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Kim Hakkyu (김학규)

Kim Hakkyu 김학규

Kim Hakkyu

Company

IMC Games Co.,Ltd.

Position

Founder & CEO

Games Created

Lars the Wanderer

Antman 2

Arcturus

Ragnarok Online

Granado Espada

Latest Games

Wolfknights Online

Passion

MMO Games

Date of Birth

1st November

Kim Hakkyu (김학규) is the lead developer of Tree of Savior game. For many in Korea, Kim Hakkyu is considered a legend; he's been called “The Father to Korean online games” and lately he releases “Project R1” has been reputed as the “Father of Ragnarok Online”, a popular MMORPG game in Asia.

Kim Hakkyu made his debut in the gaming industry when he released “Lychnis” in 1994 as a director of Artcraft Team. In 1998, Artcraft split into two companies, Softmax and Gravity Soft. Kim hakkyu spearheaded Gravity Soft and with co-developer Sonnori released “Acturus”1).

In April 2000, Kim Jung Ryool joined Gravity Soft as investor and chairman on board and changed the name to “Gravity”2). With the new addition to the team, Kim Hakkyu continued to develop one of the world's most popular MMORPG game, Ragnarok Online.

On 16th April 2002, following the release of Ragnarok Online and a conflict between Kim Hakkyu and Kim Jung Ryool; Kim Hakkyu resigned as CEO of Gravity to take a break and concentrate on game development3).

In the same year, Kim Hakkyu established IMC Games Co.,Ltd. with their motto: Impress, Motivate and Connect. While visiting Europe countries, the beautiful architecture and the environment4) gave Kim Hakkyu the inspiration to develop his dream game “Granado Espada”. Soon, Granado Espada was released in 14th February 2006.

Recently, IMC Games announced Tree of Savior “Project R1” and WolfKnights “Project G2”.

Passion & Inspiration

Kim Hakkyu is very much inspired by Starcraft, the most popular science fiction real-time strategy (RTS) game in the world. Kim Hakkyu implements elements from RTS games into RPG games. To achieve that, Kim Hakkyu feels that one needs to be equipped with various types of knowledge, from business economics, to statistics, to history, to art, to marketing, and many others.

Kim Hakkyu is also an advocate of “Blue Ocean Strategy”. In the Korean Game Conference (KGC) 2005, Kim Hakkyu gave a keynote on innovation and taking risks, the book “Blue Ocean Strategy” was referenced.

Past Games

Lars The Wonderer (라스더원더러)

Lars The Wonderer (라스더원더러)

Developer

Artcraft

Genre

Action

Antman 2 (개미맨 2)

Antman 2 (개미맨 2)

Developer

Gravity, Namil Soft

Publisher

SKC

Genre

Action

Arcturus (악튜러스)

Arcturus (악튜러스)

Developer

Gravity, Sonnori

Publisher

Wizard Soft

Genre

Fantasy RPG

Ragnarok Online (라그나로크온라인)

Ragnarok Online (라그나로크온라인)

Developer

Gravity

Publisher

Gravity

Genre

Fantasy MMORPG

Granado Espada

Granado Espada

Developer

IMC Games

Publisher

Hanbitsoft

Genre

Fantasy MMORPG

Wolfknights Online

WolfKnights Online

Developer

IMC Games

Genre

Action

Genre

Fantasy MMORPG

1) http://www.khgames.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=18975
2) http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/korea/part2/company-gravity.htm
3) http://news.inews24.com/php/news_view.php?g_serial=73261&g_menu=020500
4) http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1508/from_ragnarok_to_the_new_world_an_.php
people/kim-hakkyu.txt · Last modified: 2015/03/06 13:38 by andronicus