Wemade "Lost 840 billion won to Chinese game companies"

Game company appeals for government support

Legal battle over The Legend of Mir IP

"ICC arbitration, Chinese companies not complying"

Korean game company Wemade has requested government assistance, claiming that it is being unfairly deprived of game royalty (copyright fee) costs totaling 840 billion won by Chinese game companies. Wemade announced this at a briefing on the lawsuit held at its headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on the 21st.

Wemade was spun off from ActozSoft in 2000 and agreed to jointly hold the copyright for the MMORPG 'The Legend of Mir 2' (photo) it was developing, and signed a license agreement with Chinese company Shanda Games in 2001. Mir 2 was released in the Chinese market and was successful, but Shanda Games did not properly pay the royalty fees to Wemade from 2002 to 2005, leading to conflict. The confrontation shifted to Wemade versus Shanda Games and ActozSoft after Shanda Games acquired ActozSoft in 2005.

It is known that Shanda Games has been providing the 'Mir' intellectual property (IP) to third parties in China without authorization since 2014. Despite Wemade's objections, Shanda Games has not paid any royalties.

The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ruled in 2023 that Shanda Games must pay 1.5 billion yuan (about 300 billion won) in compensation to Wemade. ActozSoft was also held jointly liable and ordered to pay 150 billion won of this amount. However, as the two Chinese companies delayed payment, Wemade applied for approval and enforcement of the arbitration award in a Chinese court in February.

Wemade also stated that Chinese giant game company Kingnet has been withholding royalty fees for three games, 'Namwoljeongi', 'Yongseongjeonga', and 'Jeongiraeryo', which utilized the Mir IP from 2016 to 2018. Wemade explained that the Chinese court is not enforcing the ruling without reasonable grounds.

Reporter An Jeong-hoon ajh6321@hankyung.com