NCSoft Confirms Lee To Lead NC West To 'Streamline Global Management'

Korean MMO publisher NCsoft's chief financal officer Jaeho Lee will now head up the publisher's new Western subsidiary as CEO, replacing Chris Chung, who remains with NCsoft West. Reached for comment, however, NCsoft tells Gamasutra that widespread media reports suggesting Lee's move implies either remote leadership or a shift in control of the Western division to Korea are misleading. "Jaeho Lee is moving to Seattle, so nothing has shifted except him," clarifies a rep -- who also points out that in addition to his duties at CFO, Lee ran departments like production and marketing in Seoul. "A similar change of personnel happened in our Japan office, so this was a strategic move on the part of our headquarters in Seoul to streamline global management," says the rep. The company saw its sales rise sharply in its recently-announced quarterly results thanks to Aion. The company's Bellevue, Washington subsidiary ArenaNet, developers of the six million-selling Guild Wars franchise, is currently at work on its next major release, Guild Wars 2, which NCsoft expects to help boost North American revenues when it launches.