General Discussion

NCsoft has released their financial results for the first quarter of 2008.  They report $84.3 million (US) in sales, and a net profit of  $7.7 million (US), but there was no mention of Tabula Rasa and the game's influence on these figures.

SEOUL, South Korea, May 15, 2008—NCsoft® Corporation (KSE: 036570.KS) today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2008. On a consolidated basis, sales came to KRW (Korean Won) 88.1 billion (US $84.3 million), operating income of KRW 19.7 billion (US $18.9 million), and net profit of KRW 8.1 billion (US $7.7 million). Operating profit showed significant improvements quarter over quarter (63%) and year over year (16%).

Popularity of the Lineage® series in Asia, sustained sales of Guild Wars® and City of Heroes® in North America and Europe, and a decrease in expenses such as advertising and other variable sales costs were some of the primary reasons for the increase in operating income. Of note in Q1 2008, Lineage II reached record-high sales since its 2003 release.

In Q1 2008, NCsoft decided to take a one time write-off expense for the advanced development costs associated with the Spacetime Studios project, after determining the project did not fit into the company’s core development plan. That left a net profit decrease of 22% quarter over quarter and 43% year over year. However, excluding the write-off expenses, net profit would be KRW 15.2 billion (US $14.5 million) an increase of 48% quarter over quarter and 8% from the same quarter last year.

Read more here.

Tabula Rasa is running at around the 150,000 user mark, which is steady. I doubt it made much of a difference, but it certainly hasn't hurt the company.

Their protit is steadily decreasing according to there data....

Q1 2007 : 14.1 Million Profit

Q4 2007 : 10.2 Million Profit

Q1 2008 : 8.1 Million Profit.

It makes me woried in long term

Originally posted by Aguitha

Their protit is steadily decreasing according to there data....

Q1 2007 : 14.1 Million Profit

Q4 2007 : 10.2 Million Profit

Q1 2008 : 8.1 Million Profit.

It makes me woried in long term

Try reading the whole thing next time...they did a write off of a project that they didnt feel fit their goals which made the numbers look lower. Overall NCSoft is doing better than SOE anyway.

From the full report:

"In Q1 2008, NCsoft decided to take a one time write-off expense for the advanced development costs associated with the Spacetime Studios project, after determining the project did not fit into the company’s core development plan. That left a net profit decrease of 22% quarter over quarter and 43% year over year. However, excluding the write-off expenses, net profit would be KRW 15.2 billion (US $14.5 million) an increase of 48% quarter over quarter and 8% from the same quarter last year."

 Also, Tabula Rasa is not owned by NCSoft, they are the publisher. Destination Games owns Tabula Rasa still, where as the rest of the games listed are all owned by NCSoft so they keep all monies generated.

NCsoft CFO Jaeho Lee said, “As proven once again in the Q1 financial results, we strongly believe our key franchise products, such as Lineage and Guild Wars, will meet our sales target with a strong customer base and continued content updates going forward.”

Wonder what he means. Guild Wars didnt have content update since Eye of the North and to some extend the bonus mission pack, and nothing new is planed.

Originally posted by cthornett

Tabula Rasa is running at around the 150,000 user mark, which is steady. I doubt it made much of a difference, but it certainly hasn't hurt the company.

MMOGChart.com says it never reached 150,000, and furthermore it is now well below 100,000.

Originally posted by Windstryder

 

 Also, Tabula Rasa is not owned by NCSoft, they are the publisher. Destination Games owns Tabula Rasa still, where as the rest of the games listed are all owned by NCSoft so they keep all monies generated.

I couldn't see TR in that report? maybe they left it off after the last report showed it was running at a loss lol.

excluding the write-off expenses, net profit would be KRW 15.2 billion (US $14.5 million

Given the profitability of mmogs in general, their stable of games, and the company expertise, this seems way WAY low imo.  It should be in the high double or low triple digits. 

Who's skimming the profits?  Maybe an internal audit is in order.

Originally posted by Flummoxed

excluding the write-off expenses, net profit would be KRW 15.2 billion (US $14.5 million

Given the profitability of mmogs in general, their stable of games, and the company expertise, this seems way WAY low imo.  It should be in the high double or low triple digits. 

Who's skimming the profits?  Maybe an internal audit is in order.

Not when taken together with the development costs.  NCSoft has several games currently in development so they won't be seeing any return on those investments until they are released (there were five listed in the press release alone).  "Love Beat" is sure to be a major hit, unless it has nothing to do with domestic violence or masturbation.

Originally posted by Kelador

I couldn't see TR in that report? maybe they left it off after the last report showed it was running at a loss lol.

The press release only listed games that were profitable, which likely means TR still isn't.  It'll be interesting to see if they give it better chance to turn around than Auto Assault.  I guess it will depend on how much pull the Garriott brothers have after TR's less than spectacular launch.