Nexon wins over Western developers by pitching gaming as an art form

Nexon is a pioneer of free-to-play online games in Asia, and it wants to break into the West in a big way.

A couple of years ago, the Tokyo-based, South Korean-born company appointed Owen Mahoney, a former Electronic Arts executive from the U.S., as its CEO. And he has been on a quest to sign up as many third-party Western game developers as he can to help Nexon expand into the global $30 billion mobile gaming market, as well as the online gaming market worldwide.