The labor union of Neople, a key development subsidiary of Nexon that created the ‘Dungeon Fighter’ series, will enter a full strike for the first time in the domestic gaming industry for three days.
The Nexon branch of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) at Neople announced on the 24th that it would hold a focused resolution meeting at its Seoul office on the 24th and at its Jeju headquarters on the 25th, before commencing a full strike for three days starting the next day. The Neople headquarters in Jeju is responsible for developing the PC version of ‘Dungeon Fighter’ and the upcoming title ‘Project Overkill,’ as well as the action game ‘Cyphers,’ while the Seoul office houses the development teams for ‘Dungeon Fighter Mobile’ and ‘First Berserker: Kazan.’
The Neople union has expressed opposition to the management's arbitrary reduction of the new development incentive (GI), which has been paid based on the performance of new releases. Last year, thanks to the success of ‘Dungeon Fighter Mobile’ in China, Neople achieved a record-high sales figure of 1.3783 trillion won, yet the GI paid, which had been allotted in proportion to the net profit over the two years following a new release, was only two-thirds of the previous amount. The union has been demanding that Neople distribute approximately 39.3 billion won as profit-sharing (PS) to employees, corresponding to 4% of the previous year's operating profit of 98.24 billion won.
The Neople union explained that “Neople has maintained the highest levels of overtime and excessive labor among group companies,” adding, “In particular, art and media professions have accumulated extreme fatigue due to excessive work despite high expectations and performance from users.”
Reports regarding Neople's average annual salary of 220 million won last year, making it the highest in the gaming industry, noted that “the average contract salary is around 60 million won, which is lower compared to large IT corporations and other gaming companies,” and argued, “Although the average compensation increased in 2024, it should be viewed as a temporary phenomenon due to accumulated compensation over several years.”
After the three-day full strike, the union will enter a sequential strike, rotating among organizations for a set period each. This is the first time that workers in the gaming industry are going on strike at Nexon Neople. The union at the domestic gaming company WEBZEN had also forewarned of a strike during wage negotiations in 2022; however, it did not actually go on strike as it reached an agreement with management after focused negotiations.