What Happened?
According to a report by Bloomberg, Tencent has contacted the family of the late Kim Jung-ju, founder of South Korean gaming giant Nexon, to discuss a potential acquisition. However, the complex shareholding structure of the Kim family, which also involves shares held by the South Korean government, adds uncertainty to the deal.
It remains unclear whether NXC is willing to sell its stake in Nexon, and it has not been confirmed if Tencent has made a purchase offer. The deal structure is still under discussion, and both parties have declined to comment on the matter.
Nexon is set to launch the blockchain game “MapleStory N” in 2025, allowing players to own virtual assets through NFTs, reflecting its active transformation towards Web3. If Tencent successfully acquires Nexon, it may enhance the company’s content portfolio in the blockchain gaming sector.
Tencent Plans to Acquire South Korean Gaming Giant Nexon
According to Bloomberg, Chinese tech company Tencent has reached out to the family of the late Kim Jung-ju, founder of South Korean gaming giant Nexon, to discuss the possibility of acquisition, aiming to strengthen its position in the global gaming market. This is not Tencent’s first expression of interest in Nexon; as early as 2019, Tencent participated in a bidding process for Nexon’s controlling stake, which attracted attention from international private equity firms such as KKR and Hillhouse, but ultimately fell through due to price disagreements. Following Kim Jung-ju’s death in 2022, changes in the shareholding structure of Nexon’s parent company, NXC Corp., have introduced new variables to the potential acquisition.
Founded in 1994, Nexon is known for its classic game “MapleStory” and is one of the first companies in Asia to invest in massive multiplayer online role-playing games. Although Nexon is a South Korean company, it chose to list on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in 2011, with a current market capitalization of approximately $15 billion.
After Kim Jung-ju’s passing in 2022, the Kim family transferred part of their NXC shares to the South Korean government in 2023 to pay inheritance taxes. His wife and two daughters inherited his shares in NXC. Additionally, in August 2023, they sold NXC’s treasury shares back to NXC for 650 billion Korean won (approximately $478 million), cashing in on those stocks.
According to local media reports, the South Korean government later attempted to sell its NXC shares but was unsuccessful in finding a buyer. Nexon’s latest financial report indicates that NXC and its subsidiary NXMH BV collectively hold a 44.4% stake in Nexon, while Kim Jung-ju’s wife and daughters collectively hold nearly 67.6% of NXC shares, indicating that the Kim family still holds control over Nexon. Reports from foreign media indicate that it is still unclear whether NXC is willing to sell its stake in Nexon, and it cannot be confirmed whether Tencent has made a purchase offer. The deal structure is still under consideration, and both parties have declined to comment on it.
Nexon Embraces Blockchain: Tencent’s Opportunity to Enhance its Content Portfolio?
In May 2025, Nexon’s subsidiary Nexpace will officially launch the blockchain version of “MapleStory N,” integrating blockchain technology and allowing players to own in-game assets through NFTs, making “MapleStory” one of the traditional major IPs venturing into Web3.
According to a report released by analytics platform DappRadar in early 2025, the activity rate of blockchain games reached a year-on-year growth of 368% in January 2025, with new generation titles like “Off The Grid” and “MapleStory N” seen as key drivers of this trend. However, the report also indicated that starting from the latter part of Q1 2025, the overall number of active wallets in Web3 games experienced a decline of approximately 10%, reflecting that while users are interested in new forms of games, the adoption remains limited by technological barriers and resistance from traditional gaming communities.
Unlike earlier Web3 games that focused on “Play-to-Earn,” Nexon has chosen to start with high-quality content, preserving the complete gaming experience while introducing token mechanisms, which is seen as an attempt to mitigate the negative perception of “blockchain as merely a tool for speculation.” For a group like Tencent, which holds vast gaming resources and is actively expanding overseas, such an approach aligns well with its development direction.
In fact, Tencent has been continuously expanding its investment in gaming IPs over the past few years, including investing $1.3 billion in a new division of Ubisoft to acquire partial rights to well-known IPs such as “Assassin’s Creed.” Nexon and Tencent also have prior business cooperation experience; their jointly developed game “Dungeon & Fighters” has contributed significant revenue for both parties over the years. In the future, if Tencent has the opportunity to gain control over Nexon’s core IP and new technologies, the company’s dominance in the gaming market is sure to increase significantly.
Source: Bloomberg, Cointelegraph