[Click eStock] "Webzen, Should Focus on the Korean Market Schedule with Few Variables"

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Eun-mo] Ebest Investment & Securities analyzed that it is time to focus on the expected schedule in the relatively stable Korean market for Webzen. The investment opinion was maintained as ‘Buy’, and the target price was raised from the existing 20,000 KRW to 22,000 KRW.

According to Ebest Investment & Securities on the 12th, Webzen's sales in the first quarter of this year were 34.4 billion KRW, down 22% from the previous quarter, and operating profit was 9.6 billion KRW, down 35%. Researcher Sung Jong-hwa of Ebest Investment & Securities explained in the report on the day that the reason for the poor first-quarter performance was “the decline in existing main games centered on Korea and China was greater than the contribution of new sales such as 'Miracle MU: Age of Spirits (Taiwan version of Spirit War)', released in the Taiwan market on February 13, and 'MU Ignition 2', released in the Korean market on March 12.”

However, the current point of interest for Webzen is the anticipation for 'MU Archangel', scheduled to be released at the end of the second quarter, and 'R2 Mobile', scheduled for release in the third quarter, rather than the first-quarter performance. Researcher Sung explained, “'MU Archangel' is the Korean version of Spirit War, which was released in the Chinese market on July 9 last year and achieved a big hit, and was also released in the Taiwan market on February 13 under the name 'Miracle MU: Age of Spirits', where it is also a hit.” He added, “Considering that the PC game R2 ranks 1st or 2nd in item trading on ItemBay among PC games and 5th overall among all games, with active item trading, the expectations for the success of 'R2 Mobile (tentative name)', a mobile MMORPG based on the R2 intellectual property (IP), are also high.”

Regarding the Chinese market schedules, although no confirmed schedules currently exist, it is analyzed that they can be concretized at any time. Researcher Sung stated, “All schedules for new works utilizing the MU IP in the Chinese market are currently tentative or undecided, and there are no confirmed dates,” but added, “Some of these can be specified at any time, so constant attention is necessary.” He predicted, “In particular, considering that OurPalm, the Chinese market publisher, once indicated a release around April to May, the release timing is expected to be relatively near.”

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