Kakao Games Joins the '1 Trillion Won Club' in Annual Sales Riding the Success Wave of 'Odin'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Kakao Games achieved its highest performance since its founding last year, joining the '1 trillion won club' in annual sales. The success of the mobile PC game ‘Odin: Valhalla Rising’ and growth in the non-gaming sector drove the strong results.

Kakao Games announced on the 9th that it recorded consolidated sales of 1.0125 trillion won and operating profit of 114.3 billion won last year. These figures represent increases of 104% and 72%, respectively, compared to the previous year. In the fourth quarter of last year, sales rose 102% year-on-year to 286.7 billion won, and operating profit increased 189% to 47.9 billion won.

A Kakao Games official explained the results by saying, "They are the combined outcome of the new release of Odin and the additional revenue from the non-gaming sector."

The mobile game sector achieved sales of 754.9 billion won, up 203% year-on-year, driven by the success of ‘Odin’ and the performance of mobile games expanding overseas. The PC online game sector recorded sales of 107.1 billion won, down about 42% from the previous year.

Other revenue, boosted by the continuous growth of subsidiaries such as Kakao VX, increased 140% year-on-year to 150.5 billion won, setting a record high and contributing to the overall sales increase.

Following the slogan ‘Kakao Games Season 2’ for this year, Kakao Games plans to release more than 10 new games in domestic and overseas markets and sequentially unveil ‘Beyond Game’ projects.

They are preparing to launch the hit title ‘Uma Musume Pretty Derby’ domestically, including Odin’s entry into the Taiwanese market in the first half of the year, and plan to release various genre games such as the PC online survival game ‘Distera’, the mobile side-scrolling game ‘Gadis Order’, the mobile collection RPG ‘Eversoul’, and the project ‘Ares (tentative)’ in domestic and global markets.

Additionally, Kakao Games will expand into new business areas with the renewed blockchain project ‘BORA 2.0’ through the Bora Network. Bora Network is a global blockchain platform company that offers various content services including games, sports, and entertainment, and plans to expand the ‘BORA 2.0’ ecosystem environment. In this regard, the subsidiary Friends Games has changed its name to ‘MetaBORA’ and decided to focus its capabilities on blockchain and metaverse businesses.

Joye Hyun, CEO of Kakao Games, said, "This year, we will gradually unveil various genre games that capture the attention of domestic and international users with Kakao Games’ unique strengths in the gaming sector. We will do our best to create new value in the ‘Beyond Game’ area and further strengthen our competitiveness in the global market."

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