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JOURNEY · DETAIL
KRAFTON: From Bluehole Studio to Global Gaming Giant
Founded: Chang Byung-gyu · KRAFTON, Inc. (formerly Bluehole)
JOURNEY
Key Fields
FIELD STAMPSIndustryContent / Creator Economy
RegionGlobal
ScaleGiant
ChannelOther
Origin
Founder Chang Byung-gyu, who previously founded a search engine company and achieved financial independence after selling it to Naver, established Bluehole Studio in 2007 with the goal of creating large-scale online games for the global market. Their debut title, TERA, was a massive investment that failed in both reputation and revenue in the domestic Korean market, pushing the company to the brink of bankruptcy. Forced to return to the drawing board, they asked: what kind of gameplay can make global players addicted? After 2015, Chang decided to acquire and merge several small studios, rebranding as KRAFTON. In 2016, they signed the concept project 'PUBG' developed by Irish modder Brendan Greene, which ultimately changed the company's destiny.
Milestones
2007
Founding of Bluehole Studio Turning Point
After selling his previous company, Chang Byung-gyu founded Bluehole Studio in 2007. He assembled a large team with tens of millions of dollars in investment to develop the MMORPG 'TERA', aiming to penetrate the Korean PC gaming market with top-tier graphics and action combat. The company bet almost all its resources on this single title, setting the stage for a future crisis.
2011
TERA Launch Failure
Launched in South Korea in January 2011, 'TERA' was criticized for its hollow gameplay and chaotic in-game purchase design, leading to a rapid decline in concurrent users. The Western version, published by En Masse, also quickly shifted to a free-to-play model. The hundreds of millions of dollars invested were never recouped, plunging Bluehole into long-term losses and making it a famous example of 'burning cash' in the Korean gaming industry.
2017
PUBG Early Access Launch on Steam PMF
On March 23, 2017, 'PUBG' launched on Steam in Early Access for $29.99. Within three months, it sold over 5 million copies, and its peak concurrent users quickly reached the top three in Steam history. The battle royale gameplay was validated as a global demand, and Bluehole's revenue that year reached approximately 666.5 billion KRW, marking a turnaround from insolvency to massive profitability.
2018
Peak Performance and Tencent's Entry Growth
By 2018, cumulative global sales of PUBG exceeded 55 million copies. Tencent became the publisher for the Chinese market and partnered to launch the mobile version, 'PUBG Mobile'. That same year, Bluehole rebranded as KRAFTON to integrate its structure. Annual revenue reached approximately 1.12 trillion KRW, and Tencent became the second-largest shareholder, solidifying a global distribution system.
2021
IPO on the Korea Exchange Shift
On August 10, 2021, KRAFTON listed on the Korea Exchange with an offering price of 498,000 KRW, raising approximately 4.3 trillion KRW—the second-largest IPO in South Korean history. However, the stock price fell about 9% on the first day, as the market questioned the company's 90% revenue reliance on a single IP (PUBG) and its heavy dependence on the Chinese mobile market, forcing management to initiate a multi-IP strategy.
2026
inZOI Breakthrough and Multi-IP Ecosystem Growth
In March 2025, the life simulation game 'inZOI' launched in Early Access, selling over 1 million copies in two weeks and becoming the company's second growth curve. In 2026, Q1 revenue grew 56.9% YoY and Q2 grew 94.9% YoY. The company publicly announced a 3 trillion KRW revenue target and is moving beyond its single-product positioning through studio acquisitions and esports operations.
Turning Points
- Signing Brendan Greene in 2016 and turning the battle royale mod into a standalone product was the most critical comeback after the failure of TERA.
- The stock price drop on the first day of the 2021 IPO served as a watershed moment, forcing KRAFTON to shift from a single-hit company to a multi-IP platform group.
- The sale of 1 million copies of 'inZOI' in two weeks in 2025 proved that the company finally had a true second blockbuster.
- Tencent's investment and the partnership for 'PUBG Mobile' brought massive mobile revenue sharing, but also tied the company to third-party platform rules.
Failures & Pitfalls
- The heavily invested 'TERA' saw both its reputation and revenue collapse in the Korean market in 2011, with years of losses nearly exhausting the company's capital.
- Despite an IPO valuation of nearly $20 billion in 2021, the stock fell about 9% on its first day, signaling a clear 'trust deficit' from investors regarding the pricing.
- After 2018, the PC version of PUBG saw a continuous decline in concurrent users due to widespread cheating and optimization controversies, and it lagged behind competitors in the live-service arms race.
- Disputes over Apple App Store commissions and the ban of 'PUBG Mobile' in India exposed the policy risks of over-reliance on third-party channels.
关键成功要素
- Do not cling to failed projects; extract criteria for global-first gameplay from the 'tuition' paid for TERA.
- Dare to turn niche mods from non-star developers into standalone games, trading low expectations for high-upside, outsized returns.
- Leverage strategic shareholders like Tencent to supplement mobile publishing and Chinese market capabilities, commercializing PC IPs across all platforms.
- After going public, use a two-pronged approach of studio acquisitions and internal new IP development to hedge against the lifecycle risks of a single product.
Lessons
- Blockbusters are not created by simply throwing money at them; large investments and large teams like those for TERA cannot replace gameplay validation.
- The Early Access model allows for PMF validation with minimal assets while turning the community into co-developers.
- A structure where a single IP contributes 90% of revenue will be discounted by the capital market, no matter how profitable it is; a second growth curve must be presented before an IPO.
- Platform reliance entails high commission costs and policy risks; a global gaming company must build its own distribution and esports ecosystem as a moat.
Core Data
- PUBG cumulative sales：55 million (based on public data, not independently verified)
- PUBG Early Access price：$29.99 (based on public data, not independently verified)
- IPO funds raised：4.3 trillion KRW (based on public data, not independently verified)
- First-day IPO drop：9% (based on public data, not independently verified)
- inZOI two-week sales：1 million units (based on public data, not independently verified)
- 2026 Q1 revenue growth：56.9% (based on public data, not independently verified)
- 2026 Q2 revenue growth：94.9% (based on public data, not independently verified)
- IPO offering price：498,000 KRW (based on public data, not independently verified)
- 2018 revenue：1.12 trillion KRW (based on public data, not independently verified)
Competitors / Peers
Domestic Korean rival Nexon relies on long-term operations of 'Dungeon & Fighter' and 'MapleStory'; Netmarble focuses on a mobile game matrix; Pearl Abyss uses its proprietary engine for 'Black Desert' to hedge against single-IP risk. Globally, Epic Games' 'Fortnite' and Respawn's 'Apex Legends' have diverted a large number of users in the free-to-play battle royale segment. Meanwhile, Tencent's self-developed 'Escape from Tarkov'-style titles and Chinese developers like miHoYo are also competing head-on with KRAFTON in global publishing. Industry competition has escalated from a battle of individual creative hits to a war of distribution networks and IP ecosystems.