"Returning to the Beginning"... NC's Determined Comeback, Will the Stock Price Follow?

Lineage W Second Announcement Foresees Major Changes to Monetization Model
Also Applied to Lineage M and Lineage 2M... Will Alienated Customers Return?

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] NCSoft's stock price, which had plummeted to the 500,000 KRW range, has recovered to the 600,000 KRW range. This appears to be driven by expectations for the success of ‘Lineage W,’ which NCSoft revamped, including its monetization model, after much reflection and effort.

As of 9:15 AM on the 1st, NCSoft's stock price recorded 609,000 KRW, up 1.00% compared to the previous day. Following a 5.05% rise the day before, it surpassed the 600,000 KRW mark for the first time in a while. This marks three consecutive trading days of gains since the 29th of last month. Around 11 AM, it slightly paused and recorded 600,000 KRW. However, this shows a significant recovery since it plunged from the 800,000 KRW range to the 500,000 KRW range at the end of last month.

Institutional buying also flowed in. The previous day, institutions were the top net buyers with 37.8 billion KRW. Pension funds and other funds alone purchased about 23.8 billion KRW. This contrasts with institutions’ net selling of 217.8 billion KRW in the KOSPI market on the same day.

The announcement made the day before, during the second reveal of Lineage W, to revise the previously criticized excessive monetization model is considered to have been effective. NCSoft stated that "not only the new Lineage W but also the already serviced Lineage M and Lineage 2M will abolish some paid items such as ‘Blessing of Einhasad.’" Customers who have already purchased these paid items will be refunded regardless of whether they have used them.

Jung Hoyoon, a researcher at Korea Investment & Securities, explained, "They boldly removed most of the monetization systems and emphasized that they will not introduce them until the end of the game service." He added, "The announcement to immediately launch personal trading and marketplace systems right after release, thereby revitalizing the free trading that was the core of the existing Lineage series, also received positive evaluations."

With these reforms, there is hope that customers who had turned away will return. The number of pre-registrations has already surpassed 10 million. Considering the domestic pre-registration growth speed of existing Lineage IP games, it is estimated that more than 5 million pre-registrations were gathered overseas. Lee Moonjong, a researcher at Shinhan Financial Investment, forecasted, "Due to strengthened storylines and weakened excessive monetization inducements, the possibility of success overseas has increased," adding, "In addition, a return of domestic users is also expected."

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