Nexon's Embark Studios is making ambitious virtual worlds.
Nexon's Embark Studios is making ambitious virtual worlds.
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The DeanBeat: Nexon pushes back at analysts by refusing to give game launch dates

  • Posted byby Dean Takahashi
  • Updated
  • 6 min

Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney told investors during an earnings call Wednesday that he would not give launch dates for highly anticipated releases of KartRider: Drift and the first game from Patrick Soderlund’s Embark Studios.

His remarks surfaced truths about game development seldom discussed in financial circles. The suits of the business — CEOs, chief financial officer, and other game leaders — may often plant a flag in the ground by scheduling a game. But Mahoney, a suit himself, is quite critical of those other suits, as he believes scheduling a game launch to meet a financial target almost never ends well for the players, the development team, and the investors.

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Written by

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.