NCsoft's Annual Revenues Rise While Profits Sink

Korean MMO publisher NCsoft revealed that its profits for the previous fiscal year (ending December 31st, 2010) slightly grew by 2 percent to ₩650 billion ($577 million), though its year-over-year profits fell by 6 percent to ₩174 billion ($154 million). NCsoft attributed the revenue gain to its Lineage MMORPG series, which saw record sales of ₩181 billion ($161 million). Its three biggest titles -- Lineage, Lineage 2 and Aion -- brought in a total of ₩3 trillion ($2.7 billion). The publisher blamed the profit decline on a decrease in one-off incentives for its games and lawsuit-related costs. Last June, Tabula Rasa designer Richard Garriott won a $28 million suit against NCsoft over his alleged forced dismissal from the company. Korea made up the bulk of NCsoft's revenues last year, ₩417 billion ($370 million), while Japan was the second biggest market with ₩79 billion ($70 million). North America contributed ₩49 billion ($43 million), Europe chipped in ₩34 billion ($30 million), and Taiwan added ₩22 billion ($19 million) to the company's revenues in 2010. In 2011, NCsoft expects its full-year revenues to continue to rise to as much as ₩700 billion ($622 million) from increased sales of new games and virtual goods. Its upcoming titles include PC/PS3/Xbox 360 MMORPG Blade & Soul, which is scheduled to debut in South Korea some time this year; and Guild Wars 2, which doesn't yet have a release date.