Mr. Blue, Martial Arts Comic Master Who Conquered Mobile Games

Explosive 1835% Growth in Game Division Last Year
Net Debt -21 Billion KRW...Full Repayment of Borrowings Planned This Year
Eos Red's First Overseas Expansion to Taiwan and Hong Kong
China and Japan Launches Upcoming, High Sales Expectations for Second Half

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] Mister Blue, which has emerged as a powerhouse in the martial arts comic market, has made a quantum leap into mobile gaming. Stable revenue from the webtoon business combined with explosive sales from mobile games is driving its growth trajectory. Last month, Mister Blue introduced its mobile game to the global market for the first time. Accordingly, analysts expect rapid growth in the game export sector, which had been negligible until last year.

◆ Martial Arts Webtoon Leader Passes the Torch to Mobile Games

Mister Blue is a digital comic, webtoon, and web novel online content provider (CP - Contents Provider). It is regarded as stable because it simultaneously operates webtoon production and platform business. Webtoon production is done in-house by acquiring full intellectual property rights (IP) from renowned authors.

Currently, Mister Blue holds the largest number of comic copyrights in South Korea. In particular, Mister Blue owns the IPs of the four great kings of domestic martial arts comics: Hwang Seong, Yaseolrok, Samadal, and Ha Seungnam. Mister Blue can use these IPs for up to 70 years after the authors' deaths. Since these are exclusive contracts, no additional payments are required based on sales. Revenue related to Mister Blue’s martial arts comics has been increasing by more than 53% annually.

The company’s proprietary platform has grown in scale, surpassing 5 million subscribers last year. Webtoon payment amounts also jumped from 13.7 billion KRW in 2016 to 21.6 billion KRW last year. The platform currently operates with a total of about 360 webtoon contents, under contracts with authors and publishers, paying 60-70% of sales revenue to them.

Although webtoons are the core business, games have become a cash cow for Mister Blue. Through its subsidiary Blue Potion Games, Mister Blue services online and mobile games. The game business began in 2016 when Mister Blue acquired all assets including the IP of the online game ‘EOS’ from Nvius for 4.5 billion KRW. Game-related sales were 1.9 billion KRW in 2017 and 1.6 billion KRW in 2018.

The game business showed explosive growth last year. Sales surged sharply after launching the mobile game ‘EOS Red,’ which uses the EOS IP originally from the online game. Game business revenue reached 32.6 billion KRW last year, a 1,835% increase compared to the previous year.

The rise of the game sector has also changed the overall sales composition of Mister Blue. As of the first quarter of this year, Mister Blue’s total sales were 16.5 billion KRW, of which 7.5 billion KRW (45.5%) came from the game sector. Of course, the webtoon sector also grew. While total sales including the game business were 7.9 billion KRW in the first quarter of last year, webtoon sales alone reached 8.5 billion KRW in the first quarter of this year.

◆ Financial Structure ‘Healthy’... Expectations for Overseas Expansion Rise

Along with high growth, Mister Blue’s financial condition is also healthy. The net debt, calculated by subtracting cash equivalents from total borrowings, was originally around -8 billion KRW, but due to the mobile game hit last year, cash equivalents surged by about 14 billion KRW, pushing net debt to -21 billion KRW. This means that even after paying off all debts with cash on hand, 21 billion KRW remains.

The debt ratio stands at 37%, with most liabilities being short-term borrowings of 6 billion KRW. All these borrowings carry interest rates in the 2% range, so interest expenses are minimal. The company stated, “All borrowings mature in the second half of this year, and we plan to repay them in full within this year.”

The healthy financial structure is expected to continue for the time being. Second-quarter performance is also anticipated to be positive. Mister Blue’s second-quarter sales are expected to have grown more than 100% year-on-year, which should lead to an increase in operating profit.

By business segment, the content division, including comics and webtoons, is expected to benefit from increased sales due to the release of new martial arts works and the effect of subscription price hikes. Game sales are also estimated to have increased compared to the first quarter due to a large-scale update conducted in April.

Furthermore, from the second half of the year, the overseas expansion effect of EOS Red is expected to be reflected in the results. On the 22nd of last month, EOS Red was launched in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau through the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. Pre-registration participants exceeded 1.3 million, and within four days of release, it ranked 10th in Google Play Store sales, making a remarkable achievement.

This is the first overseas launch of EOS Red. Last year, Mister Blue’s game export sales were 600 million KRW. Considering local responses, game export sales are predicted to grow rapidly.

A Mister Blue official said, “Starting with Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau, we plan to launch in China and Japan in the second half of the year. Since we achieved a net increase of 32.6 billion KRW in sales after launching domestically last year, expectations for overseas market expansion are high.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.