[Concall] NC Continues Lineage2M Momentum with Aion2 and Blade&Soul2 Launch (Summary)

Lineage 2M Global Expansion This Year... "Timing and Countries Undecided"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] NCSoft, which succeeded in the hit of 'Lineage 2M,' is gaining momentum this year with new mobile titles such as 'Aion 2' and 'Blade & Soul 2 (BNS2).' They plan to introduce Lineage 2M to the global market, aiming to gain popularity overseas following its success in Korea.

On the 12th, Yoon Jae-soo, NCSoft's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), stated during a conference call after announcing the Q4 2019 earnings, "We are developing new titles based on stable revenue sources such as Lineage M and Lineage 2M," and added, "We will continue to grow with new titles like Aion 2 and BNS2."

He explained, "Although we cannot disclose the exact release schedule for this year's new titles yet, we will strategically decide based on the overall market and internal company conditions."

NCSoft is also preparing for the global launch of Lineage 2M. CFO Yoon said, "The global expansion of Lineage 2M will begin this year," and added, "We will achieve results overseas based on domestic success." However, he noted, "Localization is important in the process of preparing for global expansion, but the development team is struggling to meet domestic game demand, so we cannot devote 100% of our efforts to preparing for overseas expansion," and stated, "The timing and countries for overseas expansion have not yet been decided."

NCSoft achieved an 'earnings surprise' in Q4 last year due to the success of Lineage 2M. CFO Yoon said, "A completely new younger generation and users who had not played MMORPGs before were attracted to Lineage 2M, and users also migrated from small to mid-sized games of similar genres to Lineage 2M." He also predicted, "Considering the traffic, revenue trends, and update content so far, we will sufficiently meet this year's market expectations."

He continued, "Lineage M had the highest number of users at launch, then experienced a sharp decline followed by stabilization, but Lineage 2M's daily active users have continued to increase until now," and added, "Revenue for Lineage M decreased rapidly after launch and then stabilized, but for Lineage 2M, the decline has been very gradual."

Meanwhile, NCSoft decided to pay a cash dividend of 5,220 KRW per share, totaling 107.5 billion KRW, to shareholders. Accordingly, Kim Taek-jin, NCSoft's CEO, who held 2,628,000 shares as of January 3 this year, will receive approximately 13.7 billion KRW in cash dividends. NCSoft's Q4 sales last year were 533.8 billion KRW, a 34% increase compared to the same period the previous year. Operating profit for the same period was 141.2 billion KRW, up 25% year-on-year. The annual sales for last year recorded 1.7012 trillion KRW, a 1% decrease from the previous year. Operating profit was 479 billion KRW, down 22% from the previous year.

CFO Yoon explained the deterioration in profitability last year, saying, "Royalty revenue decreased by 30% year-on-year due to a decline in Lineage M sales in Taiwan, and marketing costs increased significantly due to the launch of the new Lineage 2M title."

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