The company made the announcement Monday in a regulatory filing after an extraordinary board meeting.
Under the plan, its AI research division will become NC AI, while three game development teams will be spun off into independent studios: Studio X for its mass multiplayer role-playing game (MMORPG) "Throne and Liberty," Studio Y for its open-world multiplayer shooting game "LLL," and Studio Z for its strategy-based game "TACTAN."
The firm plans to implement internal reassignments and a voluntary retirement program for affected staff, its first such program since 2012.
The separation date for the new entities was set for Feb. 1, 2025, subject to shareholder approval at a meeting scheduled for Nov. 28.
NCSOFT's operating profit plummeted 75 percent year-on-year to 8.8 billion won (US$6.3 million) in the second quarter.
In 2023, the company's annual revenue and operating profit dropped 30.8 percent and 75.4 percent, respectively, compared to the previous year.
The company attributed its financial downturn primarily to declining sales from its flagship MMORPG "Lineage" mobile game trilogy, which accounted for over two-thirds of its revenue last year.
