Krafton

Krafton is a developer and publisher.

Krafton Webpage, Facebook

Krafton is a holding company established by the South Korean developer Bluehole in November 2018, headquartered in Seongnam. The name KRAFTON - inspired by medieval craftsmen’s guilds - was chosen from among 900 candidates following a five-month selection process.

History of Krafton

Beginnings and dynamic growth

On November 5, 2018, Bluehole announced the creation of KRAFTON, a holding company designed to bring all its entities together under a single brand. In addition to Bluehole, KRAFTON also owns PUBG Corporation, Bluehole Pnix, Bluehole Squall, Red Sahara Studios, and Delusion Studio.

In June 2019, another company was established under KRAFTON – Striking Distance Studios. The studio was headed by Glen Schofield, co-founder of the well-known Sledgehammer Games. The studio was tasked with developing role-playing games set in the Playerunknown's Battlegrounds universe and revealed its first project during The Game Awards 2020. The project was a survival horror game called The Callisto Protocol, set to be published by KRAFTON.

In December 2020, KRAFTON announced that it had absorbed the publishing division of PUBG Corporation. From that point on, the team behind Playerunknown's Battlegrounds operated under the name PUBG Studio. In 2020, Bluehole Squall was also shut down due to internal conflicts within the company. Additionally, in 2020, Bluehole Pnix and Delusion Studio were merged to form a new entity called RisingWings. On May 13, 2021, KRAFTON announced that it had acquired the South Korean studio Dreamotion. In October, Unknown Worlds Entertainment, the studio behind the globally acclaimed Subnautica series, joined KRAFTON.

In November 2022, KRAFTON acquired Neon Giant, the studio behind the well-received cyberpunk action RPG The Ascent. Under KRAFTON's ownership, Neon Giant was tasked with developing an open-world first-person shooter.

A spiritual successor to Dead Space, a new competitor for The Sims, and other projects

The Callisto Protocol launched on December 2, 2022. The game received mixed-to-positive reviews, scoring between 68 and 70/100 in the media, while Steam users rated it as “mostly positive.” Both players and critics pointed out performance problems, and industry analysts were underwhelmed by the game’s sales. With a development budget of $162 million, the game was expected to sell 5 million copies quickly; however, during that period, only 2 million units actually reached players.

As Glen Schofield later explained, The Callisto Protocol launched in an unsatisfactory state primarily because the publisher had not given the developers enough time to complete the project. Because of that, the developers had to cut content, resulting in a game riddled with technical issues. Despite later improvements through patches, The Callisto Protocol ultimately fell short of expectations. However, in August 2024, it was announced that the game would receive a spin-off - a roguelike action title called [Redacted].

Krafton's next major release came in February 2024, when Moonbreaker, a turn-based battler developed by Unknown Worlds Entertainment, made its debut. The game earned “very positive” reviews on Steam, but it couldn’t match the phenomenal success of the studio’s earlier hit, Subnautica.

Krafton, however, didn’t restrict itself to publishing alone. In 2021, it released the tactical shooter Thunder Tier One, which, despite its ambitions, failed to make a major impact. Next up were Dark and Darker Mobile - a mobile adaptation of the popular PC game Dark and Darker - and inZOI, a life simulator positioned as a competitor to The Sims series.

Furthermore, in August 2024, Krafton announced the acquisition of Tango Gameworks - saving the studio from closure - as well as the rights to the Hi-Fi Rush franchise.