Following recent reports of The First Bersker: Khazan developer Neople being reassigned by parent company Nexon, the latter has noted that the move was “not related to workforce reduction or team dissolution.” Speaking to GamesRadar, Nexon has said that the restructuring of the studio was a “planned reallocation” of its staff.
“The First Berserker: Khazan is the first of three games designed to introduce our Dungeon & Fighter to a global audience. The game got off to a solid launch with good critical scores in Western markets on both PC and console,” said the company in a statement.
Further in its statement, it reiterated the fact that personnel were being allocated off the project to make more effective use of resources across current and future projects at the company.
“As the development roadmap for The First Berserker: Khazan enters its final stage, Neople has reorganized its teams to more effectively allocate resources across current and future projects, including the pipeline of games designed to attract players in every major market globally.
“This adjustment is not related to workforce reduction or team dissolution. It reflects a planned reallocation of talent to support live service operations and new initiatives across Neople and Nexon affiliates.”
The report of Neople’s staff being reallocated came about thanks to Yonhap News Agency. The latter noted that, out of the 100 developers who worked on The First Berserker: Khazan, an undisclosed number have been put into a “transition unit” known as “R Team”. Nexon has also stated that it will “actively support the reassignment of personnel who gained expertise in completing a global AAA title through the Khazan project, so they can apply their experience and capabilities to other projects.”
The fact that The First Berserker: Khazan missed sales targets set by Nexon hasn’t really been a secret. The company revealed during an earnings call last month that its Q1 revenue for the game was lower than expected. Despite this, however, it “achieved our objective as a strategic first step in a multi-year plan to introduce Dungeon & Fighter IP to a global audience.”
The First Berserker: Khazan is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. For more, check out our review. A year ago, after its release, creative director Junho Lee thanked players for supporting the game since its release.
“I poured my heart into making Khazan, telling myself that this would be the game I stake my entire career on, leaving absolutely nothing in the tank. By the time we launched in 2025, I truly believed I had given every last ounce of energy I had. But then, so many of you showed up. You played the game, you shared your honest thoughts, and you cheered us on.”
“Because of all that, not just me but the entire dev team found ourselves filled with even more energy than we spent building the game in the first place.”
Along with this, Lee also revealed interesting player stats, like the number of player deaths different bosses caused, and how many players were able to complete the game across its difficulty modes.
