Early Success of Lineage W, Will NC's Investor Sentiment Reverse?

Lineage W Stock Rebounds After First Day Plunge
Expectations Rise as Domestic and International Sales Rankings Climb

[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] Recently, the stock price of NCSoft, which had fallen to the 500,000 KRW range, has risen back to the 600,000 KRW range. This appears to be driven by expectations of a performance recovery following the success news of the new release, ‘Lineage W’.

As of 9:02 AM on the 9th, NCSoft’s stock price recorded 632,000 KRW, up 0.48% compared to the previous day. After dropping 9.44% on the first day of the Lineage W release on the 4th, falling to the 500,000 KRW range, it has gradually rebounded. Although the initial results were somewhat below expectations, the news of solid domestic and international performance has gradually attracted investor sentiment again.

In fact, on the 4th, Lineage W was simultaneously released in 12 countries including Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, as well as domestically. On the release day, the stock price remained down by about 10% throughout the trading session compared to the previous day. Immediately after release, server crashes and connection issues occurred, while the news that it entered 3rd place in the Apple iOS App Store sales ranking acted as a negative factor. In particular, on August 26th, the day the highly anticipated ‘Blade & Soul 2’ was released, the stock price fell more than 15%, causing the price, which had been in the 800,000 KRW range, to slump to the 600,000 KRW range within a few days, spreading renewed anxiety.

However, as the success news gradually spread, the stock price began to stabilize. On the third day after release, the 6th, it surpassed Kakao Games’ ‘Odin: Valhalla Rising’ to rank first in Google Play sales and also topped sales in Taiwan. As a result, the stock price, which had fallen to the 560,000 KRW range on the 4th, rose to the 630,000 KRW range.

Brokerage firms are also upgrading their investment opinions. Ebest Investment & Securities raised its investment rating from ‘Neutral (HOLD)’ to ‘Buy’. The target price was also raised by 15.6%, from 640,000 KRW to 740,000 KRW. Korea Investment & Securities also adjusted its rating from neutral to buy and set a target price as high as 920,000 KRW. Researcher Hoyoon Jung of Korea Investment & Securities explained, "The success of Lineage W this time is meaningful in that NCSoft has found a new model that reduces the payment model and strengthens gameplay, departing from its past successful formula of intellectual property (IP) influence and a strong monetization model."

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