KRAFTON Posts Record Q3 Revenue... Operating Profit Down 35% on Higher Costs

PUBG IP continues to grow... Revenue reaches KRW 971.4 billion

Costs rise, including expenses for Gamescom participation

Plans to diversify gameplay experiences and target emerging markets in Q4

KRAFTON posted record-high revenue in the third quarter of this year, driven by growth in its PUBG intellectual property (IP), but operating profit declined as operating expenses rose, including costs related to its participation in Gamescom.

KRAFTON disclosed on November 10 that its consolidated operating profit for the third quarter was KRW 225 billion, down 35.5% from a year earlier. Revenue rose 11.6% year over year to KRW 971.4 billion. It swung to a net loss of KRW 68.4 billion.

Cumulative revenue for the first three quarters reached KRW 3.633 trillion, while operating profit totaled KRW 1.1975 trillion, up 51% and 14%, respectively, from a year earlier. Both figures were record highs for the period.

Revenue by business segment was KRW 238.9 billion for PC, KRW 504.3 billion for mobile, KRW 8.6 billion for console, and KRW 219.6 billion for other businesses. On the PC platform, monthly active users of PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS on PC and console continued to grow at a double-digit rate. In September, a collaboration with the anime IP Jujutsu Kaisen received a positive response from users, expanding the company's range of collaborations.

On mobile, collaborations with global IPs such as Naruto and Ferrari, introduced during the peak summer vacation season, drove growth. Other revenue included KRW 198.4 billion in advertising and content revenue from the ADK Group.

Cumulative revenue from the PUBG IP franchise for the first three quarters rose 11% year over year, continuing its growth. The PUBG IP franchise is expanding into a gameplay platform that offers a variety of ways to play, with the aim of becoming a global cultural icon. On PC, following the introduction of UGC in December 2025, KRAFTON launched PUBG Playground in August, allowing users to find and enjoy a wide range of UGC. On mobile, the company is working to invigorate its ecosystem by expanding global IP content in the UGC mode World of Wonder.

Operating expenses in the third quarter totaled KRW 746.4 billion, up 43% year over year, reflecting expenses related to the acquisition of the ADK Group. Exchange rate declines and other factors also had an impact, contributing to net losses for two consecutive quarters, following the second quarter.

In the fourth quarter, KRAFTON plans to broaden its user base by diversifying gameplay experiences, expanding in emerging mobile markets, and strengthening PUBG branding. Subnautica 2, which has surpassed 5 million copies sold globally, will focus on preparing for its full release by improving its quality through a major Early Access 2.0 update at year-end. The company also plans to explore opportunities to expand the IP both inside and outside the game.

KRAFTON said it unveiled its in-house large language model (LLM), Raon-1 Mini Preview, last month, and confirmed that it delivers top-tier performance among comparable models in Korea in Korean-language capabilities, response speed, and reasoning efficiency. Going forward, the company plans to strengthen its gaming AI capabilities with proprietary models trained on the unique grammar of games, expand its lineup with the future scaling-up model Raon-1 and a full-duplex voice model, and develop models tailored to new businesses of the future.

Meanwhile, under its shareholder return policy announced in February, KRAFTON had acquired approximately KRW 400 billion worth of treasury shares and paid KRW 99.6 billion in capital reduction dividends through the third quarter of this year. At a board meeting on November 3, it decided to acquire an additional KRW 300 billion worth of treasury shares and cancel all of them.

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