First Half Sales of 1.3729 Trillion KRW, Operating Profit of 642.6 Billion KRW
Q2 Sales of 707 Billion KRW, Operating Profit of 332.1 Billion KRW
"Sustained Growth Expected in Q3"
Crafton's flagship IP (intellectual property), 'Battlegrounds,' continues to enjoy global popularity. As global success persists, the company set a new record for quarterly revenue in the second quarter, following the first quarter.
On the 12th, Crafton announced that its consolidated revenue for the second quarter of this year reached 707 billion KRW, an 83% increase compared to the same period last year, marking the highest quarterly revenue ever. Operating profit was 332.1 billion KRW, a 153% increase year-over-year.
For the first half of the year, cumulative revenue was 1.3729 trillion KRW, and operating profit was 642.6 billion KRW. Both revenue and operating profit represent the highest half-year performance in history.
Crafton’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Bae Dong-geun, said during the earnings conference call, "Through various live services utilizing the 'Battlegrounds' IP, we maintained solid growth across all areas including revenue and traffic," adding, "Even looking at just July, the performance was record-breaking. We expect to continue competitive growth in the third quarter."
Battlegrounds received positive responses from users worldwide through various content such as map updates and collaborations, resulting in increased traffic and revenue efficiency compared to the same period last year.
In the PC and console segment, traffic growth continued centered on the Erangel Classic map service and the NewJeans collaboration. Monthly active users (MAU) grew by about 40% year-over-year, and paying users more than doubled. Growth is expected to continue in the second half of the year with in-game updates such as the Lamborghini collaboration.
In the mobile segment, 'Battlegrounds Mobile' and 'Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI)' have consistently received positive responses through localized content, and visible growth continues through the advancement of monetization models. 'Battlegrounds Mobile' saw significant contributions to traffic and revenue from collaborations with popular Middle Eastern actors and growth-oriented costume skins, while BGMI is acquiring new users through the UC Bonus Challenge and collaborations with popular local cricket teams.
Crafton is preparing two titles, Dark and Darker Mobile and Enjoy, aiming for release this year. Both titles will be showcased at Gamescom in Germany at the end of this month to gauge reactions from Western users.
Regarding the development status of Dark and Darker Mobile, CFO Bae said, "The second test of Dark and Darker Mobile attracted far more users than expected and was positively received," adding, "After showcasing at Gamescom in Germany, we plan to enhance the game's completeness based on the second test results and expand to a soft launch in Canada in October and a global release in the fourth quarter."
About Enjoy, he said, "Recently, various competing titles or new IPs (life simulation) have not emerged," and "There is news that development of competing titles with similar gameplay has ended, which creates a relatively positive environment for Enjoy."
The refund and compensation issue related to the NewJeans collaboration products, which had raised financial concerns, has also been resolved. CFO Bae explained, "Data confirmed that a significant number of users who refunded NewJeans collaboration products from Battlegrounds revenue repurchased them," adding, "We were worried and concerned about the financial impact of refunds and compensations, but the competitiveness of the content was so high that users repurchased."
Crafton plans to accelerate equity investments and new IP discovery to diversify platforms and genres. Since 2021, it has invested in a total of 27 companies, including 14 in North America and 8 in Europe, expanding the genres of secured games to shooters, RPGs, simulations, and more. This month, it recruited the development team of Japanese game developer Tango Gameworks.
Game quality improvement based on artificial intelligence (AI) research and technology is also ongoing. In the first half of this year, ReLU Games, a subsidiary of Crafton, introduced two games utilizing AI, receiving positive responses from famous streamers and users. In the second half, new titles using reinforcement learning and large language models (LLM) are being prepared.
CFO Bae said, "We plan to discover original games and IPs and create steadily growing services through continuous improvement and content updates," adding, "We will expand the Battlegrounds franchise business and discover IPs with high growth potential through various methods such as in-house development, minority equity investments, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A)."
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