NC: "Expanding New Releases and Mobile Casual Business... Targeting KRW 3.4 Trillion in Revenue Next Year" (Comprehensive)

Operating profit swung to profit year on year in Q3
Additional acquisitions in the mobile casual games business
10 new titles to launch globally next year
"We will achieve explosive growth in 2028"

Boosted by strong performances from "Lineage Classic" and "Aion 2," NC, which improved its results in the third quarter of this year, has set a goal of exceeding KRW 3 trillion in revenue next year. The company aims to achieve explosive growth in 2028 by launching new titles and expanding its mobile casual games business.

NC Co-CEOs Kim Taekjin (left) and Park Byungmu. Courtesy of NC.

NC announced on November 11 that its consolidated operating profit for the third quarter of this year was tentatively tallied at KRW 119.6 billion, marking a turnaround to profit from a loss in the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the period rose 90.7% to KRW 686.5 billion. Net profit, however, fell 94.2% to KRW 20 billion.

Cumulative revenue through the third quarter of this year reached KRW 2.0144 trillion, up 83% from the same period a year earlier, allowing the company to reach the lower end of its annual revenue guidance of KRW 2 trillion ahead of schedule. By region, revenue came from Korea (46%), North America and Europe (34%), and Asia (20%). The share of overseas revenue rose for the fifth consecutive quarter, reaching 54%. Revenue by platform totaled KRW 289.4 billion for PC games and KRW 162.2 billion for mobile games.

"Lineage Classic" generated KRW 158.7 billion in revenue in the third quarter, bringing its cumulative revenue to KRW 427.8 billion in the approximately eight months since its launch. NC said key metrics, including the number of paying users, have remained stable.

"Aion 2," which began global service on November 5, reached a peak of 410,000 concurrent users. Cumulative revenue from its early access launch on September 30 through November 10 totaled KRW 110.3 billion. Revenue from "Aion 2" global services is expected to gain momentum starting in the fourth quarter.

NC raised its revenue guidance for this year to KRW 2.8 trillion. It set next year's revenue guidance at KRW 3.2 trillion to KRW 3.4 trillion. The higher guidance reflects the expansion of its core IP, the global launch of new titles, and continued growth in its mobile casual games business.

NC's Pangyo R&D Center. Provided by NC.

Revenue from mobile casual games rose quarter on quarter to KRW 171.9 billion, accounting for 25% of total revenue. Hong Wonjun, NC's chief financial officer (CFO), explained that JustPlay, in particular, doubled its revenue from a year earlier on the back of advertiser revenue, driving the company's results.

NC is expanding its mobile casual games business, including by signing a global publishing deal for the upcoming title from Chinese mobile game developer Gorilla Studio. During an earnings conference call on Wednesday, NC co-CEO Park Byungmoo said, "We expect to have the framework for our mobile casual games business largely in place in the fourth quarter of this year through additional acquisitions and business expansion. We will achieve quantum growth by further developing synergies among our reward applications (apps), publishing platform, and development studios."

NC also plans to bring 10 new titles across a range of genres, including subculture and shooting games, to the global market by next year. Starting with "Astrae Oratio" in the first quarter of next year, the company will roll out self-developed and externally published titles, including "Cinder City" and "Time Takers." NC plans to announce the release schedule for "Horizon Steel Frontiers," whose development was announced at last year's G-Star, in the near future. Park said, "Game development is well underway," adding, "We are discussing the release timing with Sony, which owns the IP."

NC will also continue developing its core massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Park said, "Given the vast content, sophisticated server technology, and ongoing live operations that MMORPGs require, they will be difficult to replace with artificial intelligence (AI) for quite some time. In the AI era, it will be important to strengthen global publishing capabilities for core games and turn the mobile casual games business into a publishing platform."?

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