Korean game maker NCSoft generated 547.9 billion won ($431.4 million) in sales revenue in Q4 2022, representing a 28% decline year-on-year.
The company’s latest financial report also shows that the company saw a sharp decline in operating profit, which stood at 47.4 billion won ($37.3 million), representing a 57% decline from the same period in 2022.
Mobile games generated 69.6% of NCSoft’s total sales revenue for the quarter at 381 billion won ($300 million.) The Lineage franchise continued to be an exceptional performer for the company, with Lineage W in particular generating 177 billion won ($139.3 million) in revenue, more than the combined total for online PC games during the same period.
Sales within Korea accounted for 337 billion won ($262.5 million) in Q4, 61.5% of the total. Asia came in second place at 23.5%, with 129 billion won ($100.5 million).
A lineage of success
While Q4 saw some notable decreases year-on-year, NCSoft excelled over the year as a whole, with increases across several key metrics. Notably, the company reported year-on-year increases in several key metrics: 11% in sales revenue, 49% in operating profit, 27% in pre-tax income, and 14% in net income.
Sales revenue for the full year stood at 2,571.8 billion won ($2 billion), which notably represents not only an 11% increase from 2021 but a 6.4% increase from 2020, showing that NCSoft has managed to weather the economic downturn following the Covid boom.
Mobile gaming was by and large the most profitable branch for the company, generating 1,934.3 billion won ($1.52 billion) in sales revenue, accounting for 75% of the total. This represents an increase of 20 percent from 2021 (1,611 billion, or $1.26 billion), but a 15% increase from 2020 (1,678 billion, or $1.32 billion.)
NCSoft attributes much of the success of its mobile arm, again, to Lineage W. The company generated 1,624.6 billion won ($1.28 billion) in Korea in 2022 and, while the company saw success in numerous markets, Asia came in second place at 625.2 billion won ($492.3 million.) This represents an increase of 49 percent from 446.9 billion won ($352 million) in 2021, and a massive 589% increase from 90,708 billion won ($71.4 million) in 2020.
Notably, the company released Lineage W simultaneously in 12 different Asian countries, which it credits with this significant increase from previous years.
We listed NCSoft as one of the top 50 mobile game makers of 2022.