Newsroom
Newsroom
General : NCsoft Sees 50% Drop in Net Income
Posted Nov 12, 2008 by Keith Cross
GamesIndustry.biz is reporting that NCsoft saw a 50% drop in their net income, based on 3rd quarter financial results released by the game publisher.
MMO publisher NCsoft has revealed results for the third quarter of the financial year, ended September 30, reporting a 50 per cent drop in net income year-on-year.
The Korean publisher put its net income at KRW 5 billion (USD 3 million) down from KRW 6.6 billion (USD 4.8 million) the previous quarter and significantly down from KRW 10 billion (USD 7 million) for the same period last year.
The poor result is reflected in the company's operating income, which also fell almost 50 per cent, from KRW 7.9 billion (USD 5.8 million) to KRW 4.5 billion (USD 3.3 million). The company experienced an overall sales decline to KR 78,270,000,000.00 (USD 57.6 million) from KR 81,201,000,000.00 (USD 59.6 million).
Read more here.
Aion will save them.
It's the first game in a very long time I have been excited about and this goes for almost everyone else who has seen or tried it. So polished, so beautiful and the flow of the game is very impressive.
Also that the style isn't all asian in the looks is a huge plus in my book.
thats a pretty big lose tho. i hope aion can save them
Lol, aion will turn them instantly into a blizzard company from all the $ they shall be making. :-O
They were already a Blizzard type company with their Lineage franchise. Aion is probably going to drag them underwater and drown them :P
It will drag them up the surface, and onto a new land, a new era! ... of wealth, XD. :]
They ignored guaranteed bestseller franchise (Lineage 3) to make completely pointless no-name games that came back biting them.
You make a pretty big assumption in thinking the name means everything in an MMO. There was little reason to release "lineage3" when Lineage2 still had a huge following. A company has to take chances to make money, and most of the time they end up losing more then gaining. Not every company can be like Blizzard and live off of one franchise for over 10 years.
If name meant everything, Everquest II would be stronger than WoW. And Richard Garriotts Tabula Rasa would've been their new hit...
Name may be a good starter, but it's a poor sticker. People will join a game for its name. They won't necessarily stay for long when there ain't no good game behind it.
I wish we knew more like is this a developement cycle thats dragging them down or a week currency , or loss of sales only?
as with any business there can be several factors that can explain but reporters just go for the one big line.
A company's image can drag them down.
Take Tabula rasa for example. I was so dissapointed in that game that I will likely not try Aion unless it's F2P or hits 1 mil subs.
And lets face it L2 isn't going very strong. CoH/CoV is aging.
With all the money they are spending on Aion/STO........If Aion tanks we can pertty much rest assured that STO will tank as well due to lack of funding.
Now that they wised up and threw the Garriott brothers out the airlock, they might have a chance.
This is also in partly factored that they took down all of the NCSoft Americas RF online servers, which was still making a good marginal through item malls. The developers of RFonline kind of sliced NCsofts wrists by not letting them renew the contract. Kind of like letting somebody slowly fall off a cliff instread of grabbing them.
They are not relying just on aion, but also the upcoming GW2 to help them out. I am sure they will get out of the slump in no time once they release.
i'm grateful to anyone who's experienced success that can continue to explore new ideas instead of milking the popularity of something in history. reinvention is of course inevitable, but no one but investors should be upset about someone straying from the capitolistic mechanics of making money for more money's sake.
Well, just check their quarterly report. They are a publicly traded company. There are no secrets (or "shouldn't be" in a publicly traded company.
Aion will fix this, they are also unveiling Lineage 3 in 2009.
It is the "what have you done for me lately" effect. Seems only Blizzard is immune to such.
Why you guys have to always name Blizzard for such a news.. Blizz has history with other genres, they didn't got profit just because of WoW. And what does NCsoft have? Only mmorpg's.
In other words Aion will fix this as soon as it comes to US/EU... Aion already broke the charts with beta testers yesterday.
You do realize that NCsoft didn't have anything at all to do with RF online, in America or otherwise, right? That was CCR in Asia and Codemasters in NA/EU :P
I think it partially is effected by the fact they are developing several games at the moment, two of which will probaby be big (Aion which is currently setting open beta records in Korea and GW2) , as well as issues they have been having with Tabula Rasa (putting in a lot of money for updates but lacking in the subscriptions department). I think Aions release will help bring them back in the positive profits and earnings wise.
A company's image can drag them down.
Take Tabula rasa for example. I was so dissapointed in that game that I will likely not try Aion unless it's F2P or hits 1 mil subs.
And lets face it L2 isn't going very strong. CoH/CoV is aging.
With all the money they are spending on Aion/STO........If Aion tanks we can pertty much rest assured that STO will tank as well due to lack of funding.
"I will likely not try Aion unless it's F2P or hits 1 mil subs"
What in the world does it matter if it has 1 mil subs or not? You jump on many bandwagons? Since you base how much you like a game by the number of subs it has, I pity you. Personally I hope it doesnt get to be the size of WOW or even close to it just for the simple fact that I dont want to have to put up with a WoW type community.
If you looked at any new info on Aion you would see that its doing very good in open beta. last stats I saw they were adding severs due to the unexpected influx of people. Around 150k and the majority of that is in korea alone. I have been trying to see if I can find anything majorly wrong with Aion I have not ran across any info that there is any game breaking bugs. Just think It still has 4 months of so to get all the little launch bugs out of the way before they launch it here in NA/EU countries. IMO no MMO should ever launch first in the US or EU countries, just because the majority of the MMO community here crys to much about launch bugs. These kids think that an MMO should launch to compete with WoW right off the bat, thats not reality. WoW has been out for a long time. You have to grow with a new MMO. But things like AoC went to far.
This isn't terribly surprising. TR tanked and Auto Assault was a total write off. They've been spending a lot of money and haven't really been getting anywhere with it recently.
Aion looks amazing so far im really looking forward to trying it out ...
here's a link to some nice vids of it
http://www.aiononline.com/us/media/video/video.html
"I will likely not try Aion unless it's F2P or hits 1 mil subs"
What in the world does it matter if it has 1 mil subs or not? You jump on many bandwagons? Since you base how much you like a game by the number of subs it has, I pity you. Personally I hope it doesnt get to be the size of WOW or even close to it just for the simple fact that I dont want to have to put up with a WoW type community.
If you looked at any new info on Aion you would see that its doing very good in open beta. last stats I saw they were adding severs due to the unexpected influx of people. Around 150k and the majority of that is in korea alone. I have been trying to see if I can find anything majorly wrong with Aion I have not ran across any info that there is any game breaking bugs. Just think It still has 4 months of so to get all the little launch bugs out of the way before they launch it here in NA/EU countries. IMO no MMO should ever launch first in the US or EU countries, just because the majority of the MMO community here crys to much about launch bugs. These kids think that an MMO should launch to compete with WoW right off the bat, thats not reality. WoW has been out for a long time. You have to grow with a new MMO. But things like AoC went to far.
If a game only has 150k beta testers in open beta IN KOREA then it's in trouble lol. Aion is a pretty shallow game that tries to rise above the fold with shiney graphics and FLYING, ooooo. It doesn't really offer more than many f2p games out there so I don't think it will ever be a big hit like Lineage 1 or 2.
Name recognition means alot, as long as the game follow in the steps of its predecessors. That is why Lineage 2 was a huge hit, and why EQ 2 wasn't (it did pretty well though still). If Richard Garriot made a UO type of game it would have been huge. Instead he made a generic sci fi game that was highly instanced and offered nothing to the old skewl uo pvp crowd.
Aionis eye candy and nothing more, I expect it will be the final nail in the coffin for NCSoft.
Yeah I tend to agree with a few things.
First NCSoft has spent the last 5 or so years spinning its wheels trying to achieve a large success in the western market and neglecting its bread and butter, Korea. (see their quarterly report US/EU making up less then 20% of NCSoft sales revenues)
ncsoft.net/global/ir/quarterly.aspx
NC didn't react fast enough to the threat of WoW style gameplay. They only just recently removed the grind from L2, three years to late IMHO. L2 could have stayed competetive against WoW in Asia if they had modified gameplay a little sooner.
Ol' Rich got them twisted up in a several projects that frankly were nothing but big fat failures burning up 10's of millions of dollars.
They lost focus on Lineage 3, a game their fans are pretty much demanding. NC soft was built on the Lineage fanchise, why they strayed away from it...a mystery.
NC has been spending a large amount of money on new games in developement. (which this article doesn't mention) None of them primarily targeted at the western market. Aion and Blade and Soul are two.
As a result, they have to many irons in the fire. They are trying to savage a sinking ship (the US / EU market) They are currently making 3 MMO's, they are still in full developement of L2 content. Arena net is currently working on GW2.
Aion is going to do really well in its target market, Korea.
www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/11/133_34283.html
The company, however, is optimistic about the future with its latest fantasy game, ``Aion,'' creating a roaring buzz after entering open beta testing Tuesday.
NCsoft started off with 18 servers, each capable of supporting 5,000 users, but had to increase the servers to 25 with gamers flocking to have a try.
Although the company hasn't announced an official launch date, commercial services are likely to start in early December.
Just my thoughts....
I just wish Aion would release so Anet can give out some information on GuildWars2. Right now GW2 is the only game in development capable of keeping me interested in the genre. If GW2 fails then it's off to FPSs I go.
For those of you stating that Aion will save them - just hope that they don't rush it out the door unfinished in an attempt to get some quick bucks...
NCsoft is pursuing games with a lot of instancing and gamers are voting no on instancing. Gamers want open worlds like Darkfall not instanced crap like Guild wars and City of Heroes. Aion is supposed to have lots of instancing also so it will suck. Plus Aion has that anime asian influence character look which doesn't appeal to westerners.
"I will likely not try Aion unless it's F2P or hits 1 mil subs"
What in the world does it matter if it has 1 mil subs or not? You jump on many bandwagons? Since you base how much you like a game by the number of subs it has, I pity you. Personally I hope it doesnt get to be the size of WOW or even close to it just for the simple fact that I dont want to have to put up with a WoW type community.
If you looked at any new info on Aion you would see that its doing very good in open beta. last stats I saw they were adding severs due to the unexpected influx of people. Around 150k and the majority of that is in korea alone. I have been trying to see if I can find anything majorly wrong with Aion I have not ran across any info that there is any game breaking bugs. Just think It still has 4 months of so to get all the little launch bugs out of the way before they launch it here in NA/EU countries. IMO no MMO should ever launch first in the US or EU countries, just because the majority of the MMO community here crys to much about launch bugs. These kids think that an MMO should launch to compete with WoW right off the bat, thats not reality. WoW has been out for a long time. You have to grow with a new MMO. But things like AoC went to far.
If a game only has 150k beta testers in open beta IN KOREA then it's in trouble lol. Aion is a pretty shallow game that tries to rise above the fold with shiney graphics and FLYING, ooooo. It doesn't really offer more than many f2p games out there so I don't think it will ever be a big hit like Lineage 1 or 2.
Name recognition means alot, as long as the game follow in the steps of its predecessors. That is why Lineage 2 was a huge hit, and why EQ 2 wasn't (it did pretty well though still). If Richard Garriot made a UO type of game it would have been huge. Instead he made a generic sci fi game that was highly instanced and offered nothing to the old skewl uo pvp crowd.
Aionis eye candy and nothing more, I expect it will be the final nail in the coffin for NCSoft.
Wow looks as tho you have done your research on on Aion O.o
Aion has more features and then some of any mmo out atm,
Ahh did you read the Records it has Set in Korea for an Open Beta launch? obviously not 150k on opening day of OB in Korea may not seem like much but you also have to realize that there are also a million other games in Korea that we have probably never heard of that have just gone into beta over there Prius being one of them that would definately be taking ppl away from Aion. It will be as big as L2 if not Bigger as some one has stated before L3 is not coming and this is the closest they will get to it for quite some time, so yes they will either supass or equal L2 without a doubt with Aion.
No comment on the whole Garriot thing i could care less for the bloke or the game TR..
Here are a few key elements that i like from a Q&A transcribed from a Korean site from a friend of mine.
Q: What would you say is Aion's key attraction for players?
A: There are many of course, but I think Aion's RvR system is unique in that it can be enjoyed by both PvP and PvE players.
Q: A giant boss monster makes its appearance at the end of the promotional trailer. Can we expect any gameplay similar to Shadow of the Colossus?
A: That part of the content may end up being a spoiler for our players so I won't reveal too much just yet. I can say however that the boss is still in production, and it will feature gameplay elements quite different from Shadow of the Colossus. We're looking forward to its release.
Q: Roughly how many hours of content can we expect in the open beta client?
A: That would be tough to estimate because it would differ very much from player to player. What is for certain is that we definitely benchmarked our content against the amount of content that western MMO games generally have at launch, rather than our past games such as Lineage or Lineage2.
Q: Could you talk a little bit about the art direction of Aion?
A: We always held the highest standard while creating Aion, so the word that came up a lot was 'luxurious'. To achieve that feel we used a lot of deeper shades and tried to add dynamism to our weapons and armour. Weapons and armour that grow and shrink depending on the situation are examples of that.
Apparently chain-swords aren't entirely new; they existed in the CBT3 client of the game.
Q: NCsoft is now considered one of the experts on the Crytek engine. What could you tell us about your experience working with it, the strengths and weaknesses?
A: The CryEngine allows for amazingly high quality terrain textures. The lighting rendering technology is also quite astounding, so a lot of those base elements were taken care of. But it's still an older engine compared to some others, and since it's not an engine made for MMORPGs we did have some difficulties in creating large open areas.
Q: One of WoW's strengths is the users' abilities to create add-ons. Will this be supported in Aion?
A: Until this point all our effort was put into creating a strong base interface. We're still looking at implementing a similar add-on system but we haven't come to a decision yet. We'll be making that decision as the game develops further.
Q: Is there a specific player base Aion is targeting?
A: We aimed to create an MMO enjoyable by MMO veterans and new players alike. We hope too see all kinds of players enjoy our game.
.
Q: Open beta will no doubt attract the bot users as well. Is there a plan of action for this?
A: We separate bots into two categories. Bots that use mouse clicks and sit on top of the client can really only be dealt with at the service level and is hard to prevent at a technical level. We are doing our best to make sure we protect players from the other kind of bots by using sophisticated algorithms and other such solutions. A lot of the lessons and implementations we gained while servicing Lineage and Lineage2 will also be applied to Aion.
Q: Aion is attracting a lot of interest over-seas as well as here. Are there any systems or design decisions that target that audience?
A: I don't think creating systems that target any specific cultural audience would guarantee our success there. Instead we've been focusing on the diversity of our content as well as their level of completion. As a side, I'm a big fan of a lot of foreign games and I'm subscribed to a few of the major titles. We're fairly sensitive global trends in the genre and we always keep them in mind in our development process.
Q: How often will we see updates once Aion open beta begins?
A: We don't have specific dates on large updates just yet, but we will go right to work on one immediately after open beta. Once the game is settled at a satisfactory level of content and stability we will look at releasing major expansions every 6 months to 1 year, similar to popular foreign MMO games.
Q: What would you say was your most influential game while developing Aion?
A: It's hard because there were so many, but if I had to name one it would be Everquest.
Q: What's the story behind the new wings seen in the trailer?
A: The wings themselves have greater capabilities. They will be used at high levels or in the abyss.
Q: Will there be mounts?
A: None in the plans at the moment. However there will be a number of transportation devices.
Q: Will we see the 12 Empyrean Lords in-game?
A: The Empyreans will be revealed in increments within the game. We will start with one and go from there.
Q: There isn't a noticeable difference between the two races. Even their appearances are similar.
A: I understand this is an issue for a lot of players that are looking for ultimate diversity, but even by looking at WoW's move with the Blood Elves it's obvious to us what happens when one race is seen as the 'monster' creature while the other is seen as 'human'. The feel might be similar for the two races but the options are there to allow for some dramatic differences as well. At this point I believe it's for the players to decide for themselves how unique they want to appear.
Q: Are there any new game content implemented in Aion Open Beta?
A: We've added higher mastery content for trade skills, for players that enjoy crafting.
Q: Any instanced dungeons?
A: The dungeon that appears in the trailer is a kind of instanced dungeon. It's not elaborate but the content has been designed for single parties.
Although the event was held after a lot of anticipation, in effect most of the information was presented beforehand through a press release without details on updated content. It was clear however that the team is in the midst of preparing for a smooth open beta. We will soon see if Aion lives up to the expectations of the industry as well as the players.
Q: Is it true that there will be a " possession skill " for the Sorcerer's that allow them to leave their body and temporarily inhabit and control another player for 15 seconds?
A: Yes. The skill is one of the many advanced skills that while may sound excellent come with large costs and restrictions.
Now these are but a few things they are trying to raise the Bar with to say that they offer no more tha most f2p games out there is just plain insulting if not a bit naieve.
If ppl would just do a bit of research onthe game they would probably realize that there is a crap load of stuff that is gonna be in this game no others have an therefore putting them a league ahead of the Rest. I have stated many time's that this game wont be a WoW killer but in no means will it be a half assed game like some others out there it will be highly succesful worldwide.
No there is not going to be lot's of instancing, and who are you to judge what westerners like in terms of Characters? I am a Westerner (i think) and i actually quite like em, again tho read up on character design you dont have to look all anime like you can actually look like a run down hobbo if that is what appeals to you.
wrong wrong wrong.. where to start?!
GW and CoH are very popular, well CoH may have had its best time but it had hundreds of thousands subs for years, and GW is still as popular as ever being one of the best selling mmos off all time. DF has yet to come out and is prolly going to be a niche game, not targeted at the mainstream gamers.
lots of instance doesnt mean a game sucks o_0 last but not least westerners LOVE anime, just look at the internet at the millions (yes, millions) of western people who are following anime series.
Only if financial pressures don't force them to make a bad decision and release the game early.
Only if financial pressures don't force them to make a bad decision and release the game early.
True we dont need another early buggy release, BUT from all the beta testers i have spoken in person too have stated that the game is very polished and is ready for release, so therefore the only thing they will need to focus on in EU/NA is the translation from what i can gather, i dont think we will have an issue when this game releases.
wrong wrong wrong.. where to start?!
GW and CoH are very popular, well CoH may have had its best time but it had hundreds of thousands subs for years, and GW is still as popular as ever being one of the best selling mmos off all time. DF has yet to come out and is prolly going to be a niche game, not targeted at the mainstream gamers.
lots of instance doesnt mean a game sucks o_0 last but not least westerners LOVE anime, just look at the internet at the millions (yes, millions) of western people who are following anime series.
I don't think NC cares if westerners like it, we don't make up the bulk of their revenue. They gave us several chances and we don't support hardly any games at all aside from WoW.
Instancing is here to stay and it serves a useful purpose. Argue if you like but thats the reality. In fact, you will probably see an increase in western made game instancing because they are cheaper to run and we suck as a customer base. Also, instancing helps rid MMOs of standing in fields killing rats and instead substitutes that mindless mechanic with something of substance, interest and even a bit challenging.
CoX is the Third most popular western MMO under WoW and LotR. GW is rank as one of the more popular MMOs made selling in excess of 5 million boxes. (since it doesn't charge a monthly fee, thats all you can rank it on)
Darkfall....seriously? Did you see the graphics on that ...."game"? Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999. Whatcha think about the wooden hover tanks and the disappearing castles? And the ships that look more primitive then the ships in the free to play game "Voyage Centuery"? You gotta have some pretty darn low standards to be looking at that thing. Just because its open PvP doesn't mean its going to be any good.
I can't wait for the open beta of Darkfall. I haven't had a good laugh since Irith Online or Dark and Light betas.
I think MMO companies will all be seeing hits in earnings this year. The economy in general is suffering. People are cutting expenses across the board and things like MMO fees are easily suspended for a while.
hehe looks like Tabula Rasa already did that ; )
hehe looks like Tabula Rasa already did that ; )
Ain't that the truth.
If this forces them to focus only on their AAA games and dump the rest of the Korean crap it wll be a good thing.
Evolution in Action.
Hey Nowrnvr, are you Gillian Nelson that played Satina the zealot from WAR? If you are then where the hell have you been?