Neople, a subsidiary of Nexon, has initiated a large-scale reassignment of the development team behind 'The First Berserker: Khazan,' the AAA action-adventure game released last March. The decision follows performance figures that fell short of market expectations and delays in entering the Chinese market.
According to industry sources on the 8th, Neople held an internal briefing that afternoon to announce the restructuring of the 'Khazan' development division. Under this plan, a significant portion of the roughly 100-person team will be moved to the 'R Team,' Neople’s internal department for personnel reassignment.
Falling Short of Expectations and Market Headwinds
'Khazan' initially drew attention upon its global launch, hitting a peak of 30,000 concurrent players on PC. However, sales plummeted shortly thereafter, failing to meet profitability targets. Compounding these issues, the delay in receiving a publishing license (ISBN) for China—a key target market—has severely hampered the project's momentum.
While Neople maintains that this is not a complete dissolution of the development team, plans for post-launch DLC and ports to other platforms, which were teased early on, are now effectively in limbo.
A Nexon representative stated, "The roadmap for the Khazan project has reached its final stages. We decided to separate the team responsible for completing the remaining tasks from those who will be refocused on other projects." They added, "We will actively support our staff, who have gained valuable experience in developing global AAA titles, to ensure they can apply their skills to new initiatives."
This personnel shake-up is seen as part of a broader push to streamline Neople’s operations. The company has recently been accelerating organizational restructuring, including appointing CEO Yoon Myung-jin to concurrently serve as the head of the 'Dungeon & Fighter Mobile' development division. This move has drawn particular attention, as it follows comments from Nexon Chairman Patrick Söderlund, who recently highlighted the structural underperformance of 'Dungeon & Fighter Mobile' during a capital markets briefing.
