Neople – a subsidiary of Nexon Korea and home to the creators of Dungeon Fighter Online and First Berseker: Khazan – has been on strike since the end of June. The company’s labor union organized a three-day general strike starting June 26, after which Neople’s departments have been going on strike in rotation (as reported by ThisIsGame). Dungeon Fighter Online is one of the highest-grossing games of all time (total lifetime revenue $22 billion USD as of 2024), but Neople’s employees are not happy about how much they’re being paid, especially against the company’s strong financial performance.
According to ChosunBiz, the staff at Neople believe management made an arbitrary decision to reduce annual “GI” – an incentive paid to employees based on the performance of newly released titles. In 2024, Neople saw yearly revenue hit record highs (roughly $951 million dollars) thanks to Dungeon Fighter Mobile’s successful release in China. However, the GI paid was only two-thirds of the previous year’s amount as a result of the Chinese release being delayed. Additionally, the labor union stresses that Neople has the highest amount of overtime hours among all Nexon Korea’s studios, with staff suffering from burnout. Along with other bonus reductions, Neople’s union claims management slashed employee earnings by 80 billion won, or roughly $58 million dollars.
In response to these complaints, Neople leadership emphasized that it has a performance-based bonus system, rather than a flat profit-sharing system. They claim that even before the GI payout, Dungeon Fighter Mobile’s developers were sufficiently compensated through “milestone incentives” between different stages of development, while other teams likewise received compensation according to their performance. The total amount of performance-based bonuses paid to non-executives, according to management, amounted to 15% of the company’s operating profit in 2024.
A company representative commented, “Neople is committed to performance-based compensation and operates a variety of bonus systems. Equal distribution of rewards is not compatible with the nature of our industry. However, we are exploring ways to enhance transparency in the bonus system and ensure long-term, sustainable growth with our employees.” According to South Korean press, this is the first labor strike the country’s game industry has seen to date.
