The Chinese tech giant Tencent is said to be considering a takeover of the South Korean game developer Nexon.
A Bloomberg report With reference to public sources, Tencent claimed the family of the deceased founder of Nexon, Kim Jung-Ju, to explore a potential deal. Although discussions have taken place, no definitive conditions have been agreed and it remains unclear whether the conversations will lead to a transaction.
Kim’s family, who owns a controlling interest in Nexon through investment firm NXC Corp and his affiliated unit NXMH BV, reportedly evaluates the options.
From 30 June the entities jointly had 44.4% of Nexon, according to company requests. The woman and daughters of the founder reportedly have around 67.6% of NXC control.
Nexon, founded in 1994 and now with headquarters in Japan, is best known for the Maplestory franchise and other popular online games.
The company went in Tokyo in Tokyo in 2011 in one of the largest technical IPOs of that period. The shares were won more than 10% in 2025, but remain almost 30% under their 2021 peak.
Nexon has also established a special web3 daughter company, Nexpace, to spear his blockchain ambitions. The unit is launched in mid-2024 with an investment of $ 100 million from Nexon and has its headquarters in Abu Dhabi, but focuses square on transforming Nexon’s flagship franchises into blockchain-enabled ecosystems.
Under the Nexpace umbrella, Maplestory Universe was unveiled as a gateway to web3 for the MapLestory IP. The first major release, Maplestory N, went live in May 2025. The title integrates NFT-based item mechanics, gasless transactions and a native token economy powered by NXPC.
However, this is not the first attempt from Tencent to a deal with Nexon. An earlier deal was suspended due to the disagreement of the prize in 2019 when NXC Corp options investigated to sell its interest in Nexon.
Tencent and Nexon also have an existing business relationship. Together with Dungeon & Fighter, they developed a very successful title that has contributed considerably to Tencent’s gaming income.
Tencent wants to expand his foot in blockchain -gaming, despite a broader decline in the sector. According to Dapradar, the daily active users in blockchain -gaming fell to new lows in April, while the monthly financing for blockchain gaming projects in the same time fell nearly 70%.
In addition to gaming, Tencent has actively invested in the blockchain room. Last year his investment arm led a series A round of $ 15 million for Chainbase, an Omnichain data network.
Tencent also works together with the Open Network (TON) Foundation and Tencent Cloud to support blockchain infrastructure in the Asia-Pacific region. This included the launch of data -indexation tools and junction implementation services for the Ton Blockchain, the strengthening of the growing presence of Tencent in the web3 -eco system.
Last year, Tencent, earlier this year, brought the official Metaverse working group of China, led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
