Clover Games won Korea's top game award in 2020 — six years later it filed for bankruptcy

Clover Games (클로버게임즈) was a South Korean mobile game developer founded around 2018 by CEO Yoon Sung-kook. Its flagship title, Lord of Heroes (로드 오브 히어로즈), launched in March 2020 and won the Grand Prize at the 2020 Korea Game Awards — the country's highest gaming honour. The award established Clover Games as a promising studio in Korea's competitive mobile game market.

After the initial success, Clover Games struggled to replicate it. The company launched It's Me (service ended July 2024), Ayakashi Rise (October 2025), and Heavenhells (February 2026), but none matched Lord of Heroes' performance. Meanwhile, updates to Lord of Heroes effectively stopped. The company's accumulated losses mounted, eventually leading to complete capital erosion. CEO Yoon invested over 3 billion won of his personal funds over three years to keep the company afloat, but the injections only delayed the inevitable.

Heavenhells was launched in February 2026 with a massive marketing campaign — 1 million pre-registrations — as a desperate bet to generate revenue. When it underperformed, the company's situation became critical. Mass restructuring was announced just 10 days after Heavenhells' launch, with all employees reportedly asked to resign. In March 2026, rumours spread that the company's office was put up for sale. On April 6, in-app purchases were blocked across all games. On April 9, 2026, Clover Games formally filed for corporate bankruptcy. All game services are scheduled to end on May 9, 2026.