NCsoft was originally founded in March 1997 by Tak Jin Kim, author of a Korean word processor program called Hangul, a business software developer. One of the company's first products was NC HTML Editor. In September 1998, NCsoft launched its first and most popular game, Lineage. The success of this game helped the company expand to locations in Taiwan, China, Japan, and the United States.
The company established a US subsidiary called NCsoft Austin (based in Austin, Texas) as a partnership with Richard Garriott's Destination Games in April 2001. Jake Song also moved to Austin in order to stimulate development. The branch developed MMORPGs and acts as the home to NC Interactive, NCsoft's division for support in North America (which had been established in May 2000).