Co-CEO of Lies of P maker Neowiz says Korea’s government is helping indie boom

The co-CEO of Lies of P developer Neowiz, Sean Kim, has said that the South Korean government is helping the country’s indie scene.

Speaking to Knowledge, the executive said that there has been an increase in the number of independent developers in the region. Kim also that there were a number of big companies that were looking to publish games from this segment of the industry, adding that funding has become “more conservative” in recent years.

“The government is helping to grow a lot of indie developers,” he said.

“There are a lot of indie studios coming up, especially from young, talented developers within Korea. A lot of mid-sized and big Korean publishers are also looking into the indie scene, while also pivoting to the PC and console space gradually. Because when it comes to the mobile gaming market, it’s being saturated.

“The funding has become a lot more conservative compared to past years, especially from the VCs. It’s really hard to raise funding if this isn’t a very big, ambitious project.”

Having shifted its focus from mobile and online titles, Neowiz’s future lies in single-player premium games on console and PC. Kim says that the firm’s strategy is multi-pronged, with its future line-up featuring a mix of first-party titles – such as an upcoming Lies of P sequel – and external projects from the likes of Wolfeye Studios and Zakazane Studio.

“The in-house studios are very vulnerable to changes so that is why we are working with multiple teams on multiple projects,” Kim explained. “Since we need to publish at least two titles every year, we are trying to partner up with external studios such as Wolfeye and Zakazane as much as possible, who have great creative talent and visions that align with our strategy.”

Kim added that Neowiz is seeking further partnerships with foreign companies: “We are seeing a lot of great developers coming up in China these days, so we are trying to focus on that region as well.”

Neowiz invested $17 million in Polish developer Blank Game Studios back in 2023. That was before signing an $8 million publishing deal with Polish studio Zakazane in November 2024 and securing a publishing partnership with WolfEye at the start of 2025. The company later inked a deal with Shanghai-based developer Shadowlight for its debut title, Kill the Shadow.

Lies of P has brought in over seven million players since its September 2023 release and sold more than three million copies.