NCSoft R&D center in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province (NCSoft)

NCSoft announced Tuesday that it had invested $3.5 million in Swedish game studio Moon Rover Games, as the Korean game company continues seeking future growth engines to expand its gaming portfolio and global market.

Moon Rover Games was established in 2022 by a group of developers who had taken part in creating global hit first-person shooters such as the Battlefield series, Far Cry and Tom Clancy’s The Division. Moon Rover Games is currently developing an FPS titled Project Aldous, based on new intellectual property.

NC participated as the sole investor of Moon Rover Games’ seed round investment. Beginning with this investment, the Korean game developer said it plans to team up with the Swedish gaming studio for a long-term partnership and strategic collaboration. The two sides are discussing various ways to cooperate in the future including NC’s additional investments and publishing rights.

NC has been focusing on investing in both domestic and overseas firms and securing publishing rights to contribute to the expansion of its gaming portfolio and global market. The company said it will continue with game investments in consideration of regions, genres and platforms to find new growth engines while reviewing merger and acquisition options to boost the company’s growth and profitability.

“In our search to forge new business opportunities, we are actively exploring studios with specialized genre expertise and strong development capabilities,” said Park Byung-moo, co-CEO of NCSoft.

“Moon Rover Games stands out with its profound experience in the FPS genre and innovative approaches.”

The co-CEO said that Project Aldous will enhance NC’s game portfolio both in terms of genre diversity and regional reach, adding that partnering with Moon Rover Games will contribute to the Korean game maker's global expansion and strategy to develop robust game development clusters.

“The investment in Moon Rover Games marks the beginning of forthcoming changes at NCSOFT,” said Park.

"In August, we will announce several new initiatives, including a new investment and publishing deal with a Korean game studio, a joint business plan to enter the Southeast Asian market, and strategic development for Purple as a platform."

Purple is NC’s cross-play platform that allows gamers to play NC’s mobile games on computers and monitor NC's computer games being played on mobile devices.

Logos of NCSoft (left) and Moon Rover Games (NCSoft)