NCSOFT announced on 27 October 2026 that it will support game startups at G-STAR 2026 for a 10th consecutive year. This time, the change is the move from business-only exposure to direct contact with players: the sponsored companies will have a “Startup with NC” booth in the fair's B2C hall, which runs from 19 to 22 November 2026 at BEXCO in Busan, South Korea. The two startups in this edition are SuperJoy and GenieSoft.
From B2B to direct contact with players
Since 2017, NCSOFT has sponsored startups' participation in G-STAR together with the Korea Internet Corporations Association. Through last year, the programme totalled 51 rounds of support for 43 startups, with independent booths in the B2B hall, exhibition passes, business meetings with industry partners and media exposure such as interviews. By taking the booth to the B2C hall, the company wants startups to show their games directly to visitors and gauge players' reactions — a kind of contact the business-focused format did not offer.
What 10 years of numbers show
A survey by the Korea Internet Corporations Association of 17 supported companies that responded shows the scale of the cumulative effect: those companies' 2025 revenue totalled about 67.58 billion won, up 558% from about 10.27 billion won at the time of their G-STAR participation. Cumulative revenue since participation reaches about 290.77 billion won. One company that had no revenue when it took part in 2022 had accumulated 194.1 billion won by October 2026. Headcount at those companies grew from 163 to 448, adding 285 jobs, and they raised about 19.28 billion won in investment and signed contracts worth about 15.72 billion won after taking part.
What NCSOFT and the association said
“Over the past 10 years, startups that have participated in G-STAR have established themselves as a new growth engine for the gaming industry,” said Jang Hyun-young, NCSOFT's senior vice president of external relations. Korea Internet Corporations Association president Park Sung-ho thanked the company for a decade of partnership and said the association will keep cooperating so startups with innovative ideas can fully show their capabilities in a healthy ecosystem. Beyond G-STAR, NCSOFT supports startups' participation in events such as the Busan Indie Connect Festival (BIC), IndieCraft and the Taipei Game Show.
Editorial classification: the announcement, the dates, the sponsored companies, the survey figures and the statements are CONFIRMED information, disclosed on 27 October 2026 and reported by Inven Global, Seoul Economic Daily and Digital Today. The announcement does not detail SuperJoy's or GenieSoft's names of games, and this article does not invent titles, genres or release dates for them.
Fontes
- Inven Global: NCSOFT Marks 10th Anniversary of Startup Sponsorship, Supporting SuperJoy and Geniesoft at G-STAR
- Seoul Economic Daily: NCSoft Marks 10 Years Backing Game Startups at G-STAR
- Digital Today: NC to support startup B2C participation at G-Star 2026
Image credit: rendering of the joint “Startup with NC” booth in the G-STAR B2C hall, released by NCSOFT. © NCSOFT, via Inven Global.
Transparency: this article was prepared with the assistance of artificial intelligence, by cross-checking internet sources and public posts listed below. Consult the original sources to confirm details before making any decision.
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