Pearl Abyss Also Faces 'Labor Cost' Loss... 1Q Operating Profit Down 71.7% (Update)

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] Pearl Abyss announced on the 12th that it recorded sales of 100.9 billion KRW and operating profit of 13.1 billion KRW in the first quarter of this year. These figures represent decreases of 24.2% and 71.7%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

The performance of Pearl Abyss's flagship title, 'Black Desert,' was only partially reflected, and labor costs increased by 11% compared to the previous quarter.

Earlier, in response to the salary increase trend in the gaming industry, Pearl Abyss raised the annual salary of all employees by 8 million KRW in March and paid an additional bonus of 2 million KRW each. The 2 million KRW bonus was reflected in the first quarter results.

Since the end of February, Pearl Abyss has directly serviced its flagship game 'Black Desert' in the North American and European regions, achieving sales of 20 billion KRW within one month. Although it recorded the highest sales ever for North American and European services, only about 46% of the actual sales amount was reflected in the first quarter due to deferred revenue accounting.

Thanks to the North American and European service effects of the Black Desert intellectual property (IP), overseas sales accounted for 78% of the first quarter revenue. By platform, PC accounted for 53%, mobile 36%, and console 11% of sales, with the combined PC and console share rising 4% from the previous quarter to 64%.

'Black Desert,' a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), was the first Korean game to reach number one in the sales popularity ranking on the 'Steam' platform, and is regarded as a successful title in Western markets. The Black Desert console version, now in its third year of service, has surpassed 3.3 million cumulative subscribers.

Pearl Abyss plans to showcase stable live services for the Black Desert IP and 'EVE' in the second quarter, leveraging its global publishing capabilities. The company will also focus on developing new titles such as Red Desert and Dokkaebi. Pearl Abyss Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jo Seok-woo said, "Based on steady financial performance, we will focus on preparing for the successful launch of Red Desert."

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