8% year over year to KRW 7.36 billion. Sales of Alpha-H increased roughly sevenfold, leading the earnings recovery. First-half Alpha-H revenue was more than double the company's total wireless backdoor security revenue for all of last year.

​"The increase in sales of our proprietary systems translated directly into stronger profitability and top-line growth," GITSN said. The company attributed the performance to rising adoption of 24/7 continuous monitoring security systems among government agencies, corporations, and financial institutions.

​Alpha-H has expanded beyond initial deployments in the financial sector into broader commercial adoption. The platform is currently deployed across 26 domestic organizations and exported to customers in five countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Malaysia.

​In South Korea, the system is utilized by commercial banks, securities firms, credit card issuers, insurers, public institutions, defense organizations, semiconductor manufacturers, and information technology (IT) companies. Last month, GITSN secured supply agreements with global semiconductor manufacturers, while approximately 20 additional entities, including telecommunications operators and electric utilities, are evaluating system implementation.

South Korea's appeals court has declined to call HYBE Chairman Bang Si-hyuk as a witness in the appeal of Kakao founder Kim Beom-su, who is accused of manipulating the stock price of SM Entertainment during the company's 2023 takeover battle.

Prosecutors had sought Bang's testimony to reinforce allegations that Kim conspired to manipulate SM's share price and obstruct HYBE's tender offer—claims that the trial court found insufficiently supported. With the witness request denied, the appeal is expected to proceed based primarily on existing evidence and legal arguments.

The Seoul High Court held the second appellate hearing on July 22 in Kim's case involving alleged violations of the Capital Markets Act. During the hearing, the court considered the prosecution's witness requests alongside the defense's arguments but declined to summon Bang.

The case centers on whether Kakao artificially drove up SM Entertainment's share price during the 2023 battle for control of the entertainment company to derail HYBE's tender offer. Prosecutors argue that Kakao's stock purchases constituted market manipulation, while Kim's defense maintains that the transactions were legitimate acquisitions made in the course of a normal merger and acquisition contest.

The management dispute began after SM Entertainment unveiled its "SM 3.0" strategy, ending the management structure centered on former executive producer Lee Soo-man. Lee subsequently sold his 14.8% stake in SM to HYBE, which launched a tender offer to acquire an additional 25% stake from public shareholders at 120,000 won per share.

Kakao initially sought to acquire newly issued shares and convertible bonds in cooperation with SM's management. However, those plans were blocked after a court granted Lee's request for an injunction prohibiting the share issuance. Kakao then began purchasing SM shares directly in the open market.

As SM's share price climbed above HYBE's 120,000 won tender offer price, HYBE acquired only about 0.98% of additional shares instead of its targeted 25% stake.

The takeover battle concluded in March 2023 when HYBE withdrew its bid for SM. Kakao subsequently launched its own tender offer at 150,000 won per share and became SM's largest shareholder. HYBE tendered all of its holdings into Kakao's offer but was left with a residual stake because the offer was oversubscribed. It later sold its remaining shares to Tencent Music Entertainment in 2025.

Prosecutors allege that Kakao conspired with private equity firm Oneasia Partners, investing approximately 240 billion won to keep SM's share price above 120,000 won and thereby frustrate HYBE's tender offer. They claim Kakao's internal "Project S Team" purchased SM shares at prices above the tender offer price on 553 occasions during the offer period in coordination with Oneasia Partners.

Kim's defense argues that SM's shares were already trading above the tender offer price at the time and that Kakao's purchases were legitimate transactions necessary to secure management control. The defense also maintains there is no evidence that Kim directed or conspired to manipulate the stock price.

The trial court acquitted Kim, acknowledging Kakao's acquisition efforts and the activities of Project S Team but concluding that prosecutors had failed to prove Kim recognized an intent to manipulate the market, directed the transactions or conspired with others to commit market manipulation.

On appeal, prosecutors continue to challenge that ruling by focusing on Kim's reporting and approval process and the purpose of the stock purchases. With Bang's testimony excluded, the appellate court is expected to determine whether the existing evidence—including meeting records, messages and trading data—is sufficient to establish Kim's involvement and an intent to manipulate SM's share price.

South Korean cybersecurity company GITSN on July 22 presented a hardware-layer security solution designed to block wireless backdoor attacks as artificial intelligence (AI)-powered autonomous vulnerability discovery enters a new phase.

The announcement follows Anthropic's introduction of Claude Mythos Preview, a next-generation AI model that has demonstrated agentic coding and reasoning capabilities capable of autonomously identifying software security vulnerabilities and generating functional exploit code, raising concerns over a new class of endpoint security threats.

In response, South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) has joined Project Glasswing, a global AI security initiative. Domestic cybersecurity companies, including AhnLab, are also strengthening defense strategies centered on exposure management to improve the speed of threat detection, analysis and response.

At the same time, wireless backdoor attacks—where malicious hardware is covertly embedded during device manufacturing or within the supply chain to bypass conventional network defenses—are expected to become a growing threat. Against this backdrop, GITSN presented Alpha-H as a solution for continuously detecting wireless backdoor attacks.

According to GITSN, Alpha-H monitors the entire radio frequency environment within a protected area in real time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The system is designed to eliminate vulnerabilities in the physical radio frequency domain, where data is ultimately transmitted, preventing data exfiltration at its source.

A South Korean court has postponed until Sept. 2 its ruling in Nexon Korea Corp.'s lawsuit seeking to overturn a 11.642 billion won penalty imposed by the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) over alleged manipulation of probability-based items in MapleStory. The delay comes after Nexon submitted additional legal briefs shortly before the scheduled ruling, giving the court more time to review arguments from both sides.

According to the legal community on July 22, the Administrative Division 6-3 of the Seoul High Court changed the ruling date for Nexon's lawsuit seeking to cancel the KFTC's corrective order and administrative fine from 2 p.m. that day to Sept. 2.

The postponement is believed to reflect Nexon's decision to continue submitting legal briefs through July 15, just one week before the scheduled ruling. The court is expected to conduct additional review given the potential impact of legal standards governing probability-based game items on the broader gaming industry.

The lawsuit is not centered on whether there was a legal obligation at the time to disclose probability information. Instead, it focuses on whether Nexon failed over an extended period to disclose information that could materially influence consumers' purchasing decisions.

The case stems from Cube, a paid in-game item introduced in 2010. The KFTC concluded that beginning in 2011 Nexon altered the probabilities so that certain highly sought-after potential options, including combinations known by players as "BoboBo" and "DeuDeuDeu," would no longer appear. The regulator also found that in 2013 Nexon reduced the rank-up probability of Black Cube without informing users. The KFTC determined that the conduct constituted deceptive commercial practices under the Act on Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce, etc., imposing an administrative fine of 11.642 billion won.

Nexon, however, argues that no legal obligation to disclose probability information existed at the time of the conduct and that applying later disclosure standards to past actions amounts to retroactive regulation. The company also contends that the statute of limitations for administrative sanctions has already expired.

The KFTC maintains that, regardless of whether there was an explicit obligation to disclose probabilities, withholding information that could materially affect consumers' purchasing decisions constituted deceptive conduct under the Electronic Commerce Act in force at the time.

The ruling is drawing attention because it could shape not only the scope of legal liability for past operation of probability-based game items but also future interpretation of regulations governing such monetization systems across South Korea's gaming industry.

Separately, the postponement is also expected to delay a truck protest planned by users of MapleStory Idle ("Meki"), which had been scheduled for July 22, to Sept. 2. Players have been preparing demonstrations against Nexon, alleging that the "HP Increase" and "Damage Taken Reduction" effects did not function properly for an extended period and raising concerns over the company's compensation plan. In response, the MapleStory Idle operations team plans to hold a meeting with users in August.

Fasoo AI is expanding its artificial intelligence business into the K-beauty sector by developing an AI-powered beauty platform for RIAHN Hair, a company selected for South Korea's 2026 AI Transformation (AX) One-Stop Voucher Program.

The government-backed AX voucher program, valued at 26 billion won, is designed to accelerate corporate AI transformation by providing integrated support for artificial intelligence, cloud computing and data services through a voucher system.

Fasoo AI was selected as a supplier in the AI development category, which focuses on foundation model-based AI technologies. Companies participating in the program can also select providers for cloud infrastructure, including GPUs and software-as-a-service (SaaS), as well as data acquisition and processing. Final project operators are selected through an evaluation process.

RIAHN Hair, the lead company for the project, operates several beauty franchise brands in South Korea, including RIAHN Hair, H Hairstyle, and RIAHN Wig.

Through the initiative, RIAHN Hair aims to develop an AI-powered hyper-personalized beauty experience platform to strengthen its position in the global beauty technology market.

Under the project, Fasoo AI will develop the platform's AI capabilities using its Ellm agentic AI transformation platform. Naver Cloud will provide cloud infrastructure, while LabQ will be responsible for data-related services.

The AI beauty platform will feature virtual simulations based on users' facial characteristics and personal preferences, while also providing personalized recommendations for hairstyles and designers.

Wemade Max announced on July 21 that it has launched Wind Runner Idle, a new idle role-playing game (RPG) developed by its subsidiary LightCON, in South Korea and Taiwan.

The game reimagines the Wind Runner intellectual property (IP) as an idle RPG while incorporating the franchise's signature fast-paced gameplay into its combat system.

Wind Runner Idle features a proprietary combat mechanic built around Combo, Fever, and Fever Burst, combining the convenience of idle gameplay with more dynamic combat and responsive action.

Players can freely customize their teams using more than 150 characters, companions and mounts. The game also offers a variety of content, including the real-time player-versus-player (PvP) Arena mode and Companion Land, a casual decorating feature.

To celebrate the official launch, Wemade Max is holding a series of in-game events.

Players who completed pre-registration will receive the legendary character Stella and the legendary mount Sky Ruler Griffin. In addition, users can earn various in-game rewards, including rubies and summon tickets, through the 3,000 Summons Growth Support event and the Stage Clear event.