NCsoft Releases Fourth-Quarter and Yearly Financial Reports

South Korean-headquartered MMO developer and publisher NCsoft is the latest company to report on its last financial quarter, and in its case it also ends its reckoning of the fiscal year. Despite a drop in quarterly earnings compared to the same quarter in 2003, the company had an extremely strong year overall, with a net profit increase of 145% over its 2003 fiscal year, or $75.6 million USD compared to 2003's $30.2 million USD. Particularly strong gains came in its home country of Korea, where adoption of their MMORPG Lineage II rose by over 350% in both home usage and ubiquitous Internet cafes. Lineage I also continued to be a factor in the company's success, holding on with a slight drop in the Internet cafes, offset by a slight gain on personal computers. Oddly enough, despite the launch of the well-received City of Heroes in the U.S. last year, NCsoft made no mention of the game's financial impact on its fiscal year, apart from tracking the number of servers, accounts, and active players in a chart near the end of the report. The company will follow up City of Heroes with a City of Villains expansion later this year, as well as Guild Wars, another new, but interestingly non-subscription based MMO.