Life Summary
Kim Taek-jin is the CEO and President of NCSoft.

He achieved massive success with games based on the *Lineage* intellectual property (IP).

He was born on March 14, 1967, in Seoul.

He graduated from Seoul National University with a degree in Electronic Engineering and earned a master’s degree in the same field from Seoul National University’s graduate school. He later enrolled in a doctoral program but dropped out.

He worked with DreamWiz CEO Lee Chan-jin on the development of *Hangul Word Processor* and founded HanmeSoft in 1989.

He later worked as a development team leader at Hyundai Electronics, where he had previously served under the alternative military service program.

In 1997, he founded NCSoft with a capital of KRW 100 million (US$ 72,100) and became its CEO.

Through the *Lineage* series, he swiftly adapted to the shift toward mobile gaming, generating enormous profits.

However, he struggled to produce another hit title and failed to achieve significant results in developing new IPs and expanding into new business areas.

In 2024, he brought in private equity investor Park Byung-moo as co-CEO and initiated aggressive restructuring measures, including voluntary retirements, to restore NCSoft’s reputation as a leading game company.

He leads a modest and down-to-earth personal life but demonstrates a strong competitive spirit in business.

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