NC, Nexon, Netmarble Show 'Pause' in Q2 Earnings... Counterattack with New Releases

The three leading players in the gaming industry, the 3N (NCSoft, Nexon, Netmarble), are set to simultaneously release their Q2 earnings on the 11th, but they are expected to present results that fall short of expectations. This is due to delays in new game releases and the impact of marketing expenses.

According to financial information firm FnGuide on the 9th, the 3N's performance is expected to fall below market forecasts. NCSoft's Q2 revenue and operating profit are estimated at 511 billion KRW and 133 billion KRW, respectively. These figures represent a 5% and 36% decrease compared to the previous year. The new game release schedule was postponed from the first half to the second half of the year, and the revenue crown held by ‘Lineage M·2M’ was even taken by Kakao Games' ‘Odin’. NCSoft, which had been soaring last year, is expected to record poor results in Q2 following an ‘earnings shock’ in Q1.

Nexon also saw a natural decline in revenue as it did not release any new titles in the first half of this year. Additionally, Nexon's Japanese subsidiary suffered a loss of about 46 billion KRW last month due to a sharp drop in Bitcoin purchased. According to Nexon, the Q2 earnings forecast is revenue of 54.5 billion to 59.6 billion JPY (approximately 5.573 trillion to 6.1 trillion KRW) and operating profit of 12 billion to 16.4 billion JPY (approximately 1.232 trillion to 1.677 trillion KRW), representing decreases of about 8-16% and 39-55% year-on-year, respectively.

Netmarble's Q2 revenue and operating profit are expected to be 624.9 billion KRW and 48.5 billion KRW, respectively, down 8.9% and 40.6% from the previous year. Although Netmarble successfully launched the new MMORPG ‘The Second Country’ in June, the impact was not fully reflected in the Q2 results. Furthermore, high marketing costs for new releases are expected to cause overall performance to fall short of expectations.

After a breather in Q2, the 3N will launch a counterattack this month with major new titles. NCSoft will release ‘Blade & Soul 2 (B&S2)’ on the 26th. B&S2 is a highly ambitious project with CEO Kim Taek-jin personally overseeing development. With 7.46 million pre-registrations, market expectations are high. Securities firms predict that B&S2's average daily revenue in Q3 will reach 5 billion KRW.

Nexon will also consecutively release new titles starting with ‘Konosuba Mobile’ on the 19th, followed by ‘KartRider: Drift’ and ‘Cutzpel’. Netmarble will launch the new mobile RPG ‘Marvel Future Revolution’ on the 25th. Additionally, Netmarble acquired the social casino game company ‘SpinX’ for 2.5 trillion KRW on the 2nd. Samsung Securities researcher Oh Dong-hwan forecasted, "Through the acquisition of SpinX, there will be synergy effects not only in increasing revenue and net profit but also in expanding the North American and European markets."

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