NCsoft Sees Large Increase In Quarterly Profit

Representatives from South Korean-headquartered MMO publisher and developer NCsoft have announced the company’s third quarter results for the three months ended September 30th. During this time, the company has achieved its best ever quarterly results with sales of KRW (Korean Won) 63.7 billion ($57m), with KRW 28.8 billion ($25.8 million) in operating profits and KRW 29.1 billion ($26 million) in ordinary profits. The results are a 73 percent, 150 percent and 309 percent increase, respectively, on the same period last year. The company also reported KRW 10.9 billion ($9.7 million) in overseas royalties, following successful launches of Lineage II in North America, Taiwan and Japan. The company’s North American publishing and distribution arm, NC Interactive, reported $12.5 million in sales and monthly subscriptions of its top titles Lineage II and City of Heroes. NCsoft also detailed cumulative U.S. boxed game sales of 115,000 (Lineage II) and an impressive 262,000 (City of Heroes) since their launch. Additionally, the company's subsidiary NCJapan moved into the black, following the successful commercialization of Lineage II. The company as a whole fully expects to reach its annual sales target of KRW 250 billion ($224 million), and plans to commercially launch Lineage II in the significant Chinese market on November 10th. In a related article carried by the Korea Herald, the company claimed it has 4.6 million users worldwide for Lineage II, although this figure probably refers to number of individual in-game characters created rather than separately monthly subscriptions. As well as development studios in South Korea and joint venture offices in Japan, Taiwan and China, NC Interactive has a Texas-based headquarters which encompasses Richard 'Lord British' Garriott's former Destination Games studio, currently working on MMO Tabula Rasa, and an MMO product in early development from Might and Magic creator Jon Van Caneghem. It also wholly owns Bellevue, Washington-based ArenaNet, the creators of the currently beta-testing online RPG Arena Wars.