MMOGs make profits for NCsoft

The Korean developer posts $7.7 million profit for first quarter, credits Lineage and Guild Wars for 16 percent year-on-year rise.

Profits are up for massively multiplayer online game maker NCsoft in the company's first fiscal quarter, which ran from January 1 to March 31, 2008. Consolidated sales came to 88.1 billion South Korean won ($84.2 million), operating income was up 16 percent year-on-year and 63 percent over last quarter to 19.7 billion won ($18.9 million), and net profit was 8.1 billion won ($7.7 million).

Back in January, NCsoft announced it would be cancelling a sci-fi space-based MMOG project being developed by Spacetime Studios, although no reason was given at the time. According to today's statement, NCsoft said the project "did not fit into the company's core development plan." NCsoft blames this for a decrease of 22 percent in net profits over last quarter, claiming that without this expense, profits would have been up 48 percent. The company stated that "resilient sales" of the Lineage series in Asia, along with Guild Wars and City of Heroes in North America and Europe, were the primary reason behind the steady growth year-on-year.

Of all the company's games, Lineage II fared the best, scoring approx 36 billion won for the company ($34 million) and 43 percent of the total sales for the quarter. The second most popular game was the first Lineage, with sales of 29 billion won ($27 million) and 35 percent of total sales. Guild Wars took 9.5 billion won ($9 million) and 12 percent of sales, and City of Heroes/City of Villains took 5.4 billion won ($4.7 million) and 7 percent of sales. Tabula Rasa didn't seem to be faring particularly well, with sales down 63 percent over the previous quarter to 1.9 billion won ($1.8 million), with the game--which was released in November--taking only 2 percent of total sales compared to 6 percent last quarter.

NCsoft continues to make most of its profits in its home base of South Korea, with 57 percent of sales being made in the country. Its second biggest market is North America, which accounts for 12 percent of sales; 11 percent of sales come from Japan, with 10 percent in Europe and 3 percent in Taiwan.

For 2008, NCsoft will be opening up fantasy MMOG Aion: Tower of Eternity for a third closed beta this summer in Korea, with the official launch scheduled for the second half of the year. It has four casual online games slated for release between June and December: first-person shooter Point Blank, side-scrolling role-playing games Punch Monster and Dragonica, and rhythm and dance game Lovebeat.

28 Comments

  • playa42018

    Posted May 18, 2008 5:59 pm PT

    I hope this means Huxley is still coming.

  • acidrain1976

    Posted May 17, 2008 1:00 am PT

    A search for Guild Wars 2 somehow led me to this game... it looks decent enough... I'd rather get more info on GW2.

  • Trajectorize

    Posted May 16, 2008 2:45 pm PT

    I've been a huge fan of GW too, but ever since after Nightfall, and even more so with the EotN expansion, they've introduced several "grind" elements that seem against the principles of the game when it was originally introduced.

    Still, I still go for a few runs every now and then, but not as often as I used to anymore.

  • HappyBB

    Posted May 15, 2008 10:05 pm PT

    There have been enough MMOGs out there already, and many of the MMOGs from NCSoft are fairly similar, fantasy worlds, fight to level up, gain fansy weapons, etc. Hack, almost all of the MMOGs are the same but with different coating! I hate MMOGs!

  • klubjunkee

    Posted May 15, 2008 9:52 pm PT

    Still no mention of new IPs coming to the Playstation 3 console since NCSoft announced partnership with Sony last year. The anticipation is killing me!

  • PieCrusher

    Posted May 15, 2008 7:25 pm PT

    There needs to be some devs. who come out with a new sci-fi MMO that doesn't suck.

  • roll450

    Posted May 15, 2008 6:07 pm PT

    ^_^ Cant wait for Aion.

  • Skullcandy

    Posted May 15, 2008 3:34 pm PT

    Sucks the sci-fi MMO was cancelled, the fantasy setting is getting old. Tabula Rasa gets repetative real fast and Anarchy Online is too dated. Here's hoping for Warhammer 40k.

  • EE2lemmonhead

    Posted May 15, 2008 2:50 pm PT

    guild wars and lineage series are better then wow anyday, not that i play mmogs anymore but im tired of my friends that are addicted to WoW

  • viperx64

    Posted May 15, 2008 1:54 pm PT

    yeaaa gz ncsoft! (Lineage 2 Addict here )

  • Azwethinkweiz89

    Posted May 15, 2008 1:38 pm PT

    Good for them, can't wait for Aion and Guild Wars 2.

  • Pete5506

    Posted May 15, 2008 1:23 pm PT

    I dont play MMO's any more but still glad they are doing good, Death to WoW

  • jazilla

    Posted May 15, 2008 12:38 pm PT

    This is great! I have played GW since it was released 3 years ago. 3 full games and an expansion in that time. The developers for this franchise are top-notch and are always releasing fun weekend content. I haven't spent a dime past purchasing the games! Guild Wars 2 wil revolutionize the MMO market. This game will be superior to anything on the market and will change how publishers view their monthly fee plans.

  • IntegraBella

    Posted May 15, 2008 11:13 am PT

    hmmm. awesome!

  • Merl57

    Posted May 15, 2008 11:09 am PT

    Hooray for Guildwars! but I don't play anymore cause I like 360 achievements now

  • kkkkknaruto

    Posted May 15, 2008 11:08 am PT

    they g2a release guild wars 2 on ps3.......n mke it free profits will follow like gold

  • warrner11

    Posted May 15, 2008 10:42 am PT

    TR and CoH/V r both top quality games... the only problems r with all these players out there who just dont want to get off the "Orcs n Elfves" bandwagon and try something outside the borders of common MMO games. Thats why Auto Assault shut down,witch by the way i still pray one day NCsoft buys off NetDevil and reactivates.

  • drangel_jam

    Posted May 15, 2008 9:45 am PT

    NCSoft, is a great company but they need to diversify their bonds. They have a lot of experience doing mmogs. I think they should try to make a console title and make more profits. $7.7M is just too little for such a talented company.

  • lucky326

    Posted May 15, 2008 9:40 am PT

    @Lionheart8472

    No screenshots of GW2 have yet been showed to the public, NCsoft also pulled out of E3 and the best bet so have looks to be Leizpig in August.

  • jknight5422

    Posted May 15, 2008 9:29 am PT

    Who'd a thunk that Tabula Rasa would be such a stinker? I expected that game to be better with Lord Richard Garriott's name tied to it. I guess he needs to stop blowing dough on lavish parties & put his head back into game design..maybe next time around.

  • Bretwalda

    Posted May 15, 2008 8:45 am PT

    My goodness GW was such a fun game when it came out, not sure why I lost interest. Too much backstory and not enough game design improvements. I hope GW2 can fix some of those issues.

  • SethandJeremy

    Posted May 15, 2008 8:21 am PT

    They make great games and hopefully they can keep it up.

  • Dualmask

    Posted May 15, 2008 8:08 am PT

    I think they make some pretty good games (well, I enjoyed City of Heroes/Villains at any rate) so congrats on their success. Those who do well and put real work into the projects they develop, deserve it.

  • Lionheart8472

    Posted May 15, 2008 7:52 am PT

    It puzzles me how they haven't really released any new info on Guild Wars 2 in quite awhile. I wonder what the hold up is. I can't wait for that game but already the games graphics that was shown over a year ago look to be aging.

    Not that graphics are everything but it helps. They have been pretty quiet since Tabula Rasa (which I still think is horrible). Anyhow I can't wait for Guild Wars 2!

  • CornishRocker

    Posted May 15, 2008 7:46 am PT

    Can't wait for GW2, I've lost interest in GW now; needs refreshing.

  • ineedanap

    Posted May 15, 2008 7:08 am PT

    Hmmmm

  • Gifted_One

    Posted May 15, 2008 7:01 am PT

    Lovebeat sounds like the world's first and ever-to-be worst knock-off of Guitar Hero and Rockband.

  • PEELEDbanana

    Posted May 15, 2008 6:57 am PT

    Get GW 2 out soon! That game is going to rock. You guys should make another game like GW (no subscriptions). Well, glad to see u guys are doing financially well.

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