Driving Earnings Surprises Since Q4 Last Year
Maintaining Daily Sales of 3 Billion Won in Q2
'Chronicle III Age of Abundance' Update on the 24th
[Asia Economy Reporter Jin-gyu Lee] NCSoft (hereafter NC)'s mobile blockbuster 'Lineage 2M' has reached its 200th day of service. Lineage 2M, along with its sibling title 'Lineage M,' has maintained the top 1-2 positions in Google Play revenue rankings for seven consecutive months. To continue this momentum into the second half of the year, a large-scale content update is planned. NC is also expected to target the global market in the latter half of the year.
According to the gaming industry on the 13th, Lineage 2M, which was launched on November 27 last year, is estimated to have an average daily revenue in the 3 billion KRW range for the second quarter. Developed based on NC's flagship PC game 'Lineage 2' intellectual property (IP), Lineage 2M set a domestic record with 7.38 million pre-registrations, generating high expectations even before its release.
Since its launch, it has held the number one spot in Google Play revenue rankings starting December 1 last year, just four days after release. Considering that it only briefly ceded the top spot to Lineage M for a few days, it has firmly established itself as the undisputed mobile gaming king in Korea. Leveraging its strong market share in the domestic mobile game market, it also ranked first in global Google Play game revenue in the first quarter of this year.
As a result, Lineage 2M has driven NC's strong performance since the fourth quarter of last year. It recorded an average daily revenue of 6 billion KRW in the early stages, delivering an earnings surprise for NC in both the fourth quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year. Even after seven months since its release, it continues to post an average daily revenue in the 3 billion KRW range, indicating strong performance for the second quarter as well. Choi Jin-sung, a researcher at Hyundai Motor Securities, said, "With Lineage 2M's average daily revenue expected to be 3 billion KRW in the second quarter, it will meet consensus estimates. Through a large-scale update, a gradual stabilization with a slow decline is expected in the third quarter."
Meanwhile, NC will celebrate the 200th day of Lineage 2M's launch with a large-scale content update titled 'Chronicle III: Age of Abundance.' The strategy is to extend the successful momentum from the fourth quarter of last year through the second half of this year. The update on the 24th will introduce the 'Aden' territory, a new class 'Spear,' and a new server 'Vayum.' NC is conducting a pre-registration event for the update until the 23rd.
Starting from the 24th, NC will also gift all game users with 'TJ’s Coupon.' Through this coupon, users can restore one rare or higher-grade equipment item that was lost due to enhancement failure in the past. NC plans to launch Lineage 2M in the global market within this year.
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