[Click eStock] "NCSoft, Market Concerns Overblown... Top Domestic Market Presence with Flagship Titles"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] NH Investment & Securities maintained its 'Buy' rating on NCSOFT on the 15th, setting a target price of 640,000 KRW.

NH Investment & Securities considers the market concerns surrounding NCSOFT to be excessive. Recent worries about intensified competition and poor performance are not at a level to cause significant concern.

Starting with the E3 game show held in June next year in Los Angeles, many global game companies are scheduled to unveil new titles. These include The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (May 12), Armored Core 6 (June 2), Diablo 4 (June 6), Final Fantasy 16 (June 22), and Starfield (first half of the year).

Ahn Jae-min, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, stated, "Competition is fierce regardless of when a game is released, and in the case of TL, since it is an MMORPG, it does not completely overlap with other games."

Although NCSOFT's performance decline is inevitable, it is not at a level to cause major concern. Fourth-quarter sales are expected to be 555.6 billion KRW, and operating profit 84.5 billion KRW, down 26.5% and 22.8% respectively compared to the same period last year.

Researcher Ahn said, "The decline in sales of Lineage W, which was released over a year ago, and the inevitable sales decline of existing games like Lineage M, which performed well throughout this year, are known performance downturns," adding, "Given that Lineage M, Lineage W, and Lineage 2M still rank among the top in the domestic game market, there is no need for significant concern."

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