Latest news with #NCSoft
Korea Herald
16-05-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
Krafton, Nexon solidify industry-leading standings with upbeat earnings
Struggline NCSoft, Kakao Games pin hope on new titles Krafton and Nexon are solidifying their leadership in the Korean game industry, posting strong earnings in the first quarter to start the year strong on the back of successful new titles and ongoing popularity of the existing intellectual property. Krafton logged record-high first quarter revenue of 874.2 billion won ($625.8 million) and operating profit of 457.3 billion won from the January-to-March period this year, up 31.3 percent and 47.3 percent on year, respectively. Krafton's megahit battle royale shooter PUBG: Battlegrounds continued to attract gamers, with the maximum number of concurrent users reaching 1.4 million in March, according to the company. The game developer's life simulation game inZOI, which became available for early access on global gaming platform Steam in March, sold 1 million copies within a week of its debut to set a new record as the fastest Korean game to reach the milestone. Nexon raked in 1.08 trillion won in revenue and 395.2 billion won in operating profit in the first quarter, up 5 percent and 43 percent respectively from the same period last year. Nexon's two longstanding popular games — Dungeon & Fighter, an online multiplayer side-scrolling action game, and MapleStory, an online side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG — led the company's robust sales. With the veterans leading the way, The First Berserker: Khazan, a hardcore action RPG based on Dungeon & Fighter, and Mabinogi Mobile, a multi-access MMORPG, gave a boost as they were newly released in March. Netmarble delivered an earnings surprise as it logged 623.9 billion won in revenue and 49.7 billion won in operating profit, up 6.6 percent and 1243.2 percent on year, respectively. The operating profit, which shot way over the market consensus, was achieved thanks to the stable performances from its diverse lineup of games such as action RPG Solo Leveling:ARISE and fighting action games Marvel Contest of Champions. RF Online Next, a space-themed MMORPG released on March 20, accounted for about 3 percent of the company's quarterly game sales despite having only 10 days of impact on the quarterly earnings, raising optimism for the second quarter results. In contrast to the three aforementioned companies, NCSoft and Kakao Games struggled as they did not have any meaningful new titles. NCSoft earned 360.3 billion won in revenue and 5.2 billion won in operating profit to turn black in the first three months of this year. Although the company launched Journey of Monarch, an MMORPG based on NCSoft's flagship IP Lineage, in December last year, the game could not help the firm's ailing figures greatly. NCSoft plans to roll out seven new titles through 2026 including Aion 2 in the second half of this year, vowing to hit 2 trillion won in annual revenue next year. Kakao Games recorded 211.9 billion won in revenue and 12.4 billion in operating loss in the first quarter. Kakao Games will look to the global market this year including the North American and European regions as the company plans to release games with various genres for different platforms, including open-world action MMORPG Chrono Odyssey, online action RPG ArcheAge Chronicles and mobile side-scrolling action PRG Goddess Order.
Forbes
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
New MMORPG Aion 2 Coming This Year, Built In Unreal Engine 5
Aion 2 NCSoft originally confirmed Aion 2 was in development nearly seven years ago way back in 2018, but just this week have finally started whispering about some big news to come soon. Later this month on May 29 a big livestream debut is scheduled and in the lead up to that moment we finally have some fresh details. Namely, we should be expecting a global release later this year (reportedly) and we already know it's being built in Unreal Engine 5. By way of a new official teaser website, reporting from Korea IT Times, and a bit of Google Translate work on my part, I think we have some (relatively) concrete details on what to expect from Aion 2 when it launches globally in 2025. I've got the teaser clip which was uploaded to YouTube embedded here: The original Aion from NCSoft first released back in 2008 for Korea and 2009 for the rest of the world and it ascended into the ranks of MMO royalty very quickly. Utilizing a unique (at the time) approach to combining PvP and PvE elements, prominent realm vs. realm factions, and extremely open-ended level design with full-flight functionality, it broke a lot of ground for the MMORPG genre and maintained a sizable audience for many years. From what we've seen and heard, Aion 2 is using Unreal Engine 5 to ensure extremely high-quality visuals and will likely lean on its roots as a hybrid approach of both PvE and PvP content. According to Aion Strategies back in December of last year, it's expected to feature a monetization strategy similar to Throne and Liberty. It's also reportedly shifting away from the relatively traditional tab-targeting method of most of its games such as Lineage, Aion, and Throne and Liberty in favor of something more action-oriented and fast-paced, perhaps similar to games such as Black Desert Online. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder If you've followed the MMO market to any level over the years, NCSoft should be a name you're very familiar with. They've got their hands in a huge chunk of the industry dating back to 1998 with the original Lineage and now spanning the likes of Guild Wars, Blade & Soul, Throne and Liberty, Aion of course, and many other properties, like the deceased City of Heroes. It's worth mentioning that, in the past when Aion 2 was first unveiled, it was labeled as a mobile MMORPG. It's unclear if that's still the plan, or if perhaps it will be cross-platform between PC and mobile such as other recent MMO games like Tarisland.
Korea Herald
12-02-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
NCSoft in the red for 1st time in 26 years
Korean game developer NCSoft reported its first operating loss last year since 1998, the year after its founding, primarily due to the declining performance of its core game series along with downsizing costs. According to the company's earnings report on Wednesday, its sales revenue dropped 11 percent to 1.6 trillion won ($1.1 billion) in 2024 compared to the previous year. It posted an operating loss of 109.2 billion won, a sharp decline from a 137.3 billion won profit in 2023. NCSoft attributed the loss to one-off expenses, including retirement severance -- reportedly over 100 billion won -- incurred during restructuring, as well as increased marketing costs for new game launches and live operations, which deliver new features, updates, promotions and in-game events. 'Early last year, our headquarters (in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province) had nearly 5,000 employees. Since spinning off four studios, this number has been reduced to 3,100, with 1,000 employees moving to subsidiaries and approximately 800 to 900 leaving through voluntary retirement programs,' said NCSoft Co-CEO Park Byung-moo during a conference call. 'We do not plan to undertake restructuring with specific targets. Instead, our focus will be on continuously reshuffling to enhance efficiency.' By region, sales in Korea reached 1 trillion won, accounting for 65.6 percent, followed by 227.5 billion won in Asia and 134.2 billion won in North America and Europe. In response to public criticism of NCSoft's recent game releases, particularly regarding a lack of high-quality features, Park noted that this year's key strategy is to improve the quality and marketing efficiency of each game launch. This includes eliminating technical glitches and assessing games through extensive communication with users. NCSoft also aims to diversify its portfolio by developing new game series and expanding its publishing business by acquiring new game companies. To penetrate global markets, the company will release new games across various genres, such as MMORPGs, shooters, strategy games and subculture-themed titles. 'Last year, we launched 'Throne and Liberty' targeting the North American and European markets and found a significant number of potential MMORPG users overseas, noticing a lack of supply in this genre,' he said. 'With the game surpassing 7 million users globally, it's evident that introducing more MMORPGs could stimulate market growth.' Park highlighted the role of artificial intelligence in achieving cost-efficient game localization overseas and stated that the company will explore new business opportunities with its AI-driven game data analysis tools.
