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Smilegate Acquires Land for Development Near Yongin City Hall for 19.2 Billion Won

[비즈한국] It has been confirmed through Bizhankook's coverage that Smilegate Holdings, the third-largest game company in Korea, recently purchased a large area of land designated for development near Yongin City Hall. Smilegate had already acquired nearby land through a subsidiary about three years ago, sparking interest in the motives behind these successive purchases. Smilegate stated briefly, "The acquisition is intended to secure facilities for business use from a long-term perspective."

According to industry sources, Smilegate Holdings purchased a total of 112,761㎡ of land, including the Samga District 3 urban development site in Cheoin-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, and adjacent plots, for 19.21333 billion won on the 25th of last month. The land involved in this transaction consists of wooded areas that were purchased in 2021 by a real estate development firm, Company A, from various individual owners. Currently, some of this land is included in the Samga District 3 urban development site, while some is part of the urban natural park area near the district.

This is not the first time the Smilegate Group has purchased land in the area. Previously, in December 2021, Smilegate Entertainment, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Smilegate Holdings, acquired approximately 100,000㎡ of land adjacent to the site now purchased by Smilegate Holdings. These plots, consisting of wooded forests and building sites, have now been partially incorporated into the Samga District 3 urban development project.

The Samga District 3 urban development project is a plan to construct apartment complexes (717 units) and auxiliary welfare facilities on a site (49,547㎡) near Yongin Mir Stadium, a general sports facility north of Yongin City Hall. A development plan was established in October 2022 based on a proposal by local landowners, and the implementation plan was approved in March of last year. The project is being carried out using the land substitution method, where landowners are returned developed land equivalent to their original stakes.

Regarding this land acquisition, a Smilegate Holdings official only replied, "It is part of securing facilities for business use from a long-term perspective," adding, "There is no confirmed usage yet."

Smilegate Holdings is the holding company of the Smilegate Group. It oversees game development, intellectual property (IP), investment, and platform businesses, centered on subsidiaries such as Smilegate Entertainment, which developed the first-person shooter (FPS) game Crossfire, and Smilegate RPG, which developed the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Lost Ark. In 2023, the group recorded 1.3813 trillion won in consolidated revenue and 490.5 billion won in operating profit, ranking third in operating profit among domestic game companies, following Krafton and Nexon. All shares are held by the founder, Chief Vision Officer (CVO) Kwon Hyuk-bin.