Report: Mintrocket to go independent, Nexon to maintain partnership with devs through investment
Mintrocket, known for last year’s hit Dave the Diver, is reportedly going independent from its parent company Nexon. Let’s refrain from making the Best Indie Game of 2023 jokes.
Dave the Diver
UPDATE (September 12): Nexon clarified that while Mintrocket will be established as a new legal entity, it will become its wholly owned subsidiary. The publishser believes that this move will strenghten the studio’s “independent culture with faster decision making and simplified business procedures.”
- Nexon will hold a meeting regarding the independence of Mintrocket on September 11, according to South Korean business newspaper Hankyung (The Korea Economic Daily). The publication noted that the company already had internal discussions on this topic in the second quarter.
- “We are preparing to establish an independent company for Mintrocket,” Nexon explained.
- It is worth noting that while Mintrocket devs will form a new legal entity after leaving its parent company, Nexon will continue to invest in the studio.
- As Hankyung pointed out, this move could be Nexon’s attempt to retain its successful developers, especially after seeing several key employees quitting the company to start their own ventures.
- VP Kim Dae-hwon left Nexon last November and then founded his own studio Averton (working on an unannounced MMORPG). In April, Park Byung-rim, one of creators of Blue Archive, established Dynamis One to develop a game codenamed Project KV (it was recently canceled amid plagiarism allegations).
- “If [Nexon] cannot prevent developers from becoming independent, it will instead seek business synergies through investment,” Hankyung noted.
Established in 2022, Mintrocket is a standalone subsidiary of Nexon focused on small original games based on new IPs. It was part of the company’s strategy to diversify its portfolio of online titles and expand into new markets.
Mintrocket’s debut project, Dave the Diver, launched last year to a great success. It received very positive reviews from both critics and players, selling 1 million copies in its first two weeks and reaching the 4 million mark in 12 months. The game even caused controversy after some organizations, including The Game Awards, labeled it “indie.”
