NCsoft has staged a first-quarter earnings rebound, driven by the success of its new titles "Aion 2" and "Lineage Classic." PC game sales hit a record quarterly high, sending operating profit soaring more than 2,000% from a year earlier.
According to the gaming industry on Thursday, NCsoft posted first-quarter revenue of 557.4 billion won and operating profit of 113.3 billion won. Revenue jumped 55% and operating profit surged 2,070% from a year earlier. PC game sales, in particular, reached an all-time quarterly high of 318.4 billion won, up 210% year-on-year.
NCsoft's strong performance was led by Aion 2 and Lineage Classic. Aion 2, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) launched last year, generated 136.8 billion won in revenue in the first quarter alone, establishing itself as a core pillar of NCsoft's business. The company is credited with securing a stable user base through active player communication and content updates. Aion 2 plans to expand into North America, South America, Europe and Japan in the second half of the year, aiming to become a "global flagship MMORPG." "We are preparing content competitiveness that surpasses existing games through a group of experts specialized in publishing MMORPGs in Western markets," an NCsoft official said.
Lineage Classic also delivered results exceeding expectations. Released in February this year, Lineage Classic is a PC game that recreates the early 2000s version of "Lineage." It recorded cumulative revenue of 192.4 billion won in about 90 days. The "retro strategy" of modernizing the sentiment of past Lineage proved effective, simultaneously drawing back returning users and attracting new ones. Lineage Classic has been setting record daily revenue highs since its "Valakas" update in April, raising prospects for long-term success. The company expects solid user metrics to be maintained, as not only the middle-aged customers it had projected as the main user base, but also many new users in their 20s and 30s, have flowed in.
NCsoft is targeting annual revenue of more than 2.5 trillion won this year. "We are preparing to launch more than 10 new intellectual properties (IP), including spin-off games," NCsoft Co-CEO Park Byung-moo said during the first-quarter earnings conference call on the 13th of this month. "Based on the first-quarter performance, we expect growth every quarter." Having reaffirmed its long-accumulated game development capabilities and live service operation know-how through Aion 2 and Lineage Classic, the company plans to maintain a steady earnings trajectory going forward.
