Actoz Soft

Founded in 1996, Actoz Soft is one of Korea's first-generation online game companies, operating under the ownership structure of China's Zhejiang Century Huatong Group and led by CEO Guo Haibin.

The company's core asset is the Legend of Mir series (Mir 2 and Mir 3), co-owned with Wemade, alongside its self-developed action RPG Latale, the Korean publishing rights to the global MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, and legacy titles such as Cheonnyun and A3.

Revenue splits broadly into two streams: direct game service revenue from titles like Latale and Final Fantasy XIV, and royalty revenue from licensing the Legend of Mir IP to external operators. Royalty revenue came to roughly KRW 48.5 billion in 2025, accounting for 69.4% of total sales.

Because the structure involves collecting fees from external operators using the Legend of Mir, Latale and Cheonnyun IP, cost burdens are lighter than for a company that directly develops and operates its games.

The key partner for the Legend of Mir 2 royalty business in China is Lansha, and the exclusive Chinese license agreement for Legend of Mir 2 with partner Lansha runs through September 2031.

Competitively, large domestic peers such as Wemade and Webzen also run similar legacy-IP licensing businesses in China, but Actoz Soft is differentiated by its structure as a co-copyright holder with equity-like claims rather than a large-scale new-title developer.

On an annual basis, revenue peaked at KRW 89.36 billion in 2023 (with a 47.5% operating margin) before declining for three straight years to KRW 79.65 billion in 2024 and KRW 69.93 billion in 2025.

Net income, in contrast, swung sharply: from KRW 2.54 billion in 2022 to KRW 34.04 billion in 2023, then down to KRW 7.44 billion in 2024, before jumping back to KRW 31.67 billion in 2025. On a consolidated basis, 2025 revenue fell 12.2% year over year, operating profit fell 3.0%, and net income rose 325.6%.

This large swing in net income appears to reflect non-operating items, particularly those tied to the Mir IP litigation.

On a quarterly basis, the second quarter of 2025 posted revenue of KRW 9.50 billion and an operating loss of KRW 0.13 billion, before revenue surged to KRW 34.79 billion in the third quarter of 2025, with operating profit reaching KRW 25.56 billion — by far the strongest quarter in the window.

Revenue and operating profit normalized in the fourth quarter of 2025 and first quarter of 2026, at KRW 12.13 billion/KRW 5.05 billion and KRW 10.13 billion/KRW 1.90 billion respectively, yet net income attributable to owners exceeded operating profit in both quarters, at KRW 5.95 billion and KRW 5.21 billion.

In the second quarter of 2026, net income attributable to owners of KRW 15.77 billion was roughly three times operating profit of KRW 5.42 billion on revenue of KRW 17.13 billion, a gap that coincides with the fact that the two companies settled accumulated unpaid royalties in June 2026, suggesting a one-time settlement-related gain may have been booked.

Given that non-operating, litigation-and-settlement-related items appear to have driven a large share of results across the trailing four quarters from the third quarter of 2025 through the second quarter of 2026, profitability levels could look different if such one-off gains do not recur.

Korea's game industry continues to see mobile gaming expand its share of the market, alongside growing concentration among top-tier publishers.

While mobile games continue to expand their share of the overall market, the strengthening dominance of major operators has intensified a polarization between winners and laggards, constraining smaller players' results.

Actoz Soft's business model differs from a typical developer-publisher in that it relies heavily on licensing income from owned IP rather than in-house development and operation, which lowers capital intensity but ties performance to the commercial results and regulatory environment of its Chinese licensing partners.

The prolonged Legend of Mir IP dispute with Wemade has been cited as a factor that heightened uncertainty around Actoz Soft's corporate value.

Competitor Wemade is expanding new licensing initiatives based on the same IP, including Mir M and Mir 5, while Webzen runs a comparable legacy-IP licensing business; Actoz Soft's new-title pipeline is smaller than these larger peers, but it holds a distinct position through its stable revenue-sharing rights as a co-copyright holder.

The company plans to focus on developing online and mobile games that leverage its owned IP, continuing to expand genres to enhance the value of assets such as Legend of Mir.

The company has framed 2026 as a year to validate the competitiveness of its existing live-service titles. In 2026, having removed uncertainty around the Mir IP, Actoz Soft plans to focus on upgrading the content of its existing live-service games while relying on stable royalty income.

Specifically, the company carried out a major update in the first half of 2026 to synchronize the content patch cycle between Final Fantasy XIV's Korean server and global servers, and in April 2026 it also conducted preliminary work such as migrating platform channeling to expand service accessibility.

Latale, marking its 20th anniversary, appears to be continuing content updates including new in-game systems.

With the domestic Mir IP litigation now concluded, the company's forward guidance is likely to emphasize stable execution of existing royalty contracts and user retention on live-service titles rather than new licensing expansion, and whether the company can both defend its existing business and continue generating royalty revenue is seen as a key point to watch.