Wemade's Founder Sells Out for ₩920 Billion, and Mir Heads Toward China

In the early 2000s, millions of players in Chinese internet cafés logged into a Korean fantasy game called The Legend of Mir 2. A quarter of a century later, the company behind it is about to pass into the hands of investors with close ties to China.

On June 30, 2026, Wemade announced that founder and chairman Park Kwan-ho had signed an agreement to sell his entire stake to NeoPulse, an investment platform described as having close ties to Alibaba and major Chinese game companies. The deal is worth about ₩920 billion (roughly $590 million). The industry advisory firm Aream & Co counted it as the largest disclosed games deal of the second quarter.

The numbers

• Stake: 39.33% of Wemade, or 13,350,738 shares
• Price: ₩68,910 per share
• Premium: about 3.6 times Wemade's closing price of ₩19,330 on June 30
• Total: about ₩920 billion

A premium that large is a statement. Buyers usually pay extra for control, but rarely three and a half times the market price. NeoPulse is paying for something it believes the stock market undervalues: Wemade's MIR intellectual property and its MMORPG development teams.

The deal also involves replacing Wemade's board of directors, which moves the buyer from a minority position to full management control.

Why Mir matters

Park founded Wemade in 2000. Before that, he led a development team at Actoz Soft, where The Legend of Mir began. Under Wemade, The Legend of Mir 2 became a phenomenon in China, one of the games that defined the country's early online gaming boom.

The success came with a long legal fight. Actoz Soft, a co-owner of the Mir copyright, was acquired by China's Shanda (now Shengqu Games) in 2004, and the Mir rights became the subject of years of disputes. Wemade has won several international arbitration cases, but about ₩840 billion in damages remains uncollected, because of delays in enforcement in China and what Wemade describes as asset concealment by the other side.

NeoPulse specifically cited Mir's strength in the Chinese market, along with Wemade's subsidiaries that earn steady licensing revenue from the IP. Both companies also plan to use AI across development, graphics, digital humans and live services. "The future of the gaming market will be determined by how effectively companies utilize AI," a Wemade representative said.

Park's exit

Park is one of the first-generation founders of Korea's online games industry, and his exit closes a chapter. Wemade's recent years were difficult: its WEMIX blockchain token was delisted twice from Korean exchanges, which hurt the company's reputation and share price.

Park said he intends to step back and support the company's growth from outside. He also argued that expanding into larger markets is "now a condition for survival" for Korean game companies.

Why it matters

The Wemade deal raises a question Korean gaming has avoided for years: who should own its classic IP? Supporters argue that a buyer focused on China can finally unlock Mir's value in its biggest market. Critics worry that control of one of Korea's most famous game franchises is moving abroad, along with Wemade's blockchain and payment ecosystem, which reports say is also part of the buyer's interest.

It also shows how much the business has changed. Korean publishers once exported games to China and fought to be paid. Now Chinese-linked capital is buying the publishers.

What to watch

• Closing and approvals. The deal still has to complete, including the board change.
• The Mir disputes. Whether a new owner changes Wemade's approach to the long-running cases in China.
• WEMIX. How NeoPulse handles the blockchain side of the business.
• More deals. Our M&A round-up tracks the year's other buyouts.