Former Nexon CEO Analyzes Video Game Hype Cycles

Former Nexon CEO Owen mahoney published a blog post on Tuesday analyzing the video game industry’s hype cycles-esports, cloud gaming, the metaverse, virtual reality, and the like. He warned readers against falling into these cycles, providing a framework for both industry patterns and what he calls “fad audits.” This sort of openness is unusual for an executive, something Mahoney himself alluded too in the post itself, referencing an exchange with a Bloomberg reporter in 2015, in which he was advised not to speak freely about his opinion on virtual reality.

“It is indeed easy to look back and ridicule everyone involved,” Mahoney, who left nexon in 2024, wrote. “But the phenomenon of game industry hype cycles is actually serious business.The fallout from these mass delusions has been tens of billions of capital destroyed and thousands – possibly tens of thousands – of careers upended. The degree of destruction leaves an crucial lesson: a vital skill is to identify and understand hype cycles, and to filter and orient yourself when they inevitably arise.”

And, Mahoney saeid, mocking the people who drove these fads is “valuable,” taking the rare step of validating the external criticism that these sorts of decisions often get. “Mocking fashion trends and the people who participate in them after the fact is fun, but it’s also valuable,” he wrote. “These weren’t harmless fads.The malinvestments destroyed billions of dollars of capital tha