Mobile revenue swing helps NCsoft offset tumbling profits

Guild Wars 2 developer NCsoft saw year-over-year profits fall by 66 percent to 30.8 billion won ($27 million) during the second quarter, but new mobile release Lineage M offered a silver lining. 

Although profits fell, revenue was actaully on the up, with the studio pulling in 258.6 billion won ($229 million) -- a year-over-year increase of 8 percent. Rising labor and variable costs, however, meant the firm failed to turn a profit.

It also didn't help that the studio witnessed most of its major game franchises, including Lineage 1 & 2, Blade & Soul, Aion, and Guild Wars 2, suffer a drop off in revenue (as shown in the graphs below). 

The timely launch of Lineage M helped offset that decline by driving Q2 mobile game revenue up to 93.7 billion won ($83.1 million). For context, in the first quarter the company's mobile revenue totalled just 23.4 billion won ($20.7 million). 

What's more impressive is that Lineage M only hit digital shelves on June 21 -- just nine days before the second quarter closed. So, assuming the game continues to bring home the bacon, NCsoft should be in for a very healthy third quarter on the mobile front.