NCsoft Financial Results: Aion Drives Sharp Rise In Sales
- Date: 05-12-2009 Views:
- KeyWord: NCsoft,Aion,rise,Dragonica,Steel Dog
- Summary: NCsoft said numbers were up because it was able to generate major revenues with its new MMORPG, Aion, which launched in Korea in Q4 2008, as well as maintain stable Asian sales of its flagship franchise Lineage.
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After seeing a drop in fiscal 2008 profits, NCsoft has started 2009 with solid financial results for its first quarter ended March 31.
NCsoft said numbers were up because it was able to generate major revenues with its new MMORPG, Aion, which launched in Korea in Q4 2008, as well as maintain stable Asian sales of its flagship franchise Lineage.
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| Aion drives sharp rise in sales |
NCsoft (KSE: 036570.KS) today reported earnings results for 2009 Q1. On a consolidated basis, sales came to KRW 133.4 billion (USD 107.7 million/EUR 79.2 million), operating profit KRW 42.5 billion (USD 34.3 million/EUR 25.2 million), and net profit KRW 33.5 billion (USD 27.0 million/EUR 19.9 million). Sales, operating profit, and net profit showed sharp escalations with an increase of 34%, 221% and 422% respectively quarter over quarter (QoQ).
NCsoft explained that substantial increase in profit was based on solid maintenance of Lineage and Lineage II sales, in addition to Aion sales. The decrease in marketing spend and the narrow increase in operating costs QoQ (6%) resulted in the drastic growth of operating profit.
By region, first quarter sales came to KRW 89.2 billion in Korea (USD 72.0 million/EUR 53.0 million), KRW 10.8 billion in North America (USD 8.7 million/EUR 6.4 million) KRW 4 billion in Europe (USD 3.2 million/EUR 2.3 million), KRW 18.1 billion in Japan (USD 14.6 million/EUR 10.7 million), KRW 3.9 billion in Taiwan (USD 3.1 million/EUR 2.3 million), and KRW 7.4 billion (USD 5.9 million/EUR 4.3 million) from royalties. The successful launch of Aion influenced sales growth in Korea and expected sales of the Lineage series increased the significance of Japan. On the other hand, a decrease in Guild Wars sales due to no retail expansion package releases this quarter led to a drop of sales in the North American and European regions.
By game titles, sales of Lineage, Lineage II, Aion, City of Heroes, and Guild Warsincreased 23%, 33%, 34%, 5% and 3% quarter to quarter to KRW 29.4 billion, KRW 41.1 billion, KRW 42.6 billion, 6.8 billion and KRW 4.3 billion respectively.
NCsoft's CFO Jaeho Lee said, "Aion has solidified its position as a new growth force without encroaching sales of the Lineage series. Starting with its service in China in Q2, we are ready for a successful launch of this triple-A franchise in Japan, Taiwan, North America and Europe within the second half of the year."
NCsoft is expected to carry out large-scale updates for Lineage and Lineage II worldwide in the coming months. In Eastern territories NCsoft expects to begin beta tests for Punch Monster, Dragonica, Steel Dog and Metal Black within the year.
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| Punch Monster |
Pretty stupid how some people call this a WOW clone. I certainly understand that WOW is big in the US as the US have not evolved in the future mmo genre but do
understand that the art styles of Tera, Lineage 2, ZerA are very similar because it's KOREAN MODERN CONCEPT ART (fit in your head) just like WOW has very weird art styles, asians go for a very commercial and attractive look. I look forward to playing Tera since the gameplay looks wicked and the UI is plain and simple. If you are not into korean MMOs and only support games such as WOW then don't play. Though I'm sure TerA will set fire just like Blade & Soul will.
WoW is EQ clone its a fact do ur research if u think its not. And wow WAS the "shit" pre bc. Onyxia, Molten Core, BWL NAxxx 40 man raids were the BEST which made WOW the BEST MMORPG but since BC came it became a grindfest then blizzard decided 2 nerf the name 2 the ground ( no req to get into hyjal or black temple ) and now they just nerf'd the shit outa ulduar so GG blizzard 4 killing a great MMO but its not their fault its the QQing noobs that think game was 2 hard to play. Anyway Guild Wars 2 will kill WoW 
Facebook, haha. Is that what Sony really thinks? Sorry, but they are wrong. Of course WoW will *eventually* be dwarfed by *something*. Game technology keeps evolving, graphics, gameplay, etc. One day it will be taken over by something. But not by a Facebook MMO. I'm sure that someone at Sony has a daughter that is like "All my friends and I are on Facebook!" and that affects their thinking, but the reality is, that isn't the lauchpad for the next big thing, just because it is a social place and you already have an account. You can make an account at a new game within 60 seconds, it's not a big deal to do so. It doesn't have to be somewhere you already have accounts. Plus, you are using Facebook for different reasons than to play games. There are a billion people there that have no interest in MMO's. Are Sony exects that ignorant?
Its so good to live in 2009. Some online games have really good graphics and psp games are also getting better this year(I have the psp (hahahaha!!!!))
Happy happy birthday MMOsite!
a great article. your and my experience does not have much differences and i also like enjoying the game's sorroundings and doing quest with a group of people but having too much botters and cheaters really destroys my gaming experience.
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