AI has moved from experiment to core part of how we work
On June 16th, Nexon convenes its annual Developers Conference in a form that quietly marks a turning point: artificial intelligence is no longer a subject game developers debate in the abstract, but a daily instrument reshaping how worlds are built, stories are written, and studios are run. With 51 sessions and 15 dedicated AI tracks, NDC 26 gathers the people already doing this work — from RimWorld's creator to KRAFTON's leadership — to share not speculation, but results. It is the kind of gathering that signals an industry mid-transformation, pausing to take stock of how far it has already traveled.
- AI has moved from the margins to the organizing principle of one of gaming's most prominent developer conferences, signaling that the industry's transformation is already underway.
- Fifteen of 51 sessions are devoted entirely to AI — not as a novelty track, but woven throughout design, programming, art, and production, creating pressure on studios still treating it as optional.
- Eight high-profile panel discussions bring together CEOs, CTOs, and producers from Nexon, KRAFTON, Project Moon, and Embark Studios to share what they actually tried, what failed, and what worked.
- Concrete case studies — including machine learning applied to ARC Raiders' production and generative AI used for world-building and scenario writing — replace theoretical promises with documented outcomes.
- The conference is landing as a practical field report: Nexon's talent leadership explicitly framed it as actionable intelligence from practitioners, not a showcase of future possibilities.
Nexon's annual Developers Conference opens June 16th with a clear editorial statement: artificial intelligence is no longer a horizon event in game development — it is the present condition of the craft. The event, NDC 26, spans 51 sessions, 15 of which are dedicated entirely to AI, a concentration that reflects how thoroughly the technology has entered the daily work of building games.
Lee Jung-hun, CEO of Nexon Japan, will open the conference. The program covers the traditional disciplines — design, programming, art, sound, production — but its real weight rests in eight panel discussions where senior figures from Nexon, KRAFTON, Project Moon, and Embark Studios will speak candidly about what they are actually doing with these tools. Park Yong-hyun will address managing multiple simultaneous projects. Tynan Sylvester, creator of RimWorld, will explore how game worlds respond to the people who inhabit them.
The AI-specific panels go further. Executives from Nexon and KRAFTON will walk through their organizations' transformation processes — what they attempted, what succeeded, and what they abandoned. Embark Studios will present measurable results from applying machine learning to real game production. Other sessions will examine generative AI in world-building and scenario writing, and the integration of natural language agents into studio data platforms.
Ryu Eun-young, who leads Nexon's Talent Strategy Division, described the conference as a direct transmission from practitioners — people in the work, not observers of it. The sessions were chosen for depth and utility, not spectacle. NDC 26 is, in this sense, less a preview of where the industry is heading and more a reckoning with how far it has already gone.
Nexon is opening its annual Developers Conference on June 16th, and this year the company has built the entire event around a single organizing principle: artificial intelligence is no longer a future consideration in game development—it is happening now, across every discipline, and the people doing it are ready to talk about how.
The conference, known as NDC 26, will run across 51 sessions total. Of those, 15 are dedicated entirely to AI topics. That concentration reflects something real in the industry right now. The company is not hosting a single AI track alongside everything else. It is hosting a conference where AI has become woven into the fabric of how games get made.
Lee Jung-hun, CEO of Nexon Japan, will open the event. The program spans the traditional pillars of game development—design, programming, art, sound, production—but the real architecture of the conference lives in eight panel sessions where senior figures from Nexon, partner studios, and major competitors will sit down and discuss what they are actually doing with these tools. Park Yong-hyun, CEO of Nexon Games, will speak about managing multiple new projects simultaneously. Kim Yong-ha, a producer at Nexon Games, and Kim Ji-hoon, CEO of Project Moon, will discuss the philosophy behind designing games that players genuinely want to play. Tynan Sylvester, the creator of RimWorld, will present on how game worlds interact with the people who inhabit them.
The AI-focused panels are where the conference reveals its real intent. Kim Tae-hoon, CTO of Love & Fury, and Lee Yong-wook, a director at Nexon, will discuss how organizations grow when they integrate AI into their operations. Kang Deok-won from Nexon and Lim Gyeong-young, a vice president at KRAFTON, will walk through their respective companies' AI transformation processes—what they tried, what worked, what they learned. Ryu Cheong-hun and Bae Jun-young from Nexon, alongside Lim Jin-sik, general manager of Snowflake Korea, will present case studies on using data to make better decisions about game development.
Embark Studios, the developer of ARC Raiders, will share concrete results from applying machine learning to actual game production. Other sessions will cover generative AI being used for world-building and scenario writing—the kind of creative work that game developers have traditionally done by hand. There will be presentations on integrating natural language AI agents into the platforms that studios use to analyze game data.
Ryu Eun-young, who heads Nexon's Talent Strategy Division, framed the conference as an opportunity to hear directly from people in the trenches about how AI is being deployed in real game development work right now. She emphasized that the panel sessions were specifically chosen to give attendees substantive, actionable insights rather than surface-level overviews. The message is clear: this is not a conference about what AI might do someday. It is a conference about what AI is doing today, told by the people making it happen.
Citas Notables
This year's NDC is an opportunity to hear firsthand from practitioners about how the AI trend is being integrated into the forefront of game development— Ryu Eun-young, Head of Nexon's Talent Strategy Division
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Nexon need to dedicate nearly a third of its conference to AI specifically? Isn't that a lot of focus on one technology?
It would be if AI were still peripheral to game development. But it's not anymore. Fifteen out of 51 sessions means the company is acknowledging that AI has moved from "interesting experiment" to "core part of how we work." They're not doing this to seem trendy.
What's the difference between having a panel discussion and just publishing a white paper about AI in games?
A panel puts real people in the room—CTOs, producers, studio heads—who have to defend their choices and answer hard questions. You hear not just what worked, but why it worked for them specifically, and what didn't. That's knowledge you can't get from a document.
The conference includes someone from KRAFTON, Nexon's competitor. Why would they share their AI transformation process?
Because the industry is moving so fast that sharing implementation details is less valuable than the credibility of being seen as someone who's actually done it. And because the real competition isn't about keeping secrets anymore—it's about attracting talent who want to work on cutting-edge problems.
What does it mean that generative AI is being used for world-building and scenario writing?
It means the creative bottleneck in game development is starting to shift. You can now generate narrative variations and environmental concepts at scale. The skill becomes curating and refining what the AI produces, not starting from a blank page.
Is this conference a sign that game developers are confident about AI, or nervous about it?
Both. Confident enough to invest heavily in it and share their strategies. Nervous enough to want to learn from each other's mistakes before making their own.