Korean mobile game developer Netmarble saw a dip into the red this year as it reported EBITDA profits down by 57.6% compared to the year before.
It’s regulatory filing reported a net loss of 906.4 billion won ($716.9 million) for 2022, a major downward turn from the net profit of 249.2 billion reported just a year earlier.
In 2021, Netmarble reported its EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) at 302bn Korean Won ($236m). While in 2022 it slid down to 128bn ($100m), this is despite a slim increase of 6.6% in overall revenue.
Netmarble had ended 2021 in a good position, with 752bn Korean won ($587bn) in revenue for Q4 2021. However, 2022 began in a much bleaker fashion for them, with a drop to 632bn Korean won in Q1 2022. Although Netmarble ended the year in a much better position of 687bn Korean won of revenue in Q4 2022, it still marks an 8.8% decrease from Q4 of 2021.
Netmarble also saw 84% of their revenue coming from overseas, with only 16% from their native Korea. This is compared to a share of 27% for Korea and 74% for overseas the previous year.
Top performing titles
Netmarble noted that their top performing titles saw a fairly even distribution of revenue. With Marvel: Contest of Champions taking 13%, whilst Jackpot World took 9% and both Cash Frenzy and Lotsa Slots took 8% respectively. The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross was the lowest of the top five with only a 7% share.
Netmarble will be banking on a raft of new titles in 2023 to lift it out of the red, including Meta World: My City, Grand Cross W and Tower of God: New World in the first half of 2023. They’re also planning a number of other releases for as yet unannounced periods in 2023, such as the Chinese release of Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds and three other titles for that market.
However, as to whether the Chinese market will prove to be their saving grace, as it too took knocks from pandemic restrictions and regulatory oversights in 2022, is unclear.