Profits and sales up at NCsoft

The MMO specialist has released its financial results for the quarter ended March 31st, in which both profits and sales were up.

On a consolidated basis, sales came to $84.3 million, (88.1 billion Korean Won) operating income of US $18.9 million (KRW 19.7 billion), and net profit of US $7.7 million (KRW 8.1 billion). Operating profit showed significant improvements quarter over quarter (63 per cent) and year over year (16 per cent).

NCsoft puts its success down to the continued 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.

The MMO publisher also revealed that it took 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 per cent quarter over quarter and 43 per cent year over year.

By region, sales broke down as follows:

– South Korea: US $47.7 million (KRW 49.8 billion)
– North America: US $10.4 million (KRW 10.9 billion)
– Europe: US $8.5 million (KRW 8.9 billion)
– Japan: US $9.2 million (KRW 9.6 billion)
– Taiwan: US $2.7 million (KRW 2.8 billion)

The percentage breakdown of sales by region shows 57 per cent in Korea, 12 per cent in North America, 10 per cent in Europe, 11 per cent in Japan, 3 per cent in Taiwan and 7 per cent from royalty income.

NCsoft also revealed sales figures for each title, which were as follows:
– Lineage: US $27.8 million (KRW 29 billion)
– Lineage II: US $34.1 million (KRW 35.7 billion)
– City of Heroes/City of Villains: US $5.2 million (KRW 5.4 billion)
– Guild Wars: US $9.1 million (KRW 9.5 billion)

The percentage breakdown of sales by game title shows 35 per cent from Lineage, 43 per cent from Lineage II , 7 per cent from City of Heroes/City of Villains and 12 per cent 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 title 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.