NC "Securing New IP for Global Expansion... Focusing on Management Efficiency in the First Half"

NCSoft announced that it will target the global market not only with its own intellectual property (IP) but also by acquiring new IPs or licenses.

Hong Won-jun, NCSoft's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), stated during the Q4 2023 earnings conference call on the 8th, "If we had only aimed to target the global market with our own IP, now we have a strategy to target it through acquiring new IPs or licenses," adding, "Overseas, PC and consoles are also important, and we are diversifying our business models (BM)."

He also said, "We are focusing our investment direction on expanding into Western and Southeast Asian markets," and "We are putting effort and time into mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and this year we will show tangible results." Furthermore, he mentioned, "We hold about 1.9 trillion KRW in cash equivalents and have many assets such as real estate that can be liquidated," and "We will proceed with M&A and IP acquisitions at various levels."

CFO Hong also explained about the currently developing Aion 2 and LLL (tentative name). He emphasized, "Aion 2 is a new IP that inherits the successful IP Aion," and "Since it is our most important IP, the entire company is making efforts." He added, "LLL is important to NCSoft and represents a new genre," and "We plan to conduct external testing this year and will have the development team communicate directly."

CFO Hong stressed that management efficiency will continue. He said, "We have implemented company-wide cost reductions, and since we are in the initial stages, there will be additional cost savings in many areas this year," and "Management efficiency has been pursued since last year and will be focused on intensively in the first half of this year."

Additionally, NCSoft is preparing for the global service of Amazon and Throne and Liberty (TL), which is scheduled to be released this year, but considering competing titles, the schedule will be decided by Amazon.

Meanwhile, NCSoft announced yesterday that it recorded consolidated sales of 1.7798 trillion KRW and an operating profit of 137.3 billion KRW last year. Compared to the previous year, sales decreased by 30.8% and operating profit by 75.4%. In Q4 last year, sales were 437.7 billion KRW, down 20.1% year-on-year, and operating profit was 3.9 billion KRW, down 91.9%.

Regarding these results, NCSoft explained, "Sales and profits declined due to the downward stabilization of mobile game sales."