Gaming
Krafton tops KRW 3 trillion as Pubg drives record revenue
Strong mobile growth and new titles lift the gaming giant to a record breaking year
SEOUL: Krafton has had a blockbuster year, and the numbers read like a high score screen. The South Korean game maker posted annual revenue of KRW 3.3266 trillion for 2025, a 22.8 per cent jump from the previous year and the first time the company has crossed the KRW 3 trillion mark. Operating profit stood at KRW 1.0544 trillion, comfortably above the trillion-won line once again.
At the heart of the surge was the ever reliable Pubg franchise, which continued to pull in players and profits across platforms. On PC, Pubg: Battlegrounds delivered its strongest annual performance yet, with revenue up 16 per cent year on year. Fresh collaborations with global artists, luxury brands and even Porsche kept the game’s world lively and the player base engaged.
Mobile remained the company’s biggest earner. Pubg Mobile and Battlegrounds Mobile India both expanded their paying user base, rising by 5 per cent and 27 per cent respectively. India in particular stayed a stronghold, with BGMI maintaining steady performance through localised content and brand tie ups.
New titles also chipped in. Life simulator inZOI and horror survival game Mimesis each crossed the one million sales mark after launching in March and October. Together, they added fresh momentum to Krafton’s PC business.
For the full year, revenue was split across KRW 1.7407 trillion from mobile, KRW 1.1846 trillion from PC, KRW 42.8 billion from console and KRW 358.5 billion from other businesses. The “other” segment saw a sharp rise after the consolidation of ADK Group and Neptune.
The fourth quarter told a slightly different story. Revenue reached KRW 919.7 billion, but operating profit fell to KRW 2.4 billion after a one time expense linked to a labour welfare fund for the company’s upcoming headquarters move.
Looking ahead, Krafton is betting on longer life cycles for its major franchises and a steady pipeline of new games. The company has 15 projects in development, including Subnautica 2, Palworld Mobile and several new titles built around the Pubg universe. It also plans to pursue acquisitions to secure fresh intellectual property and fuel future growth.
Artificial intelligence is another big piece of the plan. Under its “AI for Games” push, Krafton aims to use AI across development and live services, while exploring broader tech opportunities in the longer term.
For now, though, the message is simple. As long as players keep dropping into battlegrounds, Krafton’s scorecard is likely to keep climbing.
Gaming
MTG gaming chief Benninghoff joins NODWIN board as esports firm primes for IPO
The Gurugram-based esports firm is pursuing a public listing, has returned to profitability and is growing revenues by 42 per cent
GURUGRAM: NODWIN Gaming is moving fast. The Gurugram-based gaming and esports company has launched a pre-IPO fundraising round, appointed UBS as lead adviser for both the round and a subsequent public listing, and landed a heavyweight board director, all in one go.
The new board member is Arnd Benninghoff, executive vice president of gaming at Stockholm-listed Modern Times Group (MTG), who has overseen the group’s strategic investments and portfolio growth since 2014. He is no stranger to building things: Benninghoff has founded and built fifteen companies, served as chief digital officer at ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG, managing director of SevenVentures, and chief executive of Holtzbrinck eLAB. He began his career as a journalist at Deutsche Presse Agentur and various TV networks, holds a Diplom-Kaufmann in business and administration from the University of Münster, and previously sat on the board of Edgeware AB.
The numbers back the ambition
NODWIN is not pitching a story without substance. The company has returned to EBITDA profitability and posted a 42 per cent year-on-year revenue surge, reaching $58.5m in the first nine months of FY2026. The pre-IPO round will combine a primary issuance to fund global expansion through organic growth and acquisitions, alongside a secondary sale to give existing shareholders some liquidity.
Akshat Rathee, co-founder and managing director of NODWIN Gaming, said Benninghoff understands “the entire lifecycle of the gaming and media ecosystem, from the boots-on-the-ground reality of building startups to the strategic complexity of managing multi-billion dollar global portfolios.”
Benninghoff, for his part, said the company “sits at the intersection of sports, entertainment, and technology, making it one of the most exciting players in the global gaming landscape today.”
A portfolio built for the global south
Founded in 2014 by Rathee and Gautam Virk, NODWIN has quietly assembled one of the more compelling esports portfolios outside the Western hemisphere. Its properties include DreamHack India and Comic Con India, and it recently acquired StarLadder, the Ukraine-based tournament organiser behind premier events in CS:GO and Dota 2. The company also serves as a long-term strategic marketing partner for the Evolution Championship Series (EVO), the world’s most prominent fighting game tournament, helping push it into new geographies.
Its geographic focus spans South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Backers include Nazara Technologies, KRAFTON, Sony Group Corporation, JetSynthesys, and the founders’ investment vehicle Good Game Investments.
What comes next
With UBS running the books, a board freshly reinforced with European media and gaming expertise, and revenue heading in the right direction, NODWIN is laying the groundwork deliberately. The esports industry has burned investors before with big promises and thin margins. NODWIN’s return to profitability, combined with a real portfolio of owned intellectual properties across gaming, music and youth culture, gives it a more credible runway than most. The IPO clock is now ticking.
