NCsoft may have more banking on Guild Wars 2 than once thought. The mega-publisher announced that its second quarter earnings were lower than expected; it posted a $6 million loss for the period.
Revenues were down 12% from last year to $130 million, of which a vast majority came from NCsoft's online titles. The company stated that it dipped into the red due to rising labor costs, an increased marketing budget for Blade & Soul's Korean launch, and the acquisition of Ntreev. Aion was also blamed for the company's financial woes, as revenues in that title sharply decreased due to fewer microtransaction sales.
Both Lineage titles composed a great share of the company's revenues, with the first game producing 45% of sales and the sequel 13%.
NCsoft said that it is banking on Guild Wars 2 to produce a profitable third quarter, however.
So without GW2 NCSoft is not profitable. Wonder what their projections are.
They can't be doing too badly if they are still acquiring companies.
I'd suspect this is more a reflection of their core Korean market. A lot of their games are aging and as far as I know aren't making up for the ageing lineage brand. They don't really seem to expect massive NA success with those games and I'm not sure how big GW2 is in Korea.
Is a man not entitled to the hurf of his durf? - Simond
NCsoft has seen Nexon become their biggest stakeholder, so that's possibly where the money is from for buyint other companies.
NCsoft hasn't had a new hit title in a while, either. They've been going downhill for quite a while. They may rebound with GW2, but a lot has been spent on that title and NCsoft really needs it to be successful.
Bear in mind they're also footing the bill for developing Wildstar, which looks fairly pricey and has yet to earn them a cent. That's got to be having an effect on cash flow.
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