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NCsoft profits soar 836%, Aion NA, Euro sales near 1M

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Nov 6, 2009 3:40 pm PT

Korean publisher's newest MMOG pushes July-Sept. net income to $40 million on revenue of $142 million.

The massively multiplayer online role-playing market hasn't seen many new entrants this year. However, of those that have debuted this year, NCsoft scored perhaps the biggest hit with Aion: Tower of Eternity. Shortly before the supernal-themed MMOG's launch in September, NCsoft said that Aion had garnered more than 400,000 preorders in North America, making it the "biggest MMO release of the year."

Angels rejoice!

As part of its third-quarter earnings announcement today, NCsoft said that Aion has now sold more than 500,000 units in North America and 470,000 copies in Europe. Aion's popularity propelled NCsoft to another quarter of triple-digit year-over-year gains. The Korean publisher reported revenues today that were up 112 percent to KRW166 billion ($142 million). Net income during the July-September period soared to KRW46.9 billion ($40 million), a whopping 836 percent year-over-year rise.

NCsoft's home market again constituted the vast bulk of the MMOG publisher's sales, as Korea accounted for 48 percent of revenues, with North America, Japan, Europe, and Taiwan following. Aion contributed to 52 percent of the publisher's sales across the territories, with Lineage 2 falling as the second-most lucrative at 24 percent or revenues. The original Lineage followed with 16 percent, while City of Heroes/Villains and Guild Wars came in at respective 4 and 3 percents.

65 Comments

  • runstalker

    Posted Nov 11, 2009 4:22 pm PT

    Targzissian Posted Nov 6, 2009 9:16 pm PT

    "Great, maybe NCsoft can give Richard Garriott a share of that money. I'm excited for Guild Wars 2, and may try Aion sometime, but I'm disappointed with the way they treated Garriott and shut down Tabula Rasa."

    You mean the part where Garriott was having a mid-life crisis and dropped $30 million dollars into a personal space voyage before leaving the Tabula Rasa team? Yeah right, making a multi-millionaire out of a broken, space cadet man-boy was such terrible treatment... It doesn't diminish Garriott's past development achievements, but let's call a spade a spade in this particular situation.

  • runstalker

    Posted Nov 11, 2009 4:14 pm PT

    "...of those that have debuted this year, NCsoft scored perhaps the biggest hit with Aion: Tower of Eternity."

    It hasn't been called "Aion: Tower of Eternity" for over 9 months guys, so please stop referring to it as such. The 'Tower of Eternity' subtitle was officially dropped by NCsoft for the NA/EU version earlier this year. If we're going for accuracy, that's how it must be. In your text, and also in the title you placed for the embedded launch trailer. The Tower remains in-game, but not in the title!

  • Ultramarinus

    Posted Nov 10, 2009 11:26 am PT

    MMO industry became a hype-driven business by now, disc copies sold means nothing. Aion seems to have lost a great amount of western subs after the first free month.

  • valcrist09

    Posted Nov 9, 2009 9:11 pm PT

    Aion was great but i quit cause the botting and gold spamming is out of control and NCsoft has done nothing.. EPIC FAIL!!

  • Mcgnnis1

    Posted Nov 9, 2009 7:27 pm PT

    Weren't they supposed to make some MMORPGs for Sony...i wonder what happened to that deal...

  • Rikevis

    Posted Nov 9, 2009 10:57 am PT

    Too bad they can't take a little of that money they are making and invest it in customer support in the form of IN-GAME CSRs to put a beat-down on the plague of bots and gold sellers.

  • atopp399

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 10:01 pm PT

    If they could funnel a little of that money into finishing Guild Wars 2 that would be awesome.

  • Leonagard

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 8:22 pm PT

    enough of it!! I bought by paypal played like 2 weeks os my 60 days subscription... and I like it... but its more of the same MMo's I got bored... but Demon's Souls keep my taste up!! lol I dont think it only me but MMOs are losing their charm just ripping off eachother... problably GW2 or Old Republic come with some new mechanics but I doubt... btw GW2 has no monthly fee

  • hobobobo00

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 6:18 pm PT

    i dont need to tell you in order for you to know this game is a complete rip off wow. ive tried this game during the beta and ill tell you that this is world of warcraft except with more grinding and just overall less fun. trust me.
    the only reason you would play this instead of wow is because of vain graphic style preferences or because wow is too much of a social taboo

  • DonRade

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 2:30 pm PT

    Amazing and surprising...

  • icym

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 10:22 am PT

    Its great to see them do well in a tough market. Hopefully, it will encourage them to get CoH2 and GW2 out there asap!

  • steven141

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 8:21 am PT

    Whoah! Thats a pretty big profit increase. The management has got to be happy with that, but i won't be playing Aion, i probably won't play big MMO's like that again.

  • sirkel28

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 6:53 am PT

    Wonder how much money GS got for that hype advertisement/ article.

  • tyco_ex

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 5:55 am PT

    Now maybe they can hurry the heck up on GW2 >.>

  • FkThisName

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 1:29 am PT

    Crafting isnt boring, it rocks and is easy to level.
    Hit CRAFT ALL and go watch a movie, now thats good crafting.

  • demi_veritaz

    Posted Nov 8, 2009 1:15 am PT

    There isn't a whole lot to do in aion. Level, craft or pvp. Instances? They're all tank n' spankin grind. Crafting is boring and takes waaaaay too long. The pace of leveling is alright.

  • prohogo2

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 11:51 pm PT

    melty3219, thats cos wow players are too scared to try something new

  • 106473

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 9:38 pm PT

    Woot their it is!

  • melty3219 posted Nov 7, 2009 2:55 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. sign in to show)

    melty3219

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 2:55 pm PT (hide)

    yet still none of those games have killed wow

  • dracosummoner

    Posted Nov 7, 2009 2:39 pm PT

    Eight hundred and thirty-six percent.

    I need to let that sink in for a moment ...

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