NEXON Korea is running its annual developer conference NDC26, managing the global and Korean versions of Blue Archive with a recent mass ban, and preparing the first public alpha test of the Mabinogi Eternity Project in September 2026.
NEXON Korea's recent activity centers on its developer conference, NDC26, which opened June 16 in Pangyo. CEO Lee Jung-hoon described AI as a revolution in creation and computation, while Co-CEO Kang Dae-hyun argued that the competitive edge now lies in what he called contextual compound interest, the accumulated understanding between creators and players. He cited Steam data showing only 3% of releases received over 1,000 reviews, and that 57% of playtime in 2024 went to games over six years old.
Conference talks covered internal technical work. A NEXON Games engineer detailed a new TTS model for Blue Archive using Style-Bert-VITS2 to improve emotional expression in Japanese character voices. A NEXPACE blockchain lead presented a postmortem of five years building MapleStory Universe, describing three walls the project hit after launch: security risk of asset approvals, friction of transaction fees, and the cost of vetting external builders. An indie developer presented a case study on how Shape of Dreams sold 1 million copies using a frequently updated demo.
Separately, NEXON Korea announced on August 13 that it permanently suspended 122,046 accounts in the global version of Blue Archive for abusing in-game mechanics. This follows earlier bans of 23,268 accounts in May 2025 and 17,712 in March 2026. The company also set the first public alpha test for the Mabinogi Eternity Project, the Unreal Engine version of Mabinogi, for September 3 to 6 in Korea.
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Aug 13
NEXON Korea announced on August 13 that it permanently suspended 122,046 accounts in the global version of Blue Archive. The stated reason is that these players were found to be abusing in-game mechanics to gain an unfair advantage over others. The restriction period is permanent. NEXON said unauthorized programs can harm the game environment and other players and will not be tolerated under any circumstances, and it urged players to report suspicious behavior. The specific methods used and how the scale reached this level were not disclosed. This is not the first such action: the global version saw 23,268 accounts banned in May 2025 and 17,712 accounts in March 2026, both for unfair play. The current ban applies to the global and Korean versions operated by NEXON Korea. The Japanese version of Blue Archive is run by Yostar and is a separate service. Blue Archive is a school-themed RPG developed by Nexon Games, set in the academy city of Kivotos, where the player acts as Sensei guiding students. The global version is available on iOS, Android, and PC via Steam.
Aug 6
NEXON Korea announced on July 23 that the MABINOGI ETERNITY PROJECT, the Unreal Engine version of the MMORPG Mabinogi, will hold an alpha test in Korea from September 3 to 6. It is the first test aimed at a large number of players. Applications run July 23 to August 12 at 23:59. Players experience early stages with newly appearing characters, with movement and hit feel improved from past trial play feedback.
Jun 18
At NEXON Developers Conference 26, NEXPACE blockchain lead Ryu Gi-hyeok presented a postmortem of five years building MapleStory Universe, the blockchain ecosystem around MapleStory. He described three walls the project hit after launch: the security risk of asset approvals, the friction of transaction fees, and the cost of vetting external builders on a permissioned chain. The talk centered on whether blockchain's permissionless ideal can coexist with a developer's responsibility to protect users.
Jun 18
Sim Eun-seop, CEO and lead programmer of Lizard Smoothie, presented a case study at NEXON's NDC26 on how the indie game Shape of Dreams sold 1 million copies within three months of its September 2024 Steam release. The team, two engineers with no art background, focused on gameplay and used a free demo as a primary marketing tool, updating it roughly 70 times over 2 years and 9 months. Data collection tools were built in to track player behavior, leading to key changes like adding WASD controls after a focus group test showed demand, and nerfing early enemy attacks that caused 45-50% death rates in the first stages.
Jun 18
At NEXON Korea's NDC26 conference, NEXON Games engineer Kim Myeong-ji detailed the development of a new TTS model for Blue Archive. The team adopted Style-Bert-VITS2, an open-source Japanese-focused model, to improve emotional expression and naturalness in character voices. The upgrade targets better reproduction of nuances like distress and joy, addressing specific feedback on long vowels and pitch in Japanese lines.
Jun 16
NEXON Korea's annual developer conference NDC26 opened on June 16 in Pangyo, South Korea, with a welcome speech by CEO Lee Jung-hoon and a keynote by Co-CEO Kang Dae-hyun. Lee described AI as a "revolution in creation and computation" that gives everyone the same implementation tools, making the key differentiator a developer's insight into what users truly value. Kang's keynote, titled "In an era where implementation becomes easy, what do we compete on?," argued that the competitive edge now lies in what he called "contextual compound interest"-the accumulated understanding and relationships built over time between creators and players. He contrasted this with "simple interest" approaches that fail to carry lessons forward. Kang cited data showing Steam releases grew from about 2,800 in 2015 to roughly 20,000 in 2025, yet only 3% received over 1,000 reviews, and 57% of playtime in 2024 went to games over six years old. He warned that while AI can produce outputs, it cannot create the promises and trust that sustain live games. The conference runs through June 18 with 51 sessions across nine tracks, including a talk from Embark Studios.