| TriggerSoft Games | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Info | |
| Type | Private company |
| Industry | Software |
| Founded | 1994 December[1] |
| Headquarters | South Korea |
| Key People | Kim Mun'gyu (President) Jeong Musik (First Employee, Director) |
| Products | PC games |
| Parent | GRAVITY Co., Ltd. |
| Website | TriggerSoft Games Korean |
TriggerSoft Inc. is a Korean gaming company centered around PC games. It was acquired by GRAVITY Co. in 2005 and liquidated by its new parent company in 2007. The company's last title before being dissolved was ROSE Online.
History[]
Kim Mun'gyu worked at one of the earliest Korean PC game developers, Family Production on its first game Boksu Mujeong, before leaving and founding the (initially) 2-man team TriggerSoft with employee no. 1 Jeong Musik.[2] Lacking a programmer, they produced their first couple of games in cooperation with other companies: At first they helped out with the graphics part on SiEn Art's Into the Sun, then a company called EST Soft helped out with their own Last Laibers. The first big success, however, that put the company on everyone's radar, was War Diary, an RTS based around the Japanese invasions into Korea at the end of the 16th century. Their partner this time was the indie developer HQ Team, which eventually became the other poster child for Korean RTS games.[3]
After more successes with above-average attention from overseas publishers, the company seemed to have stumbled over the gap to the MMO market. Its first online game, Rhakmu, was shut down after a short open beta phase, and while developing ROSE Online, it was absorbed by the games publisher GRAVITY in May 2005.[4]
Jeong Musik was also the co-founder of the Korea Game Developers Association (KGDA), from September 2000 until today the longest-living association of Korean game developers that also hosts the Korean Game Conference since 2001, and became its first chairman.[5] He left TriggerSoft in 2003 for NC Soft, and switched companies once again in 2006, when he co-founded Gorilla Banana with CEO Kim Chanjun, where he is developing Red Blood.[6]
President Kim Mun'gyu's immediate future unfortunately seems to have been not so bright. In 2006 he appeared as the CEO of a company called Digmsoft, which vanished without having released anything.[7] There couldn't be found a trace of his activities after that.[8]
Game Titles[]
- War Diary (1996)
- Panic Soldier (1996)
- Akuma: Demon Spawn (1998)
- Boss (1999)
- Rhakmu Online (2003)
- ROSE Online (2005)
References[]
- ↑ Hardcore Gaming 101 2015 Nov. 15
- ↑ PC Power Zine 6/1999, page 270
- ↑ Gamespot Korea - Self Story: Trigger Soft's Jeong Musik (2)
- ↑ iNews24 2005 May 04
- ↑ KGDA History
- ↑ Kyunghyang Games 2011 Nov. 15
- ↑ Game Job - Digmsoft Company Profile
- ↑ Hardcore Gaming 101 2015 Nov. 15
External links[]
- TriggerSoft Games Korean Official Website