NCSoft, CJ ENM join hands and work on global market content

Game developer and tech firm NCSoft and entertainment & mass media leader CJ ENM plan to cooperate on making inroads into the global content platform market. The former’s information technological knowhow and the latter’s abundant experience in entertainment business will create a synergy effect when they cooperate to build up core capabilities to target the ever-competitive global content industry.

NCSoft announced on Tuesday that it signed an MOU agreement with CJ ENM to forge a cooperative business relationship in content and digital platform. Accordingly, the two contract parties decided to set up a joint venture within this year. The gaming company did not go into details regarding where their joint business is headed.

Industry insiders analyze that the two South Korean giants share common interests and find it attractive to take advantage of each other’s strengths – NCSoft’s information technological power and CJ ENM’s excellence in entertainment content and business knowhow. On one hand, NCSoft is just a few steps away from launching a K-pop platform this year. On the other hand, CJ ENM last year made contactless concerts successful such as KCON:TACT and 2020 MAMA.

NCSoft’s K-pop entertainment platform Universe is scheduled to hit the market in the first quarter of this year. This fandom-based platform allows K-pop artists and their fans to interact and communicate online and offline. Universe’s star-studded lineup includes Kang Daniel, MONSTA X, IZONE, WJSN, etc. In mid-November last year, NCSoft started accepting pre-signups across the world. Surprisingly, one million-plus people from 186 countries flocked to the platform service within a month. Their joint venture will utilize a combination of NCSoft’s digital entertainment business and CJ ENM’s intellectual property on K-pop artists and content development competence.


Seong-Mo Kim mo@donga.com