South Korean video game publisher Krafton plans to deploy a GPU cluster as part of a shift to becoming an 'AI-first' company.

The publisher of PUBG: Battlegrounds, The Callisto Protocol, Subnautica 2, The Ascent, and other games said that it would spend KRW 100 billion ($88m) on the Nvidia B300 GPU cluster.

Krafton said that it planned to build agentic AI infrastructure and "an AI-centered management system." Another $20.8m will be spent on retraining its workforce in using AI tools.

"Starting today, Krafton will automate work centred on Agentic AI and fully implement an AI-centred management system where members focus on creative activities and complex problem solving," Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han said (translated).

"We will leap forward as a company that promotes the growth of members and expands the organization's areas of challenge through AI."

At the same time, the company launched a voluntary resignation program after record profits in the third fiscal quarter. It has also paused hiring on non-AI roles.

The shift comes amid a messy legal dispute between Krafton and three former lead developers of Subnautica 2. The developers at Unknown Worlds were suddenly fired in July, and the game was abruptly delayed, something that the developers claimed was purely done to avoid paying a sizeable bonus.

After acquiring the studio in 2021, Krafton had been due to pay as much as $250 million to Unknown Worlds if the game achieved certain sales figures by the end of 2025 - something that was rendered impossible with the delay. The publisher has since said it could pay $25m in bonuses.

The lawsuit is still ongoing, with AI also playing a role in the case.

In a pre-trial briefing released earlier this week, the three developers claimed that Krafton CEO Kim Chang-han consulted ChatGPT on ideas to not pay the $250m bonus.

Krafton initially denied this claim, but Chang-han admitted he used the platform in testimony.

In a message to the head of corporate development, Maria Park, in June, Chang-han wrote: "ChatGPT [is] start[ing] to answer that it is difficult to cancel the earn-out. If so, this is a contract under which we can only be dragged around."

Chang-han deleted some of the conversations with ChatGPT, so it is unknown what was discussed.