Steadfast 'Lineage Brothers' NC Reports 3Q Operating Profit of 217.7 Billion KRW, Up 69% YoY (Update)

Kim Taek-jin, CEO of NCSoft

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] The Lineage brothers remained strong. NCSoft succeeded in a 'solid' performance in sales and operating profit in the third quarter of this year, signaling a green light for achieving annual sales of 2 trillion won.

On the 16th, NCSoft announced that its third-quarter sales reached 585.2 billion won, and operating profit was 217.7 billion won. These figures represent increases of 47% and 69%, respectively, compared to the previous year. Compared to the previous quarter, sales rose by 9% and operating profit by 4%. The mobile game sector showed remarkable results, with third-quarter mobile game sales reaching 389.6 billion won.

Lineage M recorded sales of 245.2 billion won, and Lineage 2M achieved 144.5 billion won. As of this day, NCSoft's 'Lineage brothers (Lineage M and Lineage 2M)' hold the 1st and 2nd positions in Google’s sales rankings, respectively. Thanks to the 3rd-anniversary update of Lineage M, sales increased by 53% compared to the previous quarter.

For PC online games, sales were 49.9 billion won for Lineage, 26.3 billion won for Lineage 2, 8.5 billion won for Aion, 17.2 billion won for Blade & Soul, and 18.8 billion won for Guild Wars 2. Lineage sales rose 46% compared to the previous quarter, and Guild Wars 2 sales increased by 20%. By region, sales were 477.1 billion won in Korea, 27.4 billion won in North America and Europe, 13.9 billion won in Japan, and 7.9 billion won in Taiwan, with royalty sales reaching 58.8 billion won.

Besides the Lineage brothers, NCSoft is actively working on creating the next hit titles. They expect strong performance not only in MMORPGs but also in various game genres. On the 10th, they released the console and PC platform music game 'Fuser' in North America and Europe. They also plan to sequentially launch Trickster M and 'Blade & Soul (B&S 2)' domestically and internationally. Currently, they are developing various games on PC, console, and mobile platforms, including Project TL.

NCSoft is also accelerating its global market expansion. An NCSoft official stated, "Lineage 2M is preparing for sequential service starting with its release in Taiwan, followed by Japan and other regions."

Meanwhile, the top three game companies (3N: NCSoft, Nexon, Netmarble) demonstrated their strength by posting results exceeding market expectations in the third quarter. Nexon recorded third-quarter sales of 887.3 billion won and operating profit of 308.5 billion won, increases of 52% and 13% year-on-year, respectively. Nexon achieved its highest-ever performance for the third quarter. With hits like the new title 'Baram-ui Nara: Yeon' and the first anniversary of 'V4,' Nexon is on the verge of joining the 3 trillion won club. Netmarble also succeeded in maintaining solid results with third-quarter sales of 642.3 billion won and operating profit of 87.4 billion won, up 3.6% year-on-year. Netmarble’s overseas sales (478.7 billion won) accounted for 75%, continuing its record-high for the second consecutive quarter. Netmarble is also expected to easily achieve annual sales of 2 trillion won.

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