NCSOFT has announced its strategic equity investment in the American independent game development studio, Empty Vessel™.
The investment comes from NCSOFT’s North American subsidiary, NC West.
Founded in 2023 in Austin, Texas, Empty Vessel is an AAA-rated independent game development studio. Its founding members include veteran developers from renowned global companies such as Activision, Disney, id Software, Microsoft, and Naughty Dog.
The developers at Empty Vessel have worked on successful first-person shooter (FPS) and action-adventure games, including DOOM, Quake, Call of Duty, The Last of Us, Borderlands, Tomb Raider, and Uncharted.
Currently, Empty Vessel is developing a tactical shooting game titled "DEFECT," which features a PvP (Player versus Player) format set in a cyberpunk world. This title is being built on the Unreal Engine 5 platform, with the first official trailer set to be released in 2024.
The two companies plan to establish a long-term partnership beginning with this investment, discussing various collaborative efforts, including the publishing rights for the upcoming shooting game "DEFECT."
NCSOFT is focused on establishing development clusters across different genres through domestic and international investments, while enhancing its global portfolio. In addition to its internally developed shooting game, NCSOFT has continued to invest in studios like Moon Rover Games in Sweden and Misthil Games in South Korea, further developing its shooting game cluster.
Co-CEO of NCSOFT, Park Byung-moo, stated, “Empty Vessel is a triple-A development studio formed by developers with successful experience and expertise in the popular shooting genre, as well as game art and sound experts with an established fanbase. We will continue investing to secure new global IPs and build a pipeline for genre-based clusters.”
Emanuel Palalic, CEO of Empty Vessel, expressed, “We are thrilled to partner with NCSOFT, which deeply understands and supports our philosophy and goals in game development. With NCSOFT’s support and expertise, we expect both DEFECT and Empty Vessel to reach new heights.”
NCSOFT is committed to securing new growth drivers by investing in domestic and international development studios that possess strong development capabilities and genre expertise. Throughout 2024, NCSOFT will continue its investment and publishing collaborations with Moon Rover Games in Sweden, Virtual Alchemy in Poland, and local studios Misthil Games and Big Game Studios.
