Korean online game developer and publisher Nexon has licensed Unity Technologies' game engine with the intent of adopting the platform "on a massive scale" across all of its global subsidiaries.

With this broad agreement, Nexon -- which has over 1.2 billion registered users playing its tremendously popular free-to-play games like MapleStory, Kart Rider, and Dungeon Fighter Online -- can access and modify all of Unity's products, including its source code.

The publisher employs more than 3,000 workers across its Seoul headquarters, branches across Japan/U.S./Europe, and various development houses (e.g. NDoors, GameHi, Neople). It has previously licensed game engines like Epic's Unreal Engine and Valve's Source.

Unity says this deal "marks a step forward into wide adoption of the Unity development platform by large publishers," and will help it make in-roads into Korea's developer community through Nexon-sponsored events, conferences, and educational seminars.