Webzen Reports Operating Profit of 83 Billion KRW Last Year, Down 19% Due to New Game Delays

[Asia Economy Reporter Yuri Choi] Webzen recorded poor performance last year due to delays in new game releases.

On the 16th, Webzen announced that its 2022 revenue was 242.1 billion KRW, a 14.96% decrease compared to the previous year. Operating profit was 83 billion KRW, and net profit was 72.3 billion KRW, down 19.33% and 16.7%, respectively.

In the fourth quarter alone, revenue was 43.1 billion KRW, a 37.26% decline year-on-year. Operating profit and net profit were 17.6 billion KRW and 14.2 billion KRW, falling 32.5% and 37.1%, respectively.

Last year’s performance was affected by delays in new game releases. Although the game development subsidiary had been developing seven new games, the development schedule was delayed due to COVID-19 and other factors.

Webzen has finalized its 2023 business plan to publish new games from partner companies that it has steadily secured. It is also accelerating the establishment of business schedules for self-developed games whose information will be disclosed starting in the second half of the year.

Currently, the games that Webzen has completed publishing contracts with partner companies and is preparing to release domestically this year include more than three genre games such as collection-type role-playing games (RPGs) and massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). Webzen is collaborating with various domestic and international developers and has completed business schedule negotiations with each developer to disclose game information externally starting in the first half of the year.

Subsidiary development projects are progressing in line with the plan to disclose game information in the second half of the year.

‘Webzen Nova’s’ collection-type RPG ‘Project W’ is expected to be the first to be introduced to the market. ‘Project W’ is a new game aiming for a ‘2D Japanimation-style collection RPG.’ It is regarded as a highly anticipated title and a hit game intellectual property (IP) based on internal testing.

Attention is also focused on the new game from the subsidiary ‘Webzen Star,’ where Kim Nam-joo, the original creator and Chief Creative Director (CCD) of ‘MU Online (MU),’ has returned to active development. Although specific game information has not yet been disclosed, the project name has been confirmed as ‘Project G.’ It is an RPG developed using Unreal Engine 5.

The new game from the subsidiary ‘Webzen Redcore,’ which released the hit game ‘R2M,’ is also considered a growth driver. Based on the development and release experience of the main development team of ‘R2M,’ the game is being developed using Unreal Engine 5 with the goal of expanded content and enhanced gameplay.

Other subsidiaries are also developing games in casual and RPG genres. Information on each game will be disclosed externally according to the business schedule.

Webzen will continue research and investment to expand game platforms, including the console market and cross-platforms, and to advance publishing technology. The sourcing specialist team ‘Unicorn Task Force (TF)’ will continue to discover new games and secure partners with future technologies.

Kim Tae-young, CEO of Webzen, said, “The release of new games that we have invested in and focused on will become visible sequentially this year. We will concentrate on finalizing tasks such as game quality inspection for market competitiveness and devising business and investment strategies to increase the hit potential of new games.”