Krafton

Overview

KRAFTON, Inc. (Korean: 크래프톤) is a South Korean video game holding company headquartered in Bundang-gu, Seongnam, near Seoul. The company is the publisher of inZOI and the parent organization of inZOI Studio. Krafton is best known globally as the company behind PUBG: Battlegrounds, one of the most commercially successful games of all time.

History

Founding as Bluehole

The company was originally founded as Bluehole Studio Inc. by Chang Byung-gyu in Seoul, South Korea in March 2007. Bluehole's first major project was TERA, a fantasy MMORPG that entered development shortly after the studio's founding and launched in 2011.

Rebranding to Krafton

In November 2018, the company restructured and rebranded as KRAFTON, Inc. The change reflected the company's evolution from a single-studio developer into a holding company overseeing multiple game studios and projects. The name "Krafton" is derived from the English word "craft," reflecting the company's stated focus on crafting interactive entertainment.

Stock listing

Krafton is publicly traded on the Korea Exchange under ticker symbol 259960.KS. The company's market capitalization is approximately $7.95 billion USD. The IPO in 2021 was one of the largest in South Korean history, though the stock price has fluctuated significantly since listing.

Subsidiaries

Krafton operates as a holding company with several subsidiary studios, each focused on different games and genres:

Krafton has expanded through both internal studio creation and acquisitions. Unknown Worlds (the studio behind Subnautica) was acquired in 2021, bringing Western development talent and IP into the Krafton portfolio.

Notable games

PUBG: Battlegrounds remains Krafton's primary revenue driver and one of the most-played games globally since its 2017 launch. The game popularized the battle royale genre and has generated billions of dollars across PC, console, and mobile versions.

Krafton and inZOI

inZOI represents a significant strategic departure for Krafton. The company's portfolio has historically centered on competitive multiplayer games (PUBG) and action-oriented titles (The Callisto Protocol, TERA). A life simulation game is a new genre for the company. Hyungjun Kim, a former NCSOFT veteran and Krafton PUBG team member, founded inZOI Studio within Krafton to develop the project.

inZOI became the fastest title to reach 1 million sales in Krafton's history, achieving the milestone within one week of its March 2025 Early Access launch. Krafton has designated inZOI as a long-term franchise, committing to years of ongoing updates and content expansion. All Early Access updates are free.

For more on the studio behind the game, see the inZOI Studio article. For commercial performance details, see Reception and Reviews.

Company details