Inside NC America: CEO Jeonghee Jin talks Leadership, Strategy, and Mobile Gaming’s future

At GamingonPhone, we had the opportunity to sit down with Jeonghee Jin, CEO of NC America, for an insightful interview. A 20-year industry veteran with experience at Pearl Abyss and Kakao Games before joining NCSOFT, JJ now focuses on expanding flagship titles like Lineage 2, Aion, and Blade & Soul to a broader Western audience. As we spoke, she shared her thoughts on the evolving gaming landscape, the challenges of adapting strategies across regions, and NC America’s vision for the future.

Leadership Approach to Leading NC America in 2025

We started by asking what her leadership approach would be for the new year. JJ emphasized that passion is the foundation of her leadership approach, and she adds “Passion is the first thing you have to work on,” something she conveys to the team.

“There are a lot of ups and downs in this industry. Sometimes you feel like there are more failures than successes. People only remember very successful titles, but there are a lot more projects that fail. Regardless, your passion will drive you through all of the changes thrown your way.”

JJ continues to mention that she values authenticity, good communication, and a strong focus on the community. Clear and transparent communication is crucial, both within the team and with the player community, especially for live service games.

“I care for my people, my team, and my community. Caring is not just a personal principle, it is the most important value I share with my team,” adds JJ.

JJ highlighted the importance of continuous learning and growth and believes in evolving with the ever-changing gaming landscape. “If you’re passionate, if you’re eager to learn and grow, whatever action you’re doing in the business, I think you’re going to achieve more in the end,” she concludes.

The difference in strategies and cultural adaptations

When asked how NC America’s strategy differs from NCSOFT or other established regions, JJ explained that NC America functions as a publishing entity, focusing on live-service titles while working strategically with NCSOFT’s headquarters. The team handles live operations, technical operations, game localization, marketing, community management, PR, business development, and customer support, among other responsibilities.

She continued: “We are working with NCSOFT on self-developed titles. Most of our upcoming projects will be NCSOFT-developed titles, so we will work closely with NC Korea where the developers are. Our primary goal is to make our titles successful in our target regions while delivering the best gameplay experience for the local community. In that sense, our goals align with NCSOFT and other regions like Taiwan and Japan.”

However, unlike NCSOFT’s offices in Taiwan or Japan, JJ explains that NC America faces unique challenges as it covers multiple regions, including North and South America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. The diversity in languages and cultures makes the task complex and catering to different users across different regions is surely a challenging task.

“One of my team’s missions for the next couple of years is to build more capabilities. We want to take better care of more players, address player behaviors and perspectives more, and embrace the whole market landscape. Building a good strategy in the team structure and focusing on our missions is critical for us to succeed.”

When we asked about adapting to cultures, JJ acknowledged that cultural differences in gaming preferences have become less significant over the years due to global connectivity and information sharing. However, she did mention that some aspects such as monetization models and user behaviors, still require careful consideration.

JJ said: “We test the product in the development stage and share feedback about the market fit or anything that might be interpreted differently in our regions due to cultural differences, and we try to handle those working closely with the developers.”

With NCSOFT’s long history in live-service MMORPGs, the company has a strong understanding of global player preferences. Nonetheless, adapting monetization models and addressing design choices for Western audiences remain key priorities, she notes.

Lineage and Blade & Soul for mobile adaptation

Lineage and Blade & Soul franchises have had significant success on mobile platforms, particularly in Asia. Titles such as Lineage M, Lineage2M, and Lineage W continue to perform well in Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. However, not all of these titles have been released globally, and while some mobile adaptations exist, many entries from the franchise have yet to make their way to a wider audience.

“We did launch Lineage2M with minimum marketing, so the game is available, but I wouldn’t say it’s very successful in these regions. But somehow, we sold a lot.” She mentioned that NCSOFT is still evaluating the best strategy for introducing its mobile MMORPGs to Western markets, as the process remains a challenge.

NC America and the saturated Western mobile games market

Curious about our query on how NC America plans to compete in the saturated Western mobile games market, JJ acknowledged the challenges of the highly competitive mobile gaming landscape but remains optimistic about new growth opportunities.

“There isn’t any secret sauce. A lot of people are saying, ‘Oh, the mobile gaming market has become more and more saturated.’ It’s true, the competition is getting fiercer, and the growth rate is slowing. But there are going to be more growth opportunities.”

Explaining with an example, JJ mentions that casual genres dominate the mobile gaming market due to their accessibility and ease of development. She pointed out that technical advancements in mobile devices will continue to support genre expansion, particularly for MMORPGs. 

While the industry has seen fluctuations, she believes mobile gaming will keep growing as mobile devices become more integral to daily life. JJ suggests that market trends vary by genre, and despite some concerns, mobile remains a strong platform for future growth, especially for mobile MMOs.

“With our efforts to remove obstacles in the next couple of years, we can take better care of more players on mobile game platforms. I think there is more growth opportunity than threats or anything negative,” JJ concludes.

Global launch criteria and future plans

We put forward our curiosity on what basis does NCSOFT decide which titles go global. JJ answered that there will be changes in how NCSOFT selects games for global release, though she couldn’t specify details. She emphasized that NC America is actively working to bring more PC and mobile games.

When we asked whether this trend would change this year, she was positive with a Yes. “There will be a change. I just cannot say what specific changes will happen for sure, this year or next year.” 

On NC America’s future mobile plans, JJ revealed that NC America has multiple mobile game projects in the pipeline, with announcements expected soon. JJ didn’t reveal much in that regard to us, but she hinted at their first mobile project announcement within the next couple of months.

Catch up on other Interviews from GamingonPhone:

For more Mobile Gaming news and updates, join our WhatsApp Group, Telegram Group, or Discord server. Also, follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Google News for quick updates.