In the Gaming Industry Slump, Executive Compensation Plummets... Salary King is Kim Taek-jin
Last year, the salary levels of executives at major domestic mid-to-large game companies significantly decreased compared to the previous year.
According to the business reports disclosed by each game company on the 25th, Kim Taek-jin, founder and CEO of NCSoft, received a total compensation of 7.246 billion KRW, including a salary of 2.559 billion KRW and a bonus of 4.665 billion KRW, ranking first among game industry executives. However, Kim's annual salary decreased by 41% compared to the 12.381 billion KRW he received in 2022.
Lee Sung-gu, Vice President of the same company, received 3.788 billion KRW, and Kim Taek-heon, Senior Vice President and Kim's younger brother, received 3.23 billion KRW. Both also saw significant decreases compared to the 6.531 billion KRW and 5.738 billion KRW they received in 2022, respectively.
NCSoft's average salary per employee last year (excluding registered executives) was 107 million KRW, the highest in the game industry, but it decreased by about 6% compared to the previous year.
Jang Hyun-guk, Vice Chairman of Wemade who stepped down from the CEO position, received 1.03 billion KRW last year, a sharp decrease from 17.292 billion KRW the previous year. In 2022, Jang was ranked first in annual salary with a bonus of 8.1 billion KRW and stock option exercises worth 8.1 billion KRW, but there were no bonus payments or stock option exercises last year.
Park Kwan-ho, who recently returned to Wemade's management, received 1.6 billion KRW, similar to the previous year.
Kwon Young-sik, CEO of Netmarble, received 581 million KRW last year, more than halving from 1.197 billion KRW in 2022. Founder and Chairman Bang Jun-hyuk also received 1.466 billion KRW, slightly less than the previous year.
On the other hand, Kim Chang-han, CEO of Krafton, received a total compensation of 3.541 billion KRW last year, including a salary of 727 million KRW and a bonus of 2.795 billion KRW. This amount is about three times higher than the 1.035 billion KRW he received the previous year.
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Cho Gye-hyun, CEO of Kakao Games, also received 2.05 billion KRW, with his annual salary increasing by about 10% compared to the previous year.
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