Foreign Buyers Driving Popularity of Game Stocks

Strong Performance and New Releases Expected... NCSoft and Kakao Games Remain Strong Even in a Correction Market

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Hwajeong] Game stocks, led by strong earnings and anticipation for new releases, are showing strength in the correction market. Foreign buying momentum is also continuing, driving stock price increases.

As of 9:21 AM on the 8th, NCSoft was trading at 1,017,000 KRW, up 41,000 KRW (4.2%) from the previous day. At the same time, Kakao Games also showed gains in the 3% range.

Recently, game stocks have shown remarkable strength, led by NCSoft. NCSoft has risen 4.83% year-to-date as of the previous day and is attempting to stabilize above the 1 million KRW mark. Kakao Games also rose 13.91%, and Netmarble increased by more than 5%. In particular, Pearl Abyss saw a significant rise. Pearl Abyss has risen 54% year-to-date and surpassed 400,000 KRW in stock price on the 5th. Pearl Abyss, which was ranked 9th in KOSDAQ market capitalization at the beginning of the year, has climbed to 3rd place.

Foreign buying has led the stock price increases of game stocks. Since the beginning of this month, foreigners have purchased 73.6 billion KRW of NCSoft, 73.3 billion KRW of Netmarble, 44.3 billion KRW of Pearl Abyss, and 28.1 billion KRW of Kakao Games.

Strong earnings and anticipation for new releases are cited as factors driving stock price increases. On this day, Kakao Games disclosed that it recorded sales of 495.5 billion KRW and operating profit of 66.6 billion KRW last year. These figures represent increases of 26.72% and 90.13%, respectively, compared to the previous year, marking the best performance ever.

Earlier, on the 5th, NCSoft announced its earnings, recording sales of 2.4162 trillion KRW and operating profit of 824.8 billion KRW last year. These represent increases of 42% and 72%, respectively, compared to the previous year, marking the highest sales and operating profit ever.

Jaemin Ahn, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, said, "The most anticipated domestic title this year, ‘Blade & Soul 2’, is expected to launch in April following the start of pre-registration on the 9th. After the release of Blade & Soul 2, all three NCSoft games are expected to rank 1st to 3rd in domestic app store sales rankings, which is expected to lead to earnings growth and stock price increases." NH Investment & Securities forecasts that NCSoft will record sales of 3.16 trillion KRW, a 31% increase year-over-year, and operating profit of 1.26 trillion KRW, a 53% increase this year.

Additionally, Pearl Abyss is generating growing anticipation for ‘Red Desert’, scheduled for release in the fourth quarter, while Kakao Games plans to expand titles such as ‘Elyon’ and ‘Dalbitjogaksa’ to North America, Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia this year. They also plan to continue growth by releasing MMORPGs including ‘Odin’, as well as ‘Godis Order’, ‘World Flipper’, ‘Soul Artifact’ (tentative title), and ‘Terafire’ (tentative title).

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