South Korean publisher Hangame restructures with new CEO

South Korean publisher and portal operator Hangame has appointed Eun-Sang Lee, formerly the head of Dragon Nest developer Eyedentity Games, as its new CEO starting this May. A subsidiary of local internet services giant NHN Corp., Hangame operates a self-titled online gaming portal that's one of the most popular in South Korea with 19 million registered users. The Japanese version has more than 36 million users. With this appointment, Hangame has restructured to break up its business into two divisions: P HQ for online games, and S HQ for smartphone games, according to a report from ThisIsGame. The latter group intends to publish 40 titles for smartphones this year. P HQ will house Hangame's RPG and first-person shooter group, its sports game group, and casual game group. Its titles launching soon include Winning Eleven Online and Metro Conflict. Eun-Sang previously headed Webzen's overseas business division, but left to establish Eyedentity in 2007. There he developed Dragon Nest, an MMO popular in South Korea, Taiwan, and China (it made $8.7 million in monthly revenue in China alone). Dragon Nest's publisher in China Shanda Games eventually acquired the company, and Eun-Sang left Eyedentity last May. He connected with Hangame previously after NHN published the title in Japan -- NHN also attempted to purchase Eyedentity.