NCSoft has published its financial report for the second quarter of 2016, from which some interesting developments in the MMOs can be derived.
On the one hand, the financial situation of the company appears quite stable. After the third quarter of 2015 was a rather poor one for the company’s operating profit, it has been able to generate more profit in each quarter since then. This is 86.1 billion KRW (approximately 70 million Euros) in the second quarter of 2016, which represents a growth of 14 percent compared to the previous quarter and a growth of 28 percent compared to the same quarter of the previous year. However, player sales figures remained the same compared to the last quarter. Only compared to the same quarter of the previous year was there an increase of 11 percent.
*Profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
Wildstar is recovering again
The strongest revenue driver in NC Soft’s portfolio remains the classic Lineage. Blade & Soul has remained at a high level since its launch in Europe and the USA, and Wildstar also benefited from its launch on Steam. The losers in the field are AION and Guild Wars 2, both of which have had significant losses compared to the previous quarter.
It is assumed that the loss in Guild Wars 2 is due to the fact that too much time has passed between the release of the addon Heart of Thorns at the end of October last year and the start of season three of the Living Story at the end of July this year, causing many players to drop off. It may therefore be that Guild Wars 2 will recover again in the current quarter. The situation with AION is a bit more complicated, as NC Soft claims that regular updates have been released. However, the company still considers the numbers to be stable. Should the downward trend for the MMORPG continue, the company will have to come up with something here.
In general, NC Soft can actually be pleased with the figures from the last quarter. A rising profit and relatively stable sales figures do not indicate major problems with the online games.
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