Netmarble's Operating Profit Drops 43.2% Last Year... "Pandemic and New Game Release Delays Impact"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Netmarble announced on the 9th that it recorded consolidated sales of 2.5059 trillion KRW and operating profit of 154.5 billion KRW last year. Sales increased by 0.8% compared to the previous year, while operating profit decreased by 43.2%.

In the fourth quarter of last year, sales rose 20.4% year-on-year to 751.3 billion KRW, and operating profit fell 30.3% to 57.5 billion KRW. These figures reflect the performance of SpinX Games, which was acquired last year.

Overseas sales last year amounted to 1.84 trillion KRW, accounting for 73% of total sales. This was driven by the strong performance of SpinX Games’ titles as well as global releases of "Second Country," "The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross," and "Marvel Contest of Champions (Kabam)."

With the inclusion of SpinX Games’ lineup, the share of casual game sales increased from 22% to 40%. By genre, sales contributions were casual games (40%), MMORPG (26%), RPG (21%), and others (13%) in that order.

At the 5th NTP (Netmarble Together with Press) held on the 27th of last month, Netmarble raised expectations by unveiling a new business strategy themed around blockchain and the metaverse for a total of 20 major development lineups. Among the lineups revealed at NTP, titles such as "Seven Knights Revolution," "Netmarble Pro Baseball 2022," "Merge Kungya Island," and "BTS Dream: TinyTAN House" are scheduled for release in the first half of this year.

Additionally, starting next month, Netmarble plans to launch a total of six blockchain games, led by the global release of "A3: Still Alive," followed by "Golden Bros," "Second Country" global, "Monster Taming Arena," "Modoo Marble: Meta World," and "Champions: Ascension."

Netmarble CEO Kwon Young-sik stated, "In 2021, due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, changes in the working environment, and delays in new releases, we were unable to achieve the growth we initially targeted. This year, with many new titles showcased at NTP and the harmonious integration of new businesses such as the metaverse and blockchain, we will further strengthen our competitiveness in the global market."

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