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Nexon Liquidates Research Firm 'methinks'... Cleaning Up Underperforming Affiliates

[비즈한국] Nexon Korea has liquidated its subsidiary 'methinks' three years after its acquisition. Founded by CEO Yoon Jung-seop, formerly of NHN’s U.S. branch, methinks gained market attention for its business model of directly connecting companies in need of surveys with consumers. After becoming a subsidiary of Nexon Korea in 2022, methinks developed and operated 'Nexon First,' a platform for surveying game users, but the corporate entity has now been liquidated.

It has been confirmed that Nexon Korea completed the liquidation of its user experience research subsidiary, methinks, on July 24. The liquidator was Bae Jun-young, head of Nexon's Platform Division, who served as an executive director at methinks. Methinks had previously resolved to dissolve the company at a general shareholders' meeting on May 16.

Methinks was founded in Silicon Valley in 2016 by Yoon Jung-seop, the former CEO of NHN USA, as a platform connecting companies that need user surveys with survey participants. Participants, known as 'Thinkers,' can review corporate products and services via video interviews on the methinks platform, participate in beta tests for upcoming services, and take surveys, earning an average reward of $20. Companies subscribed to the methinks solution can easily recruit test participants and conduct surveys.

Methinks gained prominence overseas before expanding into the domestic market. Its client list included global companies such as LG, Samsung, Verizon, and Vivo, as well as major domestic game companies like Netmarble251270, NCSoft, and Nexon. It is known that during its initial funding rounds, the company attracted interest from individuals such as Kakao035720 founder and Management Reform Committee Chairman Kim Beom-su, and Kakao VX CEO Moon Tae-sik, a co-founder of Hangame.

After being acquired by its client, Nexon, in June 2022, methinks became a wholly-owned (100%) subsidiary of Nexon Korea. Methinks developed and operated the 'Nexon First' platform, which conducts surveys, non-face-to-face interviews, and remote game testing targeting Nexon’s game users. However, the legal entity has ceased to exist three years after the acquisition.

Regarding the background of the liquidation, Nexon Korea stated, "After the acquisition, we developed the survey research solution 'Nexon First.' As the development and service tasks related to Nexon First were transferred to Nexon Korea, the role of the existing corporate entity became obsolete, leading to the liquidation process." Nexon First will continue to operate even after the liquidation of methinks.

Looking at the performance of methinks, while the profit scale was not large, it had been profitable. At the end of 2022, the first year under Nexon's ownership, it recorded an operating loss of 700 million won and a net loss of 3 billion won, but it turned a profit in 2023 with 1.7 billion won in revenue, 100 million won in operating profit, and 90 million won in net profit.

However, performance declined the following year in 2024, with revenue of 1.6 billion won, an operating profit of 100 million won, and a net profit of 84 million won. While the core service of methinks, video interviews, gained attention around 2020 due to the spread of non-face-to-face culture during the COVID-19 pandemic, it appears that the return to face-to-face culture following the endemic phase had an impact.

Nexon Korea’s game-related subsidiaries include developers such as Neople, Nexon Games, Button, Mintrocket, Engine Studios, Nitro Studios, and Devcat, as well as Nexon Networks (game service and quality management) and Nexon Communications (game operation support). Subsidiaries engaged in non-game businesses included Nexon Space (real estate asset management), N Media Platform (PC bang total management solution), Nexon Universe (content IP/blockchain), and methinks.

Among these, Button and Mintrocket became subsidiaries of Nexon Korea in 2024. Button was newly established, while Mintrocket was spun off from a sub-brand into a new legal entity. With the recent liquidation of the methinks entity, the company appears to be expanding its game-related subsidiaries while organizing those with less relevance.

Nexon is currently restructuring its domestic and overseas affiliates at the group level. Last year, it sold its stakes in 'Big Huge Games,' acquired in 2016, and 'Pixelberry Studios,' acquired in 2017. Both were local U.S. developers, and it appears they were disposed of for management efficiency after failing to produce significant results.

Most pet food-related affiliates previously operated through overseas entities have also been liquidated or had their stakes sold. Last year, NXC sold its stake in NX Pet Holding Inc., a U.S. investment firm, and disposed of seven consolidated subsidiaries including 'Grizzly Pet Products' and 'NAPP Manufacturing' along with it. The French company 'Agras Pet Foods' was liquidated. The North American business rights for 'Whitebridge Pet Brands,' a pet food company acquired in 2021, were sold to the U.S. food company General Mills for approximately 2 trillion won.