NCSoft has released the figures for Q3 2021. These reveal the revenue figures of their games, including Blade and Soul, Aion, Lineage and also Guild Wars 2. The MMORPG from ArenaNet celebrated a very successful quarter without releasing a major content patch.
What do the figures say for Guild Wars 2? The Korean gaming company has published the revenue figures for the months of July, August, and September. Overall, things looked quite weak for NCSoft as they lost about 14% of their revenue compared to the previous year.
For us in the West, the figures of Guild Wars 2 are particularly interesting. And they were surprisingly positive.
The MMORPG generated a revenue of 19.11 billion Won or approximately 14.1 million Euros. This is the best value that the MMORPG has achieved since Q3 2018, at least when looking at Korean Won and US Dollars. However, the Euro has gained in value, which is why the Euro amount last year was even slightly higher.
How did Guild Wars 2 achieve this? Mainly due to the hype surrounding the new expansion End of Dragons, which was officially presented in July and is set to be released in early 2022. The developers have largely forgone new playable content throughout Q3 2021.
- Only the update around the Twisted Marionette, an old boss that was brought back into the game was released.
- Otherwise, the developers relied on familiar events such as the Festival of the Four Winds or the bonus weeks of the old episodes of the Living World.
- Additionally, there were first beta events around the new expansion.
Apparently, the hype around End of Dragons was enough to bring many players back or encourage them to spend their money.
Are the revenues from EoD not included in the quarterly report? Although pre-orders for End of Dragons started with the announcement in July, ArenaNet has always included pre-orders in the fourth quarter.
This was already the case at the release in 2012, where the biggest spike was in Q4 of the year, about 2 months after release. The Heart of Thorns expansion could also be pre-ordered in June 2015 (thus Q2). However, the highest revenue point is only seen in Q4. The same is true for Path of Fire, which was released in Q3 2017 but saw its spike later.
Strong decline especially in PC MMORPGs, upswing in Lineage 2M
Who are the losers at NCSoft?
- Blade & Soul has seen a significant decline compared to the previous year. The figures dropped by more than 40%, which is particularly difficult because the new engine update was released in Korea in June. This was supposed to provide a boost for the MMORPG. At the beginning of September, the engine update was also released in the West, but it did not create any hype here either. The new classes that come every year seem no longer sufficient for players.
- Lineage 1 is considered something like WoW in Korea because it has existed for decades and is still actively played and developed. However, in the last two quarters, the figures have dropped significantly. The successor Lineage 2 was able to maintain its figures in the shown period.
- The mobile game Lineage M has been hit the hardest. It was a major hit in 2017 and generated 2 billion dollars in revenue within 2 years. However, the figures almost halved between Q3 2020 and 2021. The reason for the decline is likely the success of Lineage 2M as well as a generally lower interest in Lineage 1, on which the mobile game is based.
Who are the winners at NCSoft? In addition to Guild Wars 2, there were two other winners when comparing the figures from the previous year:
- Aion has significantly increased in 2021, nearly doubling its revenue figures compared to 2020. This is mainly due to the Classic servers launched in Korea and America. In Europe, Gameforge has so far refrained from these servers. However, the classic servers are also considered pay-to-win, so a release here would likely flop.
- Lineage 2M has slightly improved its figures compared to the previous year and is currently the most successful game in NCSoft’s portfolio.
What does the future hold for NCSoft? In Q3, the new mobile MMORPG Blade & Soul 2 was released. However, it was so pay-to-win that it even triggered a shitstorm in Korea. The developers reacted quickly, but the game does not seem to become a major hit at this point.
In 2022, the release of End of Dragons in Guild Wars 2 is approaching.
Moreover, players are hoping for Project TL, which now likely goes by the name TL: Origin. This is a new MMORPG in isometric perspective, comparable to Lost Ark. The game is said to have cost a lot of money in development and is set to be released for PC and consoles:
New €75 million MMORPG is set to come for PC, PS5, Xbox Series X – Looks like Diablo
