By Kim Yoo-chul

Computer games giant NCsoft is undergoing a major operations overhaul, shaving costs and terminating a slew of money-losing projects.

Desperate attempts to reverse its sinking momentum through dramatic changes raise expectations that NCsoft, once the world’s leading publisher of online games, will be essentially reduced to a game-development studio of Nexon.

Nexon recently acquired nearly 15 percent of its former archrival for around $688 million, taking 3.21 million shares previously held by NCsoft founder and CEO Kim Taek-jin. The slim-down efforts are also fueling speculation than an eventual absorption by Nexon could be on the way.

NCsoft has built an business empire on role-playing action games such as its Lineage and Aion franchises, while Nexon’s strength is in casual games like car racing and shooting.

``The planned restructuring will be the biggest ever in our history. We have an urgent need to cut costs and improve profitability, while putting more focus on our core strengths,’’ said a company spokesman.

The company will reduce nearly one-third of its workforce of just under 3,000 employees, sources said. While the spokesman declined to talk in detail, industry sources say NCsoft’s casual gaming division is likely on the chopping board as well as its department for developing games for mobile devices.

Its operating profit for the first three months for the year declined by 64 percent year-on-year and marked a 40 month low.

``NCsoft will spend more of its key resources on strengthening the multiplayer online role-playing game-related business because that seems to be the only area in which we are doing well,’’ said one NCsoft executive.

``We already demolished a task force team for the development of next-generation games. We plan to stop servicing games that have few users and are dragging down our profits.’’