NCSoft Releases Q3 Results, Increased Profits

Korean-headquartered PC MMO developer and publisher NCSoft, which publishes titles such as City Of Heroes/Villains and Guild Wars in North America, has released its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2005, a three-month period ending September 30st, 2005. The net revenue for the quarter was 87.8 billion Korean won ($84.1 million USD), while the net profit was 20.4 billion won ($19.5 million USD). Compared to last quarter, Q2 2005, net revenue has gone down 10%, while operating profit went up 57%. The successful quarter was mainly due to increases in the American and European markets, as opposed to the home Korean market, where the company's presence remained essentially unchanged - though Asia still gives NCSoft by far its largest percentage of revenue. American revenue climbed 33% to 19.2 billion won ($18.2 million USD), while European revenue rose to 6.4 billion won ($6.09 million USD). The MMORPG-centric company also revealed a breakdown of revenues by specific title. In the lead is Lineage II, one of the most popular online games in Korea and Japan, with 36% of revenue; it's followed closely by the original Lineage, which generates 35%. After that is Guild Wars, with 21% of revenue, followed by a surprisingly distant City of Heroes, which accounts for a mere 8%. Its standing may change in Q4, however, given that the City of Villains expansion has just been released.