Global tech giants including Nvidia, Microsoft (MS), Google and Samsung Electronics are using Korean game companies not merely as customers, but as "laboratories" for next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) technology. As the generative AI era arrives, games are emerging as the optimal testbed for validating AI agents, digital twins, extended reality (XR) and physical AI. Korean game companies are being reassessed as core collaboration partners for global tech giants.
This shift was evident in the activities of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who is visiting Korea, on Friday. That day, he met successively with Krafton (259960) Chairman Chang Byung-gyu and NC Soft CEO Kim Taek-jin at a PC room near Sinnonhyeon Station in Gangnam, Seoul, revealing his special interest in the game industry.
While last year's so-called "gganbu meeting" focused on building AI infrastructure and graphics processing unit (GPU) supply chains, this visit saw efforts to expand the connection between the game industry and AI, including meetings with domestic game company executives and three visits to PC rooms. In his meetings with Krafton and NC Soft that day, Huang said, "Nvidia has grown together with you," emphasizing that Korean game companies are both the starting point of Nvidia's growth and a core pillar of its future AI strategy. He also told CEO Kim Taek-jin metaphorically, "You are my wingman," suggesting that domestic game companies have served as key partners in Nvidia's growth process.
Indeed, global tech giants like Nvidia have recently come to view the game industry as a proving ground for next-generation AI technology. This is because domestic game companies, equipped with experience operating large-scale concurrent-access environments and capabilities in virtual worlds, real-time simulation and AI character implementation, are emerging as the optimal partners for validating next-generation technologies such as AI agents, digital twins and physical AI.
In Nvidia's case, it has separately requested demonstrations of NC Soft's new shooting MMO title "Cinder City" at global events such as the "Nvidia GeForce Gamer Festival" and Germany's "Gamescom." This is because Cinder City was selected as the flagship lineup that would most effectively showcase the performance of Nvidia's RTX and latest "Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS)" technology. The next-generation DLSS technology, which Huang recently called "the most important innovation in graphics," is being applied to Cinder City and another major NC Soft title "Aion 2" for technology validation.
Krafton also presented the direction of future games by unveiling a generative AI-based co-player character (CPC) with Nvidia. It is an AI agent technology that naturally converses with users and plays alongside them. After implementing this as the "Smart Joy" feature in its life simulation game "inZOI," Krafton will introduce "PUBG Ally," an AI agent co-developed with Nvidia, as a beta service in PUBG Arcade this year. Wemade Next is also developing an AI boss monster for "Mir 5" that learns users' attack patterns in real time and changes tactics using Nvidia's digital human technology (ACE), making K-games an outpost for Nvidia's AI.
Google, MS and Samsung Electronics are also expanding their connections with domestic game companies.
Google has used K-games' vast data processing capabilities as a stage for advancing its own AI solutions. Netmarble (251270) adopted Google Cloud's AI platform for its proprietary intelligent operating systems, the "Columbus" and "Magellan" projects. It completed global verification of live game operation AI that analyzes the behavioral data of tens of millions of users in real time using Google's machine learning engine to predict churn signs in advance, and detects and blocks illegal programs (hacks) or workshop bots in real time. Com2uS (078340) also fully transitioned the infrastructure of its entire "Summoners War" IP product lineup to Google Cloud, adopting Google's "Compute Engine" and "Cloud Load Balancing" technology, and performed the role of a structural testbed that minimizes cross-border connection latency.
MS signed a technology cooperation agreement with NC Soft and adopted its cloud platform "Azure" and "Azure OpenAI" technology during the development of Cinder City. Through this, it is precisely validating global user content recommendation and real-time server load balancing technology. Cho Won-woo, head of Microsoft Korea, said, "Through collaboration with NCSoft, we will together open new horizons for AI-based game development," adding, "We will support its global leap in many ways."
Samsung Electronics also optimized the new title "The First Berserker: Khazan" for its next-generation glasses-free 3D monitor "Odyssey 3D" with Nexon and Neople. This was to validate image quality technology that maximizes a sense of depth and action without glasses. Nexon Games' (225570) "The First Descendant" became the world's first to apply and commercialize the proprietary image quality standard "HDR10+ Gaming" technology, and Pearl Abyss's "Crimson Desert" has also adopted this technology and continues verification.
An industry official said, "Games are an industry that implements the virtual world closest to reality," adding, "In the AI era, there is a high possibility that game companies will establish themselves as core platforms for validating next-generation technology, beyond being simple content companies."
Meanwhile, some analysts suggest that behind Huang's pro-game moves lies an intention to strengthen internal cohesion. The idea is to boost the morale of the business organization dedicated to game-related GPUs, such as the GeForce series, which once supported the company's revenue but has now seen its standing shrink, by expressing a message of respect.
While Nvidia's flagship products are now data center GPUs such as the Hopper and Blackwell series, in the 2000s and 2010s, the products that made remarkable contributions to Nvidia's revenue were graphics cards for gaming. However, according to Nvidia's disclosures, game-related product revenue, which was 58.8% in 2017, shrank to 8.7% last year.
After arriving in Korea on Wednesday, his first stop was a PC room operated by the e-sports club T1. That day, he met with this newspaper and said, "PC games are Nvidia's foundation," and stated, "I will consider going to PC rooms every time I come to Korea." At his meetings with Krafton and NCSoft, he emphasized the GeForce series, presenting Nvidia's latest GPU, the RTX 5090, to gamers.
