NCSoft Running Again Embracing Foreigners

Foreign Buyers Reenter... Institutional Investors Also Buying
New Release Momentum Emerges... Potential for Revenue Diversification Through Overseas and Console Expansion

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Foreign investors' funds are flowing back into NCSoft. With a series of new releases scheduled from early next year, there is a forecast that the upward momentum is sufficient.

As of 11:57 AM on the 28th, NCSoft's stock price recorded 895,000 KRW, up 0.22% from the previous trading day. Although it showed a slightly weak sideways trend, it rose to 898,000 KRW in the early session. A steady trend has been observed for five consecutive trading days since early last week (the 21st). Compared to the closing price of 810,000 KRW on the 30th of last month, it has risen about 10% in a month. It also recovered to the 900,000 KRW range intraday for the first time in about four months since August. Although there were some fluctuations in mid-month, the trend is upward.

The resumption of foreign investors' capital inflow is evaluated as a key factor. Last week (21st?24th), foreign investors net purchased NCSoft shares worth a total of 61.7 billion KRW. This is the fourth largest amount among all stocks with net foreign purchases. This reversed the four consecutive trading days of net selling since the 15th. The buying trend of institutional investors also had a positive effect. Institutional investors have consistently net purchased except for four trading days this month. From the 1st to the 24th of this month, they net purchased a total of 153.6 billion KRW.

This is interpreted as NCSoft entering a phase reflecting expectations for new releases. The release of 'Blade & Soul 2' and the launch of 'Lineage 2M' in Taiwan are scheduled for the first quarter of next year. Marketing before the release will begin next month. It is expected that the stock price will preemptively reflect expectations until the release. The new title 'Trickster M' has surpassed 3 million pre-registrations, and the 60 servers prepared for pre-character creation were fully booked early, leading to an increase in capacity. Although expectations were not high, it is expected to enter the top 10 in sales in the early stages of release. Since all pre-release promotions have been completed, it is expected to be released soon.

Through this, significant performance growth is expected. Sales diversification is anticipated through overseas markets and various platforms. After the launch of Lineage 2M in Taiwan, expectations for entry into the Japanese market are also likely to increase. Since Blade & Soul has historically generated more overseas sales than domestic, there is also a possibility of overseas release after the domestic launch of 'Blade & Soul 2.' 'Project TL' is a PC game with a console version in mind. Moonjong Lee, a senior researcher at Shinhan Financial Investment, said, "While there have been no successful cases of Korean mobile MMORPGs in Western regions, there have been occasional successes of domestic PC games in Western markets. If Project TL succeeds, the regional composition of sales is expected to diversify." He added, "Moreover, if new projects are unveiled next year, concerns about reliance on a single intellectual property (IP) will also be alleviated."

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