Neowiz’s Long Game After Lies of P

The success of Lies of P turned Neowiz from a familiar Korean publisher into a globally recognized name in the action RPG and Soulslike space. Now, instead of treating that success as a one-off, the company is openly positioning it as the first pillar in a longer strategy: a slate of new IP, sequels, and collaborations that it hopes players will still be talking about five to ten years from now.

This article breaks down what Neowiz is planning after Lies of P, why the company is investing so heavily in original IP, and what this approach says about the future of mid-to-large publishers in the global games industry.

From Surprise Soulslike Hit to Flagship Franchise

When Lies of P launched, it entered a crowded field of Soulslike titles competing for a similar audience. Yet it managed to stand out through its twisted Pinocchio-inspired setting, responsive combat, and strong word-of-mouth. Critical reception was solid and player sentiment was even stronger, giving Neowiz a proven hit in a genre where many attempts never reach a broad audience.

The commercial and critical performance of Lies of P has had several direct consequences for Neowiz:

• It validated the publisher’s investment in premium console and PC titles, not just mobile and online games.
• It gave Neowiz a globally recognized IP that can support sequels, expansions, and spin-offs.
• It increased investor and industry confidence in the company’s internal studios, especially Round8 Studio.

According to Neowiz’s corporate reporting, the company is now treating Lies of P as a core part of its long-term roadmap, rather than a standalone project. In its annual materials, Neowiz highlights the sequel as a future-phase title while also listing other new projects queued up for earlier release windows.¹

A 5–10 Year Horizon: Building IP That Lasts

Neowiz leadership has emphasized that the company’s long-term goal is not to chase one-off hits, but to create a portfolio of franchises that players can follow for years. That means thinking in terms of a five- to ten-year horizon instead of simply shipping one game at a time.

In interviews, Neowiz representatives describe a roadmap shaped around several principles:

• Consistency: releasing games at a steady pace so that the audience always has something new to look forward to.
• Franchise thinking: planning titles as potential series from day one, with sequel and expansion potential baked in.
• Global appeal: working with both internal teams and Western partners to reach players outside Korea.
• Platform diversification: staying active on PC, console, and mobile instead of locking into one platform family.

This franchise-minded approach mirrors trends across the industry. Major publishers like Capcom and Bandai Namco increasingly lean on stable series such as Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, Tales, and Dark Souls, which can support multiple entries and broad merchandising. Neowiz appears to be pursuing a similar but more targeted strategy on a smaller scale: fewer IP overall, but each designed to sustain long-term audience engagement.

Lies of P Sequel: A Given, Not a Gamble

One of the clearest signals from Neowiz is that a follow-up to Lies of P is not optional—it is assumed. Company commentary and investor documents place the sequel firmly in the pipeline, even if details like title, setting, and exact release window remain unannounced.¹

What Neowiz has made clear is that:

• The internal team at Round8 Studio is actively working on the project.
• The sequel has moved into a later “phase” of the company’s roadmap, implying a more distant release but a solid commitment.
• The game is being treated as an anchor title for a broader phase of releases, not a side project.

This “of course there will be a sequel” stance marks a shift from the cautious tone that often accompanies follow-ups to mid-budget hits. Instead of waiting to see if interest cools, Neowiz is framing Lies of P as a continuing franchise and aligning its development phases around that assumption.

How Lies of P Might Evolve as a Franchise

Neowiz has not revealed story or gameplay specifics for the sequel. However, its public materials and industry-standard franchise practices suggest several likely directions:

• Deeper worldbuilding: expanding the game’s reinterpretation of classic tales and mechanical puppetry into new regions, factions, and timelines.
• Combat refinement: iterating on the first game’s systems with more build diversity, weapon synergies, and quality-of-life improvements.
• Cross-media potential: if the franchise continues to grow, Neowiz could explore comics, animation, or collaborations, following models used by other successful IP owners.

The key takeaway is that, for Neowiz, Lies of P is no longer an experiment. It has become the template for how the publisher wants to build future franchises.

More Than One Hit: Neowiz’s Growing Internal Slate

Neowiz isn’t relying solely on the Lies of P franchise. Corporate disclosures and interviews point to a surprisingly busy internal pipeline for a company of its size. Statements from leadership and investor presentations indicate that Neowiz is simultaneously developing more than five PC and console titles in-house, alongside projects for mobile platforms.¹

Beyond these specifically named titles, Neowiz has alluded to additional in-house projects, including:

• A survival-focused action adventure.
• A life simulation title.
• Another Soulslike-style RPG project separate from Lies of P.²

Together, this lineup shows that Neowiz is hedging across multiple genres and audiences. While Lies of P caters primarily to hardcore action fans, other projects are aimed at casual players, narrative-focused gamers, and fans of simulation or survival experiences.

Working With Western Studios: Discovering Global IP

Neowiz’s long-term strategy isn’t only about what it can build internally. The company is also actively partnering with Western studios to create new intellectual property and reach audiences it may not access as easily on its own.

In public comments and investor communications, Neowiz has highlighted collaborations with developers such as:

• Zakazane: reportedly working with Neowiz on a “noir west” computer RPG.
• WolfEye Studios: collaborating on a retro-styled sci-fi first-person RPG.¹

This partnership model offers benefits both ways:

• Neowiz gains access to Western creative talent and can publish games with aesthetics and themes that naturally resonate in global markets.
• Partner studios gain a publisher willing to experiment with new IP rather than pushing them into established formulas.

The focus on discovering global IP reflects a broader pattern in the industry. Publishers increasingly seek cross-regional partnerships to diversify their portfolios and reduce their dependence on any one genre or demographic. Major companies like Tencent and Embracer have pursued similar collaboration-driven growth, demonstrating how cross-border partnerships can rapidly expand a publisher’s influence.³

Using AI Behind the Scenes, Not on the Box

Alongside its content roadmap, Neowiz has started to talk about how it uses advanced technologies like AI internally. Rather than emphasizing AI-generated content, the company frames these tools as ways to improve operational efficiency and support teams.

From Neowiz’s public comments, its AI ambitions are focused on:

• Automating routine QA tasks: such as processing test cases and identifying patterns in bug reports.
• Analyzing operational data: using machine learning to understand how players engage with games, which helps refine updates and monetization decisions.
• Supporting publishing strategy: feeding data into decision-making around marketing, live-ops, and player retention.

This reflects a broader industry trend. Large publishers and platform holders increasingly employ AI and data analytics in their back-end operations to optimize matchmaking, detect cheating, and tune in-game economies.⁴ Neowiz’s approach sits within this trend but remains careful not to frame AI as a replacement for design creativity; instead, it presents it as a way to free up expert teams to focus on high-level strategy and content quality.

Why New IP Matters in a Franchise-Heavy Market

Choosing to invest heavily in new IP may seem risky in a market where established franchises dominate sales charts. However, Neowiz’s strategy highlights several reasons why fresh IP can be worth the gamble:

1. Ownership: Original IP gives Neowiz full control over sequels, licensing, and cross-media opportunities without the constraints of a third-party license.
2. Brand identity: Distinctive new worlds and mechanics help Neowiz stand out among mid-sized publishers, especially in the action RPG category.
3. Long-term upside: A new hit IP can generate revenue for a decade or more through sequels, DLC, and re-releases, much like how franchises such as Dark Souls or Monster Hunter have done for their owners.⁵
4. Audience diversity: A mix of IP across genres allows Neowiz to weather shifts in player preferences.

By coupling the proven appeal of Lies of P with a broader ecosystem of experiments in other genres, Neowiz aims to create multiple potential pillars instead of placing all of its weight on one franchise.

What This Means for Players

For players who discovered Neowiz through Lies of P, the company’s strategy has several concrete implications:

• More Soulslike content is coming. A sequel is in development and another internal Soulslike RPG has been confirmed, meaning fans of demanding action combat will have at least two distinct projects to watch.
• Expect a broader genre spread. Survival, life simulation, and narrative-driven games are all on the roadmap, widening the catalog beyond hardcore action.
• Cross-cultural projects will increase. Collaborations with Western teams suggest future games might blend Korean publishing experience with Western design sensibilities.
• Staggered releases, not annual churn. The company’s phased roadmap and multi-project pipeline indicate a focus on spacing releases rather than annualizing a single series.

For players, this can translate into more variety and less fatigue, especially in the Soulslike space where burnout is a real risk.

Challenges Neowiz Will Need to Navigate

Despite the promising roadmap, Neowiz faces obstacles common to any publisher trying to expand quickly:

• Managing expectations: Once a sequel is acknowledged as a “given,” players may expect frequent updates and tight release windows, even when development timelines are long.
• Avoiding overextension: With more than five PC/console projects and multiple mobile titles in motion, resource management and talent retention become critical.
• Standing out among larger competitors: Global giants like Tencent, Sony, and Microsoft regularly acquire studios and secure exclusive partnerships, making it harder for mid-sized publishers to compete for attention.
• Maintaining quality across genres: Succeeding in Soulslikes does not automatically translate to success in survival, simulation, or narrative-focused games; each requires different strengths.

How effectively Neowiz balances ambition with focus will determine whether the next decade yields a few modest releases or several enduring franchises.

Outlook: A Publisher Betting on Its Own Worlds

Neowiz’s post–Lies of P strategy revolves around one big idea: the belief that carefully nurtured IP can support communities and revenue for many years, even in a volatile industry. By committing to a Lies of P sequel, building multiple new projects internally, and partnering with Western studios on original concepts, the publisher is positioning itself for a future where it owns the worlds players care about.

For the Soulslike community, this means Lies of P will not be a footnote. For the wider gaming audience, it means that Neowiz is likely to remain a visible name throughout the next console cycle, whether you’re into punishing action RPGs, cozy mobile titles, survival adventures, or story-driven games.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a Lies of P sequel officially in development?

Neowiz’s investor materials and public comments indicate that a Lies of P sequel is in its pipeline as a later-phase title. While the company has not revealed a subtitle, release date, or detailed features, it consistently refers to continuing the franchise rather than treating the first game as a self-contained project.¹

How many games is Neowiz working on right now?

Statements from Neowiz leadership and corporate documents suggest the publisher is internally developing more than five PC and console titles, plus additional mobile games. Publicly named projects include Cats & Soup: Magic Recipe, Kill the Shadow, Goodbye Seoul: Itaewon, and Kingdom 2, alongside the Lies of P sequel and further in-house concepts like a survival action adventure and a life simulation game.¹

Are Neowiz’s Western partnerships focused on existing franchises?

No. Neowiz has emphasized that its collaborations with studios such as Zakazane and WolfEye are aimed at creating original IP, like a noir Western CRPG and a retro sci-fi first-person RPG. This aligns with the company’s broader goal of building new, long-term franchises rather than licensing existing brands.¹

Is Neowiz using AI to create game content?

Public commentary from Neowiz focuses on AI as a support tool for internal operations rather than as a direct content creator. The company highlights uses such as automating routine test processes and analyzing large volumes of operational data to inform strategy and publishing decisions. This is similar to how many large technology and gaming companies employ AI and machine learning behind the scenes to optimize services and workflows.⁴

Will Neowiz stick to Soulslike games?

While Soulslike projects remain a major pillar, Neowiz is clearly branching out. Its internal pipeline includes survival, life simulation, narrative-focused RPGs, and mobile titles. The company appears to view Soulslikes as one of several core genres rather than its entire identity.