|
NCsoft Reports First Quarter 2008 Financial Results
(Wireless News Via Acquire Media NewsEdge)
NCsoft Corp. this week announced financial results for the quarter
ended March 31.
In a release, the company noted that on a consolidated basis, sales
came to KRW (Korean Won) 88.1 billion (US $84.3 million), operating
income of KRW 19.7 billion (US $18.9 million), and net profit of KRW
8.1 billion (US $7.7 million). Operating profit showed significant
improvements quarter over quarter (63 percent ) and year over year (16
percent ).
Popularity of the Lineage series in Asia, sustained sales of Guild Wars
and City of Heroes in North America and Europe, and a decrease in
expenses such as advertising and other variable sales costs were some
of the primary reasons for the increase in operating income. Of note in
Q1 2008, Lineage II reached record-high sales since its 2003 release.
In Q1 2008, NCsoft decided to take a one time write-off expense for the
advanced development costs associated with the Spacetime Studios
project, after determining the project did not fit into the company s
core development plan. That left a net profit decrease of 22 percent
quarter over quarter and 43 percent year over year. However, excluding
the write-off expenses, net profit would be KRW 15.2 billion (US $14.5
million) an increase of 48 percent quarter over quarter and 8 percent
from the same quarter last year.
By region, sales came to KRW 49.8 billion (US $47.7 million) in South
Korea, KRW 10.9 billion (US $10.4 million) in North America, KRW 8.9
billion (US $8.5 million) in Europe, KRW 9.6 billion (US $9.2 million)
in Japan, KRW 2.8 billion (US $2.7 million) in Taiwan, and KRW 6
billion (US $5.7 million) in royalty income. The percentage breakdown
of sales by region shows 57 percent in Korea, 12 percent in North
America, 10 percent in Europe, 11 percent in Japan, 3 percent in Taiwan
and 7 percent from royalty income.
By game title, sales came to KRW 29 billion (US $27.8 million) from
Lineage, KRW 35.7 billion (US $34.1 million) from Lineage II, KRW 5.4
billion (US $5.2 million) from City of Heroes/City of Villains and KRW
9.5 billion (US $9.1 million) from Guild Wars. The percentage breakdown
of sales by game title shows 35 percent from Lineage, 43 percent from
Lineage II , 7 percent from City of Heroes/City of Villains and 12
percent from Guild Wars.
NCsoft CFO Jaeho Lee said, As proven once again in the Q1 financial
results, we strongly believe our key franchise products, such as
Lineage and Guild Wars, will meet our sales target with a strong
customer base and continued content updates going forward. And he
added, We plan to ensure the smooth launch of many new products in the
next two to three years, which will strengthen our position as a global
leader in online games.
This summer NCsoft plans to launch its third closed beta test of Aion
before formally launching the much anticipated product later in the
year. Casual online games such as Point Blank, Punch Monster,
Dragonica, and Love Beat are also scheduled for an official service
launch later in the year.
((Comments on this story may be sent to newsdesk@closeupmedia.com))
((Distributed on behalf of 10Meters via M2 Communications Ltd -
http://www.m2.com))
((10Meters - http://www.10meters.com))
Copyright ? 2008 Wireless News
[ Back To asia.tmcnet.com's Homepage ]
|
