Company Overview
Devsisters is a South Korean mobile games developer founded in 2007 and listed on the KOSDAQ — the country's technology-focused stock exchange — in 2014. The company built its business around the Cookie Run intellectual property, and the global success of *Cookie Run: Kingdom*, launched in 2021, briefly sent its share price soaring. What followed was a sharp reversal: a string of disappointing new releases, a bloated cost structure, and a collapse in profitability dragged the stock far below its peak.
It is against this backdrop of poor earnings and mounting shareholder frustration that Devsisters' value-enhancement efforts must be understood. Retail investors have grown increasingly vocal in their criticism of what they regard as lax management, and have pressed loudly for returns of capital. In response, management has since early 2026 held a shareholder meeting, carried out a treasury-share cancellation, and published a pipeline of forthcoming titles. Markets, however, remain unconvinced that these steps will translate into a durable improvement in the company's intrinsic worth.
Business Foundation and Financial Performance
*Overdependence on a single franchise*
Cookie Run is Devsisters' principal source of revenue. *Cookie Run: Kingdom* drove explosive sales growth in global markets after its 2021 launch, but the structural fragility of relying on a single franchise was quickly exposed. Repeated failures to establish new intellectual property or to generate meaningful revenue from titles outside the Cookie Run universe have made earnings highly volatile.
*Financial performance by year*
Year | Revenue | Operating profit/(loss) | Notes
2021 | c. ₩350bn | c. +₩55bn | *Cookie Run: Kingdom* launch
2022 | c. ₩310bn | c. −₩30bn | Costs surge; momentum fades
2023 | c. ₩210bn | c. −₩40bn | New releases disappoint
2024 | c. ₩180bn | c. −₩20bn | Restructuring begins
2025 | c. ₩160bn | Modest profit | Cost savings take effect
*Figures include estimates based on regulatory filings and published reports.*
*Cost problems and restructuring*
From 2022 onwards, aggressive investment in development and rapid headcount growth pushed costs sharply higher and widened operating losses to tens of billions of won. The company subsequently embarked on workforce reductions and pruned its development slate during 2023 and 2024. By 2025, the benefits of those efforts had begun to materialise in the form of a slim return to profitability.
Key Milestones in the Value-Enhancement Effort
*2022–2023: Shareholder returns effectively suspended*
As losses mounted, dividends were halted and no active share buybacks or cancellations were undertaken. The share price fell more than 80% from its peak, stoking resentment among retail investors.
*Early 2024: New chief executive, new direction*
The appointment of Jo Gil-hyun as chief executive in 2024 brought renewed pledges to restore profitability and improve shareholder value. In practice, the early months of his tenure were dominated by internal cost-cutting and portfolio rationalisation rather than concrete shareholder-return commitments. Critics argued that stated intentions were not translating into tangible benefits for investors.
*January 2026: Joining a broader push for treasury-share cancellations*
A wave of treasury-share cancellations swept across the South Korean gaming industry in January 2026, partly in response to the government's "value-up" programme — a policy initiative encouraging listed companies to improve capital efficiency and shareholder returns. Devsisters was drawn into that trend.
*March 2026: A formal pledge to return 10% of operating profit*
In March 2026, the company formalised a policy of distributing 10% of operating profit to shareholders. Analysts noted, however, that an exchangeable bond (EB) issuance represented a countervailing risk: if converted into equity at a later date, it could dilute existing shareholders' stakes, potentially offsetting — or even reversing — the benefit of any share cancellations.
*June 2026: Shareholder meeting, new-title roadmap, and venture activity*
In June 2026, Devsisters held a meeting with retail investors at which it disclosed a pipeline of new games, including *Cookie Run: Crumble*, and announced the opening of global pre-registrations. Shareholders used the occasion to press hard for treasury-share cancellations and to voice strong dissatisfaction with what they described as managerial complacency. Separately, the same month brought news that Deeply, an audio artificial-intelligence start-up, had raised ₩2.5bn from investors including Devsisters Ventures — confirming that the company's venture capital arm remains active alongside the core business.
Challenges and Assessment
*What needs to happen next*
The predominant view among analysts is that sustainable shareholder returns require a structural stabilisation of earnings first. A policy of returning 10% of operating profit is only meaningful if the company remains in profit; a return to losses would undermine the entire framework. The commercial performance of *Cookie Run: Crumble* and other new releases is therefore seen as the single most important variable.
Managing capital-raising activity — particularly exchangeable bonds — in a way that avoids diluting existing shareholders is a further challenge. Retail investors' calls for treasury-share cancellations also require a clearer response from management.
The question of whether venture investment activity through the company's subsidiary can coexist with — rather than distract from — improving the core business is another area of scrutiny. To retail investors already frustrated by weak operating results, external investment can look like a misallocation of scarce resources.
*Overall verdict*
Devsisters' value-enhancement efforts are widely characterised as too little, too late. Shareholders endured two years of heavy losses and a near-total absence of capital returns during 2022–2023. The measures announced in 2026 — shareholder meetings, a profit-sharing policy, and some treasury-share cancellations — are steps in the right direction, but it remains unclear whether they represent a genuine structural shift or a reactive gesture.
Within the gaming industry, Devsisters is ranked in the lower tier on shareholder-return metrics. Peers have pursued more aggressive buybacks and rising dividends; by comparison, Devsisters' record looks thin.
Controversies and Structural Constraints
*Retail investor anger*
In June 2026, retail investors publicly declared that they had run out of patience with what they see as irresponsible management. Their specific demands included treasury-share cancellations, cuts to executive pay, and a restructuring of the business. The strength of feeling reflects the cumulative damage of years of underperformance without adequate accountability from the top.
*Mixed reviews for the chief executive*
Reports from April 2026 suggest that markets hold a complicated view of Jo Gil-hyun's two years in charge. Critics argue that progress on both shareholder value and workplace conditions has fallen short of initial expectations. Some coverage highlighted a perceived gap between the pro-labour, pro-shareholder-value stance of the current South Korean government and the direction in which Devsisters has actually been managed.
*Doubts about the durability of returns*
Independent analyses of shareholder-return records have placed Devsisters in the bottom tier of the industry. While the resumption of returns is a positive signal, the absolute sums involved are small given the slimness of current profits, and the inherently volatile revenue profile of games companies makes it structurally difficult to guarantee consistency.
*Dilution risk from exchangeable bonds*
The exchangeable bond issuance sits awkwardly alongside calls for treasury-share cancellations. Because exchangeable bonds can be converted into equity, they carry the potential to dilute existing shareholders — a risk that the market views as capable of cancelling out the positive effect of any cancellations the company undertakes.
Summary Data
Year | Operating profit/(loss) | Dividend | Treasury-share cancellation | Est. P/B ratio | Notes
2021 | c. +₩55bn | None paid | None | High | *Cookie Run: Kingdom* launch
2022 | c. −₩30bn | Suspended | None | — | Costs surge; momentum fades
2023 | c. −₩40bn | None | None | Low | New releases disappoint
2024 | c. −₩20bn | None | Under consideration | Low | Restructuring begins
2025 | Modest surplus | Resumed (small scale) | Partial | — | Cost savings take effect
2026 | 10% of operating profit pledged | Resumed | Cancellation demands grow | — | Shareholder meeting; new titles awaited