In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- March 1967
- Birthplace
- Not independently established
- Country
- South Korea
- Nationality
- Not independently established
- Known for
- NCSOFT and the Lineage game business
- Birth precision
- March 1967, executive filing
- NCSOFT formation
- 11 March 1997
- Lineage release
- September 1998
- Co-CEO board action
- 28 March 2024
Why this life matters
His career shows how a software venture developed into a listed service business, with creative work, company governance and financial reporting requiring distinct evidence.
Timeline
Key moments
Birth month
NCSOFT’s executive row gives March.
NCSOFT incorporated
The filing records 11 March.
Lineage release
The corporate history records September.
First KOSDAQ trading
Shares first traded on 11 July.
Main-market transfer
The company transferred listing on 22 May.
Co-CEO structure
Announced on 20 March; board appointment followed on 28 March.
Dated FY2025 filing
Filed on 18 March, covering calendar 2025.
NCSOFT’s incorporation preceded its best-known game
NCSOFT’s report gives its formation date as 11 March 1997 and records Lineage’s Korean release in September 1998. Its chronology also records a major domestic game award that December and the establishment of NC Taiwan in August 2003. These events trace organisation-building, a product launch, recognition and an overseas corporate presence. Kim’s founding role belongs to that sequence, while the game itself also involved a development team. A company’s legal creation is therefore different from its product’s public release. The business continued to acquire new commercial and organisational responsibilities after both milestones.
Sources for this section: [1]
Listing history describes access to a market
NCSOFT’s report states that its shares first traded on KOSDAQ on 11 July 2000 and transferred to the main securities market on 22 May 2003. These are company-market milestones, not estimates of Kim’s personal wealth. Registration references elsewhere in a chronology can precede the first trading day, so the event label is important when comparing dates. A listing changes the context in which a company raises capital, discloses information and answers to shareholders. It does not make every corporate asset the founder’s direct property, nor does the company’s revenue measure the founder’s personal receipts.
Sources for this section: [1]
Operating a game involves more than a release date
The FY2025 report describes a business developing and servicing mobile and online games. Its product table separates named mobile titles, PC games, royalties and other revenue. Those categories reveal an organisation operating multiple services and commercial relationships, rather than a single product frozen at launch. They also show why one sales total cannot explain every player experience or every creative contribution. The filing is useful for the company’s reported business categories and financial scope. Assessing the quality of games, labour conditions or consumer outcomes would require additional evidence designed for those questions rather than relying on corporate scale alone.
Sources for this section: [1]
The co-CEO announcement and appointment were separate
On 20 March 2024 NCSOFT announced a proposed co-chief-executive structure. It assigned Kim responsibility for game development and related capabilities, while Park Byung-moo would focus on management, investment and organisational efficiency. The announcement still described the forthcoming shareholder and board process. The later business report records the 28 March 2024 board action appointing Kim and Park as representative directors. Using both records distinguishes an announced plan from its subsequent implementation. The division of responsibilities is evidence of an organisational design at a particular date, not proof that every intended improvement had already occurred.
A professional history bounded by dated records
The report filed on 18 March 2026 covers 1 January through 31 December 2025. Its named executives and business figures therefore belong to that reporting context, rather than an independently checked live roster for October 2026. Kim’s established significance lies in founding NCSOFT and leading its development as a game business. The evidence also makes collaboration and later management structures visible. Keeping software credits, incorporation, release dates, trading milestones and executive appointments distinct produces a more useful biography than a general success narrative. It allows readers to recognise the career while testing each claim against the type of record capable of supporting it.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Kim Taek-jin
- When was NCSOFT formed?
- Its FY2025 business report records 11 March 1997; Lineage’s release followed in September 1998.
- When did NCSOFT first trade on KOSDAQ?
- The filing gives 11 July 2000 as the first trading day, distinct from registration steps.
- Did the co-CEO change take effect on its announcement date?
- The 20 March 2024 announcement anticipated approval; the later filing records the board appointments on 28 March.
Keep exploring
Lives connected to this story
- Kim Jung-ju
Compare Nexon’s separate founding and Korea–Japan corporate sequence.
- Lee Hae-jin
Compare a different software platform’s founding and user contributions.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. NCSOFT / Korea Exchange KINDNCSOFT FY2025 business report, filed 18 March 2026 (Korean)
Selected Korean filing passages only, not the entire 9,369-line report. March 1967 is retained without a day; shared Hangul development is not sole authorship. First trading and prior registration are distinct events.
- 2. NCSOFTNCSOFT adopts co-CEO model, 20 March 2024
20 March announcement was prospective; the filing separately records 28 March 2024 board appointments. Neither source is used as a live October 2026 status check.