Nexon Posts Record-High Revenue Last Year, Boosted by Hit New and Existing Titles

Sales boosted by the success of "Ark Raiders"
About 130 billion won in revenue lost due to refunds over probability controversy

Nexon achieved its highest-ever annual revenue last year, driven by the growth of both its existing and new intellectual properties (IP). Nexon has announced that it plans to sustain this growth trajectory by continuing to discover and develop new IPs.

Nexon logo. Provided by Nexon.

Nexon disclosed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on the 12th that its revenue for last year was 475.1 billion yen (about 4.5072 trillion won), up 6% from the previous year. Operating profit was 124 billion yen (about 1.1765 trillion won), decreasing by less than 1% over the same period. Net profit for the year came to 92.1 billion yen (about 873.3 billion won), down 32% year-on-year. Revenue in the fourth quarter of last year was 123.6 billion yen (about 1.1606 trillion won), an increase of 55% compared to the same period a year earlier. Operating profit turned to the black at 7.2 billion yen (about 67.4 billion won).

The success of the new shooting game "Ark Raiders," which was launched globally in October last year, contributed to the revenue growth. Thanks to the strong performance of Ark Raiders, revenue in North America and Europe in the fourth quarter of last year rose 364% compared to the same period a year earlier. Ark Raiders sold 10 million copies within two months of its release and won the "Best Multiplayer Game Award" at The Game Awards, considered the world's largest game awards ceremony, in December last year. As of this month, cumulative sales have reached 14 million copies.

Nexon Ark Raiders. Provided by Nexon

Existing IPs also showed growth. In Korea, MapleStory’s revenue in the fourth quarter of last year increased by 14% year-on-year, marking four consecutive quarters of double-digit growth. In Western markets, revenue in the fourth quarter of last year grew by 24%, achieving the best performance on record. Thanks to the global launch of MapleStory Worlds, annual revenue from the MapleStory franchise increased by 43% compared to the previous year.

Based on its expanding revenue in Western markets and the global expansion of its key IPs, Nexon expects to post record first-quarter results this year. The company also plans to focus on securing IPs that will drive future growth. On the 6th of this month, Nexon officially launched the mobile and PC versions of the hybrid ocean adventure game "Dave the Diver" in China. In addition, it plans to release the large-scale survival title "Project DX," the multiplayer player-versus-player-versus-environment (PvPvE) zombie survival game "Paradise: LAST PARADISE," and the open-world action RPG "Dungeon&Fighter: Arad."

Lee Jungheon, CEO of Nexon Japan, said, "The successful launch of Ark Raiders last year demonstrated Nexon's global competitiveness," adding, "We will pursue the continued growth of our existing franchises and actively discover many new IPs."

Nexon's idle game Meipeul Kiugi. Provided by Nexon

Meanwhile, along with its earnings announcement, Nexon released a letter to investors and disclosed the amount of revenue lost due to the probability controversy surrounding the idle game "Meipeul Kiugi." Nexon Japan stated, "The expected impact of the refund measures was reflected in the fourth-quarter results last year, leading to a decrease of about 9 billion yen in revenue and about 4 billion yen in operating profit," and added, "We also reflected a negative impact of 5 billion yen on revenue and 3 billion yen on operating profit in our outlook for the first quarter of this year." In total, when converted into Korean currency, this represents a reduction of approximately 131.796 billion won in revenue and 65.9253 billion won in operating profit. On January 28, Nexon announced that, in response to the controversy over the maximum-stat probability of ability options in Meipeul Kiugi, it would refund in full all amounts paid by users since the game’s launch.

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