NCSoft (엔씨소프트)

NCSoft launched Lineage in 1998, exactly as South Korea emerged from the Asian financial crisis and filled up with PC bangs, those round-the-clock internet cafés. Game and venue fed each other: the MMORPG gave a reason to pay for an hour of machine time, the café gave the game a captive population.

Lineage's guild wars were covered on television news and produced genuine diplomatic negotiations between clans. The studio then produced Lineage II, Aion, Blade & Soul and Guild Wars, and remains criticised for how much room paid mechanics take in its mobile titles — a debate running through the whole Korean industry.