Neowiz

Neowiz is a South Korean video game developer, publisher, and creative force behind the ERCC NFT (Early Retired Cats Club). ^[1]^[2]

History

Neowiz started in May 1997 when 7 young men gathered to develop an Internet connection program and started a business. NEO means new, and WIZ means Wizard, this laid the foundation for the name NEOWIZ.^[1]

In 2007, Neowiz received the 2007 Korea Game Awards for excellence in CSR, acquired GameOn, a Japanese game company, and established NEOWIZ Games. through the spin-off of Neowiz. In 2008, Neowiz received the Korea Internet & Security Agency's Award at the 3rd Korea Internet Awards. ^[3]

In September 2009, Neowiz acquired the Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification. In March 2010, the company moved to a new office building in Gumi-dong, Bundang. ^[3]

In March 2011, Neowiz' Pmang, ranked first in the National Customer Satisfaction Index (NCSI) web board game category. In June and September, it received the Best Transparent Management Award at the 5th Korea KOSDAQ Awards and the ‘GWP 2011 Korea’s Best Company to Work for’ Main Award (2 years in a row) respectively, and in December, received a special prize at the 10th Information Protection Awards. ^[3]

In late 2012, Neowiz received the grand prize at ‘2012 Best Practices for Operation of Job Invention System’ and was awarded a $200 million export tower on ‘49th National Trade's Day’. ^[3]

In 2014, Neowiz moved the new office building in Pangyo to ‘NEOWIZ Pangyo Tower’. In June 2016, MMORPG Bless was awarded the Best Game of the Month by the Korea Creative Content Agency. ^[3]

In 2019, the company incorporated Gameplete, a Mobile game developer as a subsidiary, and acquired IP for the online FPS game 'A.V.A'. In 2020, Neowiz incorporated Superflex, a developer of Raising Death Knights, and Quest Games, the developer of DruwaDungeon as subsidiaries. The game Skul won the 'Indie Game Award' at the 2020 Korea Game Awards and Plebby Quest also won the 'Excellence Award' at the 2020 Korea Game Awards. ^[3]

In January 2021, Plebby Quest won the 2021 Taiwan Game Show's Best Design Award', In February, Neowiz incorporated Sticky Hands, a Mobile game developer as a subsidiary, and in April, Neowiz won the 'Innovative Entrepreneur Award' from the Korea Venture Startup Society. ^[3]

ERCC NFT

In January 2024, Neowiz collaborated with the web3 blockchain gaming platform Intella X^[4] for the release of the PFP (profile picture) NFT collection, ERCC (Early Retired Cats Club). ERCCs originated from the popular mobile game by Neowiz, "Cats & Soup", boasting over 50 million downloads. With a collection of 1,930 cats from the Starry Cat Village spread across 192 countries, this ERCC PFP project brings these unique NFTs to the blockchain. ^[2]
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