[Edaily Marketin Reporter Song Seung-Hyeon ] Smilegate is acquiring indie game developer Newgem Studio. This marks the first management takeover since the company was newly launched as a consolidated entity in January of this year. When narrowing the scope to domestic game developers, it is the first such acquisition in seven years, following the 2019 acquisition of Super Creative.

According to investment banking (IB) industry sources on the 12th, Smilegate is acquiring Newgem Studio, the developer of the idle RPG “TBH” (Task Bar Hero). The acquisition is being carried out not by its affiliate venture capital firm, Smilegate Investment, or its platform division, Stove, but by the integrated corporation itself, which was launched last January. Specific contract terms, such as the equity stake and acquisition price, will not be disclosed in accordance with an agreement between the two companies.

Newgem Studio is a two-person indie development team. On May 27, it released the idle RPG game “TBH: Task Bar Hero,” co-developed with Tesseract Studio, for free on Steam. The game also employs a “freemium” model, where players can purchase and unlock additional classes and convenience features via DLC. The game’s unique format—where pixel characters placed on the PC taskbar automatically hunt—gained traction through word of mouth, resulting in a peak of 415,374 concurrent players just two weeks after launch. At the time, this ranked it fourth on Steam overall, trailing only Counter-Strike 2, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, and Dota 2.

It is rare for a domestic indie studio to achieve such metrics in the global Steam market. The acquisition is attributed to the fact that the game attracted a massive user base through a format with low barriers to entry, despite minimal development staff and production costs. It was also praised for its substantial content for a free-to-play game, featuring three acts, four difficulty levels, over 50 types of monsters, and more than 500 items.

This trend aligns with the growing popularity of classic genres—which prioritize simple rules and pixel art over high-end graphics—as an alternative, especially as development times and costs for major new releases continue to rise. With genre-revival titles like last year’s turn-based RPG *Claire Obscur: Expedition 33* achieving global success, major companies are increasingly turning their attention to small development teams.

Smilegate has been building a presence in this field. The company distributes indie games through its proprietary platform, Stove, and in July 2024, it entered the publishing business via Stove Indie. Its first lineup included *No Over-Immersion 2: Summer Pocha* by Monster Guide and *If Sunset* by Polymorph Studio.

Expanding its lineup is also a challenge for Smilegate. Of the company’s 2024 consolidated revenue of 1.5222 trillion won, Smilegate Entertainment—which handles *CrossFire*—and Smilegate RPG—which handles *Lost Ark*—accounted for 47.2% and 31.3%, respectively.

This marks Smilegate’s third acquisition of a domestic game company. The company invested 156.5 billion won in SundayToz in two separate rounds in 2014 and 2017, before acquiring a controlling stake for 84 billion won in 2021. In 2019, it purchased a 64% stake in Super Creative, the developer of *Epic Seven*, for 119.4 billion won.

A Smilegate official stated, “The two companies have agreed to share a vision for the desktop companion market, including TBH, and to move forward in a mutually complementary relationship.” The official explained that, following the acquisition, Smilegate will focus on providing support in the form of publishing and service operation expertise rather than directly intervening in management.