▲ This photo, provided by Netflix, shows "Hellbound" director Yeon Sang-ho. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Feb. 14 (Yonhap) -- Smilegate, a video game developer that is gaining global recognition with “Crossfire,” “Lost Ark,” announced it has signed a partnership contract for jointly developed intellectual property (IP), with director Yeon Sang-ho, who produced "Train to Busan" (2016)·“Hellbound” (2021), on Monday.

Smilegate plans to start working with director Yeon to create a universe with new content. Based on this, various contents including movies, dramas, and webtoons will be produced as well as games.

The first work is expected to be released as early as next year.

Director Yeon became famous with the hit zombie thriller "Train to Busan" (2016), drawing more than 11 million in attendance, and became well known globally with Netflix Korea’s original series, “Hellbound,” which topped the charts from Nov. 22 for 10 days.

Kwon Hyuk-bin, Chief Executive Officer of Smilegate said at the New Year’s Address posted last month, "We are discussing joint IP development with director Yeon," adding, "We will expand Smilegate universe to various fields from games."
 

Meanwhile, Smilegate's version of the Lost Ark Steam released at 2 a.m. on the 11th (local time) through Amazon Games, topped the category with 1,325,305, the highest number of simultaneous users on the 12th. The company said it was the first time in four and a half years that the Korean game team ranked first in the number of simultaneous users since Krafton (259960)'s Battleground in August 2017.

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