Stock Price Hits 970,000 Won After One Month
Probability-Based Item Regulations and Labor Cost Increases Already Reflected in Stock Price
Expectations Rise with Consecutive New Releases After Overcoming Negative Factors
[Asia Economy Reporter Minwoo Lee] NCSoft's stock, which had been sluggish throughout this month, is showing signs of a rebound. Since negative factors such as regulations on probability-based items and increased labor costs have already been reflected in the stock price, it is analyzed that only the expectation of improved performance from the successive release of new titles remains.
As of 9:05 a.m. on the 17th, NCSoft's stock price recorded 972,000 KRW, up 1.89% from the previous day. This is the highest price this month. Surpassing 970,000 KRW for the first time in about a month, it seems to be breaking out of the recent slump.
Previously, on the 3rd of last month, NCSoft became the first ever to surpass 1,000,000 KRW based on the closing price, earning the title of 'Emperor Stock.' On the 8th of the same month, the upward trend continued, reaching an all-time high of 1,048,000 KRW. At that time, LG Household & Health Care was the only company with a higher stock price than NCSoft.
The mood began to reverse from the end of last month. On the 22nd of last month alone, the closing price fell by 6.62%. This was the largest single-day drop since August 20th of last year, when it fell by 6.90%. This reflected concerns that if regulations requiring mandatory disclosure of the types and probabilities of probability-based items are introduced under the comprehensive amendment to the Game Industry Promotion Act currently being promoted in the National Assembly, performance could deteriorate. Additionally, concerns about performance worsened due to costs such as a uniform 13 million KRW annual salary increase for developers and a special performance bonus of 8 million KRW for all employees. As a result, the stock price remained sluggish for about a month. On the 8th, it even dropped to an intraday yearly low of 926,000 KRW.
The recent rebound is interpreted as renewed expectations for sales growth as various negative factors have already been reflected in the stock price and the release of new titles is imminent. Starting with the release of 'Lineage 2M' in Taiwan and Japan on the 24th, 'TricksterM (March 26)' and 'Pro Baseball H3 (April)' are lined up. In May, the most anticipated title of the year, 'Blade & Soul 2,' is scheduled for release. Based on this, it is expected that three NCSoft games could dominate the top 1 to 3 spots in the Apple App Store sales rankings.
Jaemin Ahn, a researcher at NH Investment & Securities, said, "Since last month, negative factors such as the disclosure of probability rates for probability-based items starting with Nexon and the possibility of amendments to related laws, as well as the wage increase trend across the game industry, seem to have already been reflected in the stock price," adding, "Most of these negative factors will disappear along with the success of new games."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
