Krafton Acquires Eleventh Hour Games for $96 Million: A New Era for Last Epoch
Published on: 7/25/2025
South Korean gaming giant Krafton, known for titles like PUBG and Subnautica, has officially acquired Eleventh Hour Games (EHG), the Oregon-based studio behind the hit action RPG Last Epoch. The acquisition, valued at $96 million, marks a strategic expansion for Krafton into the ARPG genre and signals a major milestone for EHG, which began as a grassroots studio founded by passionate gamers on Reddit. Those same gamers are now feeling left in limbo after their favorite indie studio has now been taken over by a publisher with a challenging reputation after their last acquisition of Unknown Studios, the makers of Subnautica. Here's what both the big dogs from each company had to say.
“The team’s commitment to the ARPG community and innovative approach to game development resonated strongly with our values. Their rise from a grassroots studio to a globally renowned ARPG developer is nothing short of remarkable.” Krafton’s Head of Corporate Development, Maria Park, spoke in an issued statement.
Judd Cobler and the team from EHG also issued a statement to its player base on the games forums.
“Joining KRAFTON is a dream come true for Eleventh Hour Games. Their deep-rooted passion for ARPGs aligns perfectly with our mission. With KRAFTON's support, EHG is poised to elevate the Last Epoch franchise to even greater heights. As a studio built from players of the genre, we couldn’t be more excited for its future.” Cobler explained to its player base in a post on their forums. “After speaking with dozens of strategics and potential partners, Krafton clearly demonstrated that they’re aligned in helping us achieve our goals and can both enable and guide us through some of the largest upcoming challenges we’ll face as a studio.” He reassured fans that EHG will retain its leadership and creative autonomy, and confirmed plans to expand the team with new hires, all while growing the studio to new heights and pushing forward with EHG's vision of the game."
Cobler went on to explain four main hopes for their future development with Krafton:
- Scale development across console platforms
- Expand seasonal content pipelines
- Enhance live service operations
- Maintain creative independence while benefiting from Krafton’s global publishing infrastructure
Whether this will be the actual future for the studio has players debating heavily on Reddit as well as the EHG forums. The deal unfortunately comes amid Krafton’s broader strategy to strengthen its position in the AAA PC gaming market, which includes investments in AI-driven game development and other high-profile acquisitions. Despite ongoing legal disputes involving Krafton’s other studios, Cobler stated that these issues did not affect EHG’s decision:
“We’re aware of the situation with Unknown Worlds. I don’t want to comment on it directly but after understanding it more deeply it isn’t something that concerns us entering into the partnership at all.”
Players are torn over the decision to say the least, with some shouting doom and gloom while others are hoping this will help push Last Epoch into a flagship ARPG franchise. Cobler has expressed to fans that they can expect deeper content, broader platform availability, and continued innovation — all while the studio stays true to its community-driven roots. In the end, time will tell how this alters the studio and its direction for the future, but as for the near future Last Epoch's Season 3 is coming with all new content for August 21st.
