Kakao Games' Operating Profit Down 91% Last Year... "No Major New Releases"

"Closed Beta Test for Chrono Odyssey Promised in the First Half of This Year"

Kakao Games announced on the 11th that its consolidated operating profit for last year was 6.5 billion KRW, a decrease of 91.3% compared to the previous year. Revenue was 738.8 billion KRW, down 27.93% year-on-year. However, the net loss narrowed to 121 billion KRW.

Operating loss in the fourth quarter of last year was 6.3 billion KRW, turning to a loss from an operating profit of 14.1 billion KRW in the same period of the previous year. Revenue and net loss were recorded at 160.1 billion KRW and 12.3 billion KRW, respectively.

The company explained that the significant decline in last year's performance compared to 2023 was due to the absence of major new releases. Additionally, Kakao Games stated that the exclusion of Senatechnology's stake sale from consolidation and the withdrawal of some businesses of Kakao VX have been reflected as discontinued operations from the third quarter of last year, resulting in a sharp decrease in performance.

This year, the company plans to diversify its portfolio by launching new games across various platforms including PC online, console, and mobile. For PC online and console platforms, open-world online action RPG 'Chrono Odyssey' and online action RPG 'ArcheAge Chronicle' are scheduled. On mobile platforms, titles such as Project Q, Guardians Order, Project C, a baseball simulation game (tentative title), and a casual game 'SM Game Station (tentative title)' utilizing SM Entertainment's idol intellectual property (IP) will be introduced.

CEO Han Sang-woo said during a conference call this morning, "We are striving to keep our promise to conduct a closed beta test (CBT) for Chrono Odyssey in the first half of this year. Internal testing has been conducted privately since this week." He added, "ArcheAge Chronicle will hold a small-scale closed user test around April, and we will definitely conduct the first CBT within the second half of this year."

Kakao Games will also intensify its global market expansion starting this year. CEO Han explained, "The market we have prepared with the greatest focus is the Western market centered on North America and Europe. This market mainly consists of PC online and console platforms, and games like Chrono Odyssey and ArcheAge Chronicle are suitable for it."

He continued, "Regarding the Chinese market, our internal assessment is that possibilities are opening up due to recent changes in regulatory policies. We already have games with secured Chinese publishing rights and are in concrete discussions for others." On entering the Japanese market, he said, "It is an important but unique and challenging market. We believe there is a possibility of success if we incorporate IPs, content, and cultural codes preferred by Japanese users, and we are preparing projects accordingly."