TLDR: NC AI, a subsidiary of NCSOFT, has unveiled the winners of its first Varco 3D game creation contest, a significant step towards fostering South Korea’s game AI ecosystem. The competition showcased the power of Varco 3D, an AI-based tool that drastically reduces 3D asset production time, enabling indie developers to overcome technical and financial barriers.
NC AI, the artificial intelligence subsidiary of South Korean gaming giant NCSOFT, officially announced the winners of its inaugural ‘1st Varco 3D game creation contest’ on September 19, 2025. This landmark event is poised to significantly accelerate the growth and expansion of the Varco game AI ecosystem within South Korea.
The contest marked the first-ever game creation competition to leverage NC AI’s innovative, AI-based 3D asset creation tool, ‘Varco 3D’. The initiative drew substantial interest from the developer community, attracting approximately 200 teams and over 300 individual applicants. From a pool of 31 completed game submissions, 14 teams were recognized with awards, including one grand prize, one top excellence award, and five excellence awards.
Varco 3D is a groundbreaking AI-powered tool designed to streamline the often-laborious process of 3D asset production. What traditionally took three to four weeks can now be accomplished in roughly 10 minutes, dramatically reducing development time and costs for creators. A core requirement for participants was to create more than 50% of their game’s essential in-game assets directly using Varco 3D, ensuring practical engagement with the AI technology.
An official from NC AI emphasized the contest’s importance, stating, “This is an important starting point where Varco game AI takes its first step with emerging Korean game creators, and a significant achievement that confirmed in reality the possibility that anyone can make a game with AI technology.”
Im Su-jin, NC AI’s Chief Business Officer (CBO), further elaborated on the tool’s impact: “Through this contest, we confirmed that Varco 3D is a tool that can practically resolve the technical and expense barriers of 3D production faced by indie developers. We will continue to work with various creators to build an environment where anyone can make creative games easily and quickly.”
The grand prize was awarded to ‘Homing Instinct’, a first-person mystery game centered on the Korean spirit-summoning ritual known as bunsinsaba. The game captivated judges with its original gameplay mechanic, where players interact with a ghost via voice recognition and uncover a missing person’s truth through O/X answers. The top excellence award went to KU-A Studio for their game ‘Reset Protocol’, lauded for its fresh concept involving players as employees of a game management company cooperatively restoring broken stages in a virtual world.
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NC AI has committed to providing ongoing support to the winning teams to foster their continued creative endeavors. The total prize pool for the competition amounted to 7.5 million won, distributed among the grand prize (3 million won), best award (2 million won), and five excellence awards (500,000 won each). The contest, which saw applications open from July 18-31 and a development period from August 1-31, successfully culminated in this significant announcement, marking a new era for AI-driven game development in South Korea.
