NCSoft has faced internal turmoil after a department head’s blunder regarding voluntary retirement decisions for the RPG “Hoyeon” development team, following the company’s decision to downsize the team by more than half.
According to industry sources on the 5th, NCSoft announced the voluntary retirement application procedure for the Hoyeon development team at 4 PM the previous day. The Hoyeon team consists of approximately 170 members, and the reduction is reported to involve about 60% of the team, equating to around 100 people.
Guidelines were also issued stating that if the target number of voluntary retirements (about 100 members) is not met, a list for mandatory resignations may be compiled.
However, confusion arose internally when the head of the Hoyeon development team instructed employees to decide and apply for voluntary retirement by the end of the day. NCSoft clarified that this was a mistake by the department head, not a company directive. An NCSoft representative stated, “It was confirmed that the department head instructed team leaders to gather voluntary retirements by today during the list screening process. However, this was a mistake on the part of the department head, not a company-level decision,” adding that “voluntary retirements will be accepted until December.”
This incident sparked dissatisfaction within NCSoft. One employee remarked, “It’s as if the gravity of potentially impacting an individual’s and their family’s livelihood was only considered as weighty as a single day’s decision.” Another employee expressed frustration, saying, “I can’t understand how we are expected to decide on retirement in just one day.”
The Hoyeon development team remained at the headquarters under the CBMO (Chief Business Management Officer) Im Wonki, rather than being spun off like other development organizations such as “TL” (Throne and Liberty), “LLL,” and “Taekthan” during a reorganization process at the end of last month.
Hoyeon, released in August, was NCSoft’s new venture to shed its “Lineage-centric” image and explore diverse genres. However, due to its lack of success, even a premature end to its service is under consideration. Consequently, NCSoft recorded an unprecedented loss (an operating loss of 14.3 billion KRW) for the third quarter of this year, marking the first time the company has reported a loss since the second quarter of 2012, 12 years ago.