[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] NCSoft (hereinafter NC) is tightening its belt from the new year. The company plans to focus on its core business of game development and undergo structural reform.
Despite decent performance last year, harsh cuts everywhere in the new year
On the 7th, the securities market forecasted NC's sales last year to be 2.57 trillion KRW and operating profit to be 570 billion KRW. In particular, operating profit increased by 200 billion KRW compared to the previous year due to the popularity of the flagship Lineage series. This is a commendable performance, ranking among the top game companies.
Nevertheless, NC is accelerating work efficiency through organizational restructuring and personnel reallocation from the new year. This is because the sales of the Lineage series, which led the overall performance last year, have noticeably declined.
Although the Lineage series still maintains high popularity in Korea, users are increasingly resistant to the P2W (Pay to Win) structure. Also, the term ‘Lineage-hyang’ (Lineage-like) has emerged as more games resembling Lineage have appeared, reducing its competitiveness.
In response, NC's strategy is to focus on game development. Last year, after two years of business promotion, it sold the fandom platform ‘Universe’ to DearU, a subsidiary of SM Entertainment. About 70 employees affiliated with Universe are currently undergoing a reallocation program. Some employees have left the company voluntarily or involuntarily.
Additionally, NC's North American subsidiary NC West is laying off about 20% of its non-development staff. CEO Jeffrey Anderson has also left the company. The development subsidiary Ntreev Soft, after 11 consecutive years of losses, began organizational restructuring last year. It is known that more than 60% of employees will leave, leaving only the minimum staff necessary for maintaining existing games.
'TL' Launch Imminent... Kim Taek-jin's Leadership on the Test Bench
NC is undergoing structural reform through its new title ‘Throne and Liberty’ (hereinafter TL). TL targets the global market including North America and Europe and will be released on PC and console platforms in the first half of the year.
TL is expected to be an important opportunity to reevaluate CEO Kim Taek-jin's leadership. It is NC's first console game, and Kim himself has been deeply involved in its development. Especially, the success of TL is crucial for NC to shed the perception of being a game company only for ‘Linjeossi’ (Lineage + ajeossi, meaning middle-aged men who play Lineage).
NC emphasized that TL adopts a different monetization model from existing Lineage titles to target Western markets. In Korea and other Asian regions, a partial free-to-play model suited to MMORPGs is dominant. However, TL's monetization system was designed based on global market universality rather than Asia. The main competitor for TL in the same genre is Blizzard Entertainment's new PC and console title ‘Diablo 4’, scheduled for release on June 6 next year.
TL will conduct a ‘Final Test’ for general users at the Pangyo R&D Center on the 21st and 22nd. Since the game will be open to the public, TL's launch appears to be in its final stages.
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