KRAFTON, Inc. has revealed its 2026 management strategy and mid-to-long-term growth plans during its company-wide town hall meeting, KRAFTON LIVE TALK (KLT), held on January 15. The company reaffirmed its strong focus on gaming as its core business, with a long-term vision to build original Franchise IPs instead of relying on one-off game successes.
KRAFTON is advancing a structured global game development pipeline aimed at identifying, validating, and scaling future Franchise IPs. At the same time, the company continues to strengthen its existing gaming portfolio to ensure sustainable, long-term growth across global markets.
India Plays a Key Role in KRAFTON’s Long-Term Growth Strategy
In India, KRAFTON’s strategy is being executed through KRAFTON India’s active involvement in game publishing, live-operations, developer incubation, and ecosystem building. This approach positions India as a key market for sustained, game-led growth.
KRAFTON India is supporting large-scale live games, publishing India-first titles, and nurturing early-stage studios through the KRAFTON India Gaming Incubator (KIGI). This helps connect local talent with global production standards while focusing on long-term IP creation.
KRAFTON CEO CH Kim shared the company’s strategic direction under the theme ‘Franchise IP & Expanded Value.’ He explained that the company will continue its mid-to-long-term goal of securing a “Big Franchise IP”, built on three major priorities announced in 2025.
These include significantly increasing first-party game production, expanding publishing volume, and optimising resource allocation. The aim is to develop IPs that can scale across genres, platforms, and service formats, offering long-term value over extended product life cycles.
“We will remain focused on KRAFTON’s core gaming business as we begin to move into the execution phase of producing new titles,” said CH Kim. “While expanding our existing IPs as content platforms, we will begin to create Franchise IPs via our new title pipeline and creative leadership.”
Execution Phase Begins with Strong Global Development Framework
Over the past year, KRAFTON has strengthened its creative leadership and upgraded its global development and publishing frameworks. In 2026, the company will move fully into the execution phase, accelerating the development of new titles designed to evolve into long-term franchises.
This execution-focused approach is supported in India through live-operations expertise, India-first publishing efforts, and early-stage studio development under KIGI, ensuring a strong pipeline of future-ready games.
Building a Learn-Fast, Scale-Up Game Development Pipeline
To speed up game creation while reducing risk, KRAFTON introduced a small-team development structure in 2025, led by newly recruited creative talent. This model focuses on early or targeted releases, including Early Access and limited market launches.
These releases allow teams to test gameplay, audience response, and monetisation potential before scaling further investment.
Currently, KRAFTON operates a 26-project development pipeline, with 12 titles planned for release over the next two years. Instead of launching games globally at once, projects begin in select markets with clear core audiences, enabling data-driven decisions on long-term potential.
Several titles released in Early Access last year crossed one million sales and built strong player communities. These games have been identified as strategic IPs for 2026, with plans to expand their product life cycles and grow them into full-fledged franchises.
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AI and Technology Inovation Focused on Core Gaming
Alongside game development, KRAFTON continues to apply AI technologies to improve gameplay quality and development efficiency. These tools are designed to streamline workflows and allow creative teams to focus more on design, iteration, and polish.
These innovations support KRAFTON’s global game development efforts, including publishing and incubation activities in India.
Looking ahead, KRAFTON plans to explore opportunities aligned with its strengths as a game company, backed by years of technical expertise and R&D in building large-scale interactive gaming experiences.