South Korea’s second largest game maker NCSOFT said on Friday the firm’s plan to develop its much-anticipated new online game “Project Hon” was scrapped. The relevant division developing the new third-person-shooter game was also disbanded, the firm said.
The game company’s promising new massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) games Project Hon was first unveiled in the international game exhibition G-STAR last November along with the developers’ interview and play video.
However, as some developers of the firm were caught pocketing the development cost in March, speculation has been mounting about the halt of the project. Three developers were punished for the embezzlement.
At the time, NCSOFT denied the speculation, saying that “Regardless of the issue, the development of Project Hon would continue according to plan.”
The speculation continued however and this week, it finally became a reality.
NCSOFT said, “We decided to terminate the project after taking into account various issues such as market condition and test results. This was a choice to focus on new business centering on mobile games.”
The company stressed that, “The termination has nothing to do with the embezzlement issue in March.”
By Lee Kyung-ho
