This R&D team is described as making use of generative AI to create visuals that will be used “strictly as internal reference” during the pre-production period of the games. The assets used for the training of these AI tools are also noted as being internal, with the companies holding “full legal rights” to them.

“The job posting in question is not a role that will be directly involved in the production of the Lies of P sequel. Instead, they will reside within an independent art R&D team at ROUND8,” said the companies in their statement. “GenAI tools are only used in preliminary stage work to improve efficiency of repetitive, foundational tasks. AI-generated visuals function strictly as internal reference material during pre-production, a method for establishing visual direction before formal production begins.

“The intent is to build a proprietary visual library trained exclusively on assets for which NEOWIZ and ROUND8 hold full legal rights. All final assets for the upcoming game will be created by experienced artists.”

During its recent earnings call, NEOWIZ confirmed that the sequel to Lies of P had gone past its prototyping stage and that the studio had now entered full-scale development on the project. The studio also noted that ROUND8 is part of the project as well, with narrative serving as a “core competency” for the overall team working on the game. The project is being directed by Choi Ji-won. Interestingly, Seung-ho Jin and Kay Lee are working on separate projects as directors, and it is unknown if they will also play a role in building out the narrative for Lies of P 2.

NEOWIZ has made no secret of its larger ambitions. Back in January, co-CEO Sean Kim spoke about how the company wants to introduce more successful IPs over the next few years while maintaining work on the Lies of P to build it as a franchise.

“Our goal is to consistently introduce successful IP that fans will continue to support and look forward to over the long haul, even five or ten years down the line,” said Kim. “Currently, we are internally developing more than five new PC and console titles, while also focusing on discovering global IP through collaborations with Western studios such as Zakazane and Wolfeye. We plan to continue investing in strong partners worldwide as we move forward.”

In the meantime, Lies of P is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. As of March, the Soulslike title had managed to sell more than 4 million copies.

The company did speak about ROUND8, which also worked on the Souls-like action RPG, and how it considered narrative to be a “core competency” of the team. It’s why Seung-ho Jin and Kay Lee were recruited as directors despite having backgrounds as scenario writers.

Of course, both are busy leading their own projects, with Choi Ji-won heading up Lies of P 2 (or whatever it ends up called). However, it wouldn’t be surprising if they lent their narrative experience to the project, even in an advisory role.

With Summer Game Fest coming up on June 5th, and Overture having shadow-dropped at the showcase last year, you have to wonder if perhaps NEOWIZ will share a teaser for the sequel. Time will tell, but with more than four million copies sold for the base game and Ji-won promising he wouldn’t disappoint fans with the sequel, anything is possible. Stay tuned for updates until then.

“Reaching this milestone is an incredibly meaningful moment for the Lies of P team,” said a representative for NEOWIZ in a press release. “The enthusiasm and passion the global community has shown for this title continues to inspire us, and we’re grateful to see players around the world discover and embrace our dark, reimagined take on Pinocchio’s story.”

It is worth noting that, aside from this announcement, NEOWIZ has been quiet about Lies of P, likely since the team behind the original is hard at work on the sequel. Back in November, game director Choi Ji-won spoke about how work was progressing on Lies of P 2, and how the studio wants to make sure that it doesn’t disappoint its fans.

“You can expect the most fun that we can achieve within the game,” he said before noting that fans should “please stay tuned for it; we are working really hard, and I will not disappoint you at all.”

In the meantime, NEOWIZ co-CEO Sean Kim has spoken about the publisher’s larger ambitions. In an interview from back in January, Kim spoke about wanting to introduce more “successful IP” over the next five or ten years, while work on the Lies of P franchise continues.

“Our goal is to consistently introduce successful IP that fans will continue to support and look forward to over the long haul, even five or ten years down the line,” said Kim. “Currently, we are internally developing more than five new PC and console titles, while also focusing on discovering global IP through collaborations with Western studios such as Zakazane and Wolfeye. We plan to continue investing in strong partners worldwide as we move forward.”

“Our lineup of third-party indie titles, many of them developed by talented local Korean teams, is also worth highlighting. In particular, Shape of Dreams and SANABI recently achieved both critical and commercial success.”

Kim has also spoken about how the team behind Lies of P 2 is “fully focused” on making the game. “At this point, there is nothing specific we can share in detail,” he said back in January. “I can tell you that the team at Round8 Studio is excited about their work and fully focused on development.”

“With the Lies of P DLC receiving further recognition through its various award wins and director Choi Ji-Won expressing strong confidence in the studio’s next project, we hope fans will continue to look forward to what’s ahead as much as we are.”

Lies of P and its Overture DLC are available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, take a look at our reviews of the base game and the expansion. Also take a look at how Lies of P helped inspire boss fights and designs in Team Ninja’s and Koei Tecmo’s latest outing Nioh 3.

The post is a the latest iteration of the Xbox Excellence Awards, which was created last year to celebrate how players engaged with various releases on Xbox. The Store Rating category lists 2025 games with the best ratings on the Microsoft Store, with an added requirement of the title having at least 500 ratings. Player Engagements is about the average number of hours spent on a game by each player within the first six weeks of a game’s release. Daily Active Users celebrates titles, expansions or updates with the highest single-day active users throughout the year. And finally Units Sold is fairly self-explanatory.

Going down the lists, you’ll find many of the biggest releases of the year, from ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6, as well as award-winning RPG Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Indie titles have also been well-represented, with games like Crime Scene Cleaner and Satisfactory making it into the lists. There also doesn’t seem to have been a singular genre to dominate the lists, since everything from sports games like EA Sports Madden NFL 26, to fantasy adventure life sims like Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time, and even fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics are well represented.

Curiously, none of the games was present in all four of the categories. At most, we got to see titles like Borderlands 4 being able to make it on to three of them: Player Engagement, Daily Active Users and Units Sold. Even ARC Raiders, which has seen quite a bit of success, is only on the Units Sold and Daily Active Users lists.

Microsoft has also emphasized that the lists represent a diverse collection of games developed by studios of varying sizes. All in all, it represents 48 unique developers based out of 13 countries, with 24 publishers having had a hand in their release. 19 of the games were self-published. “Taken as a whole, it’s an encapsulation of development on Xbox – we want gaming to reach you wherever you are, and for the teams making those games to find you from wherever they are,” wrote the company.

Full list of games:

Store Rating:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
• Crime Scene Cleaner
• Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• Dreamcore
• Dynasty Warriors: Origins
• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Final Fantasy XVI
• Lies of P: Overture
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• Little Nightmares III
• Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics
• Minami Lane
• Mullet MadJack
• Poppy Playtime Chapter 4
• Satisfactory
• Silent Hill 2
• Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds
• The First Berserker: Khazan

Player Engagement:

• Borderlands 4
• Digimon Story: Time Stranger
• Dynasty Warriors: Origins
• EA Sports College Football 26
• EA Sports FC 26
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time
• Farm Together 2
• Final Fantasy Tactics – The Ivalice Chronicles
• Helldivers 2
• Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
• Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
• MLB The Show 25
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• NBA 2K26
• NHL 26
• Rust
• Satisfactory
• The First Berserker: Khazan

Daily Active Users:

• Arc Raiders
• Avowed
• Battlefield 6
• Borderlands 4
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• DOOM: The Dark Ages
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Fortnite
• Forza Horizon 5
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Grounded 2
• Helldivers 2
• Marvel Rivals
• Minecraft
• NBA 2K26
• Rematch
• Roblox
• Rocket League
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege

Units Sold:

• Arc Raiders
• Assassin’s Creed Shadows
• Battlefield 6
• Borderlands 4
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
• EA Sports Madden NFL 26
• EA Sports College Football 26
• EA Sports FC 26
• Elden Ring Nightreign
• Grand Theft Auto V
• Helldivers 2
• Hollow Knight: Silksong
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
• MLB The Show 25
• Monster Hunter Wilds
• NBA 2K26
• PGA Tour 2K25
• Ready or Not
• The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered
• WWE 2K25

“Our goal is to consistently introduce successful IP that fans will continue to support and look forward to over the long haul, even five or ten years down the line,” said Kim when asked about the studio’s plans to diversify its offerings. “Currently, we are internally developing more than five new PC and console titles, while also focusing on discovering global IP through collaborations with Western studios such as Zakazane and Wolfeye. We plan to continue investing in strong partners worldwide as we move forward.”

“Our lineup of third-party indie titles, many of them developed by talented local Korean teams, is also worth highlighting. In particular, Shape of Dreams and SANABI recently achieved both critical and commercial success.”

When the subject of the various unannounced projects in the works at NEOWIZ came up, Kim noted that this doesn’t mean that Lies of P will be left behind. Rather, he said that, alongside catering to its existing audience, the studio also wants to bring in more fans by diving into other genres.

“We don’t set out to pursue a wide range of genres as a matter of strategic direction; rather, we’re circumspect about what we currently have and opportunistic about what we could execute well,” he said. “Of course, the Lies of P franchise will need to be continued. That’s a given. But in general, our development cycle does not begin with a particular genre. Instead, it starts with the creative vision of our directors. We tend not to begin development by fixating on a play style or game concept first.”

NEOWIZ’s plans for more releases came to light in November 2025 thanks to the studio’s investor presentation. At the time, there were four titles listed as being under development. Two of these—a mobile game dubbed Cats & Soup: Magic Recipe and PC game Kill the Shadow—are set for release in the first half of the year. The other two—Goodbye Seoul: Itaewon and Kingdom 2—are planned for the second half of 2026, and will be coming to PC and mobile respectively.

The presentation also noted plans for phase 2, where it would expand on its IPs. Part of this includes a sequel to Lies of P, as well as a “survival action adventure” project, and a “life simulation” project. All of these phase 2 projects are developed in-house. The company also plans to collaborate with other developers from across the world to help discover new IP. For example, with the western studios Kim mentioned above—Zakazane and Wolfeye—it is working on projects that have been described as a “noir west CRPG” and a “retro sci-fi first-person RPG” respectively.

While NEOWIZ hasn’t revealed many details about Lies of P 2 yet, Kim has spoken about the fact that the development team at Round8 has been “excited about their work and fully focused on development.”

For more details about Lies of P, which is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S, check out our review. Also check out our review of its expansion—Overture.

“At this point, there is nothing specific we can share in detail,” he told Game Informer. “I can tell you that the team at Round8 Studio is excited about their work and fully focused on development.

“With the Lies of P DLC receiving further recognition through its various award wins and director Choi Ji-Won expressing strong confidence in the studio’s next project, we hope fans will continue to look forward to what’s ahead as much as we are.”

After Ji-Won said last year that the sequel would deliver “the most fun that we can achieve within the game,” and that he “will not disappoint you at all,” it’s difficult not to get hyped. Thus far, all we really know is that it could run on Unreal Engine 5, according to a job listing from January 2024.

As for Overture, Kim said that he was “grateful” about the response from fans worldwide. “It was a watershed moment, adding clear insight into the importance and potential of NEOWIZ’s franchise-driven IP strategy, while also practising what it takes operationally to deliver solid results in the global market.

“For Round8 Studio, the success of Overture was especially validating, as it clearly demonstrated the competitiveness of the Lies of P IP on the worldwide stage, while recognizing the creativity, dedication, and ambition shown by the entire development team.”

Lies of P and Overture have collectively sold three million copies as of June 2025, but the Souls-like surpassed seven million players back in March 2024, owing to its availability on Game Pass since launch. You can check out our review of the expansion here. Hearing about the positive response to it from Kim is interesting, especially considering complaints about the difficulty when Overture first released.

Aside from Lies of P 2, NEOWIZ is also publishing the next games from Weird West developer Wolfeye Studios and Poland-based Zakazane Studio. The former is working on a retro sci-fi RPG in first-person, while the latter has a noir western mystery CRPG in the works.

While expressing excitement about the DLC having won the award, Ji-won noted that the studio is making sure that it is trying to maximise the amount of fun players can experience in the sequel. He also went on to note that he has no plans to disappoint the Lies of P fan base at large.

“You can expect the most fun that we can achieve within the game,” he said before going on to tell fans that they should “please stay tuned for it; we are working really hard, and I will not disappoint you at all.”

NEOWIZ had confirmed that it has been working on a sequel to Lies of P quite some time ago – back in November 2023 – with Ji-won also having announced the DLC that would eventually be released as Overture. Since then, however, the studio hasn’t revealed any more details about the highly-anticipated sequel.

Most recently, an investor presentation by NEOWIZ indicated that the company had quite a few projects in the works, both as a developer and as a publisher. One of the slides in the presentation confirmed that it will be releasing four titles throughout FY 2026, with Cats & Soup: Magic Recipe (mobile) and Kill the Shadow (PC) set for the first half of the year, and Goodbye Seoul: Itaewon (PC) and Kingdom 2 (mobile) set for the second half.

While these titles will mark phase 1 of the company’s plans of focusing on live service releases across mobile and PC, the company also has phase 2 plans already set in place that revolve around “expansion of global IPs”. While no release windows for games part of phase 2 have been confirmed so far, NEOWIZ did reveal that it is also working on a game described as a “survival action adventure” project, as well as another game described as a “life simulation” project.

These two projects, along with two others headed up by Seungho Jin and Kay Lee, are being developed in-house and are targetting PC and consoles as their platforms of choice. The company is also working on publishing a “retro sci-fi first-person RPG” being developed by Wolfeye Studios, as well as a “noir west CRPG” developed by Zakazane Studio.

Back in November 2024, NEOWIZ had also confirmed that it was working on a science fiction survival horror game being made with Unreal Engine 5. The title is likely the “survival action adventure” project listed in the investor presentation.

In the meantime, Lies of P and its Overture DLC are available on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more details, check out our reviews of the base game as well as the DLC.

The four titles are part of phase 1 of NEOWIZ’s plans where it focuses on live service titles across mobile and PC, as well as tries to discover the next big indie hit through publishing. Phase 2 of the company’s plans revolve around “expansion of global IPs”, and while there are no release windows confirmed for the projects part of this plan, we do get a look at their genres. It is worth noting that the two mobile projects are being developed in-house, while the other two are games that indie releases that NEOWIZ is publishing.

Along with a sequel to Lies of P, NEOWIZ is also working on a “survival action adventure” project, as well as a “life simulation” project. Along with these, the company is also working on new projects by Seungho Jin and Kay Lee, all of which are being developed in-house and targeting PC and consoles. NEOWIZ also has a pair of titles that it will be publishing across PC and consoles – a “retro sci-fi first-person RPG” made by Wolfeye Studios, and a “noir west CRPG” made by Zakazane Studio.

The “survival action adventure” game is likely the sci-fi survival horror title that NEOWIZ had confirmed to be in development back in November 2024. At the time, the company hadn’t revealed too many details, noting that it was “too early” to discuss its progress. However, it did note that the development team was aiming for a “higher level of perfection”, as well as the fact that it is being developed in Unreal Engine 5.

NEOWIZ had confirmed that it was already working on a sequel to Lies of P all the way back in November 2023, shortly after the title’s release. In a video letter, game director Ji Won Choi also confirmed that, alongside the sequel, a DLC for Lies of P was in the works, which would eventually turn out to be Overture. However, there have been no new details revealed about the sequel since then.

More recently, NEOWIZ had announced that Lies of P: Overture had sold 3 million copies. The DLC was able to hit these impressive sales figures quite quickly after its launch. The base game, on the other hand, was originally released all the way back in 2023 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S. As such, it has already hit several impressive sales milestone, with 7 million copies sold as of March 2024.

For more details about Lies of P, check out our review of the base game, as well as our review of Overture.

Another welcome change is that Overture is available from Chapter 5 of the base game instead of Chapter 9, allowing newcomers to access the DLC sooner. Other changes include bug fixes for quests and instances of movement to unintended areas. Various bugs associated with Monad’s Rose Sword have also been addressed.

Check out the full patch notes below for more details. Lies of P: Overture is available for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and PC. Lasting 15 to 20 hours (depending on your experience), it sees P venturing to Krat in the past before the Puppet Massacre. Check out our review for more details.

Update Notes Version 1.9.0.0

Major Changes

• Starting from your second playthrough, you can access the Lies of P: Overture DLC from Chapter 5 at the “Path of the Pilgrim.”
• Please read any on-screen prompts carefully.
• Combat Balance Adjustments
• Reduced monster difficulty in repeat playthroughs.
• Adjusted stats for certain field monsters in the first playthrough of Lies of P: Overture.

Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where benefit items were not delivered properly.
• If you experienced issues with benefit items such as the “Azure Dragon Crescent Glaive” or “Winter Festival Peaked Hat” not being received, please update the game to the latest version and check if the issue has been resolved.
• If your Bag was full, these items may have been sent to the Storage. Please check your Storage as well.
• Fixed a bug that prevented quest progression after giving a bottle of beer to Salao, the Old Fisherman.
• If you encounter this bug, update the game to the latest version and try speaking with Salao again.
• Fixed a bug that allowed movement to unintended areas outside the normal route.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the character to be launched into the air when using the Blade Fable Arts of “Monad’s Rose Sword.”
• Fixed a bug where using the Blade Fable Arts of “Monad’s Rose Sword” in Hotel Krat while listening to a record would skip the current record.
• Fixed a bug where the triggered effect of the “Solutionist’s Amulet” would persist even after the item was unequipped.
• Fixed a visual bug affecting the Legion Arm “Flamberge” when wearing the “Blazing Death’s Hunting Apparel.”
• Fixed various minor issues, including icon display errors, localization and text errors, monster-related bugs, and other miscellaneous bugs.

Lies of P was released in September 2023 for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, alongside Game Pass. It sold over one million copies within its first month and would surpass seven million players by March 2024. Of course, the current sales figure doesn’t include Game Pass subscribers, so the total number of players may be even higher.

Check out our review for Lies of P here. You can also learn more about Overture and what makes it so much fun here. A sequel is currently in development and could leverage Unreal Engine 5, according to a job listing. NEOWIZ hasn’t provided any details on what it could offer, but it did confirm that Overture’s conclusion isn’t connected to the base game’s ending.