This second half of the year will see a clash of new releases from major game companies. While Kakao Games' "Odin: Valhalla Rising" has dominated the market, the 3N (NCSoft, Netmarble, Nexon) have lined up their ambitious titles, heightening the competitive atmosphere in the gaming industry among these "big players."
3N's New Releases Coming One After Another
According to the gaming industry on the 3rd, NCSoft will release "Blade & Soul 2 (B&S2)" on the 26th, with CEO Kim Taek-jin personally leading the development. After yielding the position of the Lineage series to "Odin," NCSoft is aiming to counterattack with B&S2. B&S2 is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that continues the story of the original game released in 2012, featuring a new combat system as its strength. Users can experience a three-dimensional (3D) world where they can explore every visible area, and combat can utilize all terrains and objects. CEO Kim expressed confidence, saying, "We developed it with the goal of reaching the pinnacle in terms of action."
Nexon is targeting not only mobile and PC games but also the console market in the second half of the year. After the success of new titles like "The Kingdom of the Winds: Yeon" and "KartRider: Rush Plus" last year, Nexon will enter the console market with "KartRider Drift," which supports PC and consoles. They are also preparing to launch "Konosuba Mobile," developed based on Japanese animation, and the animation-style PC online game "KurtzPel." Notably, Nexon will conduct an alpha test for the new title "Project HP" starting on the 5th. A Nexon official said, "'Project HP' is a new original intellectual property (IP) developed by the new development division," adding, "It is a AAA-level (large-scale) game made for the latest generation platforms." On the same day, Nexon Korea CEO Lee Jung-heon will personally reveal the company's self-developed projects and management direction.
Netmarble will officially launch the new mobile role-playing game (RPG) "Marvel Future Revolution" on the 25th in over 240 countries worldwide, including Korea. "Marvel Future Revolution" is the second collaboration between Netmarble and Marvel. Developed by Netmarble Monster, which gained global experience through "Marvel Future Fight," enjoyed by over 120 million players worldwide, the game involved over 200 personnel over three years. The game features eight superhero characters, including "Captain America," "Captain Marvel," "Spider-Man," "Black Widow," "Iron Man," "Doctor Strange," "Star-Lord," and "Storm." The company stated that each hero has diverse characteristics in terms of skills and combat concepts, allowing for exciting battles.
Can They Boost Their Sluggish Performance?
In the second quarter, these game companies' performances are expected to have worsened due to delays in new releases. According to financial information firm FnGuide, the 3N's second-quarter results are projected to fall short of market expectations. NCSoft's second-quarter sales and operating profit are estimated at 511 billion KRW and 133 billion KRW, respectively, representing decreases of 5% and 36% compared to the previous year. This is due to the postponement of the B&S2 release from the first half to the second half and the reversal of sales rankings between Lineage M·2M and "Odin." However, with 7.46 million pre-registrations for B&S2, there is a high expectation that NCSoft will mount a comeback. Kim Chang-kwon, a researcher at Mirae Asset Securities, said, "B&S2's average daily sales in the third quarter will reach 5 billion KRW."
Nexon also saw a natural decline in sales as it did not release new titles in the first half of the year. Nexon's second-quarter performance estimates are sales of 610 billion KRW (59.6 billion yen) and operating profit of 167.7 billion KRW (16.4 billion yen), down 8% and 39% year-on-year, respectively. Netmarble's second-quarter sales and operating profit are expected to be 624.9 billion KRW and 48.5 billion KRW, respectively, down 8.9% and 40.6% from the previous year. However, with the full reflection of sales from "The Second Country," released in June, in the third quarter, performance is expected to recover.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
