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General: NCSoft Game Profits Exceed Expectations

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

NCSoft has published its Q4 2013 financial results that show overall growth, with Guild Wars 2 exceeding expectations by generating $115.9M over the course of 2013. Lineage continued its growth in the Korean market and revenue surged after the release of Blade & Soul in China.

As posted in this MMORPG.com forum thread (by Meowhead):

Today the NCsoft released their Q4 report here are some points http://global.ncsoft.com/global/ir/earnings.aspx


  • Lineage grew significantly in Korea while GW2 remained solid in US/EU.

  • Royalty revenues surged with Blade and Soul China kicking in.

  • GW2 was strong on the back of end of year sales promotions.

  • Contribution from Korea increased with Lineage reaching a new all time high

  • Guild Wars 2 became the 2nd biggest revenue sources along with well settled in-game item sales model

  • Guild Wars 2 earned 33.6 Billion Won = 31.58 Million USD up from Q3s 22.94 Million USD and exceeding sales expectations for Q4

  • Next step for GW2 China will be announced in the near future

  • Wildstar is expected to launch some time in Mid 2014

  • No decision has been made for GW2 expansion for now the focus is provide the LW updates and bring GW2 to China they will update when they have more visibility on the issue of an expansion

  • For 2013 GW2 Made 123.3 Billion Won = 115.9 Million USD also exceeding sales expectations

You can participate in the discussion in the thread above and check out the full financial results at the link provided.


 


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Comments

  • AvarixAvarix Member RarePosts: 665
    Nice to read some positive news in the MMORPG space. What Guild Wars 2 does it does really well. They also have one of the better cash shops. They probably won't begin discussing an expansion until it slows down a bit. What they are already doing seems to be working quite well.
  • achesomaachesoma Member RarePosts: 1,726
    This can't be. Didn't anyone tell NCSoft that GW2 was a failure?
    Preaching Pantheon to People at PAX  PAX East 2018 Day 4 - YouTube
  • gessekai332gessekai332 Member UncommonPosts: 861
    gw2 being successful is just as meaningful as mobile phone games being successful. the only way game makers can make money is if they trick your dumb friend joey into shelling out 80 bucks a month of his parents money on mystery gift boxes to try to get a rare skin so you can enjoy your game for "free."  

    Most memorable games: AoC(Tryanny PvP), RIFT, GW, GW2, Ragnarok Online, Aion, FFXI, FFXIV, Secret World, League of Legends (Silver II rank)

  • Sajman01Sajman01 Member Posts: 204
    Revenues are up across the board in every genre on every platform.

    GW2's total revenue was actually down last year from 2012. Unlike TOR and Eve which both saw significant growth. TOR actually pulled in 17% more revenue than GW2 from their cash shop, not including subs.

    GW2s financials look great on paper when you don't compare it to any other game from the genre, or heaven forbid a different genre.

    The game is fine and it's going to be around for a long time. But don't kid yourself, the game has been surpassed by TOR in popularity despite selling more copies and will be surpassed by Eve in the next few years.

    Its basically headed the same path as Warhammer online.
  • csthaocsthao Member UncommonPosts: 1,121
    So what about AION?
  • bbates024bbates024 Member UncommonPosts: 99
    Gotta love giving themselves room to wiggle with Wildstar's launch. Always Better to error on the side of cation if your traded. 
  • Gaia_HunterGaia_Hunter Member UncommonPosts: 3,066
    Originally posted by Sajman01
    Revenues are up across the board in every genre on every platform.

    GW2's total revenue was actually down last year from 2012. Unlike TOR and Eve which both saw significant growth. TOR actually pulled in 17% more revenue than GW2 from their cash shop, not including subs.

    GW2s financials look great on paper when you don't compare it to any other game from the genre, or heaven forbid a different genre.

    The game is fine and it's going to be around for a long time. But don't kid yourself, the game has been surpassed by TOR in popularity despite selling more copies and will be surpassed by Eve in the next few years.

    Its basically headed the same path as Warhammer online.

    Lets see what happened last year in 4Q12.

    Over 2 million boxes sold.

    Yeah, everyone knows players buy a new cd-key every quarter.

    Lets see more things about 4Q12 GW2 revenue.

    $112M in 1 quarter - by my accounts that is 160% of the EVE revenue for the entire 2012 in A SINGLE QUARTER.

    Lets see more things about GW2 2013 revenue vs EVE revenue - by my accounts GW2 is heading for another 160% over EVE.

    Do you have any official SWTOR numbers you can link to? Or you basing that number on a study that has Lineage revenue as 100% F2P and has Tencent big hitters at $1.4Bn but that still leaves another $1.4Bn of Tencent game related revenue missing somewhere (all games that generate revenue below $121M to have missed the report)?

    Haters gonna hate and twist the numbers...

    Currently playing: GW2
    Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders

  • Soki123Soki123 Member RarePosts: 2,558
    I never thought I would say this, but after testing TESO beta, and hating it, I actually enjoy GW2 more now. Still sub to DAOC for that RvR part, but TESOs negatives, actually made GW2 better to me.
  • XiaokiXiaoki Member EpicPosts: 3,823


    Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

    Do you have any official SWTOR numbers you can link to? Or you basing that number on a study that has Lineage revenue as 100% F2P and has Tencent big hitters at $1.4Bn but that still leaves another $1.4Bn of Tencent game related revenue missing somewhere (all games that generate revenue below $121M to have missed the report)?Haters gonna hate and twist the numbers...

    Translation: I cant attack the numbers so I will attack the source. Hey, atleast I can continue to attack Eve Online numbers. Take that Eve Online!


    Really hope GW2 has an expansion to fall back on in 2014. How else are they going to pay the HUGE development team? Launching in China? Heh, yeah, not funny I know.

  • Gaia_HunterGaia_Hunter Member UncommonPosts: 3,066
    Originally posted by Xiaoki

     


    Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

    Do you have any official SWTOR numbers you can link to? Or you basing that number on a study that has Lineage revenue as 100% F2P and has Tencent big hitters at $1.4Bn but that still leaves another $1.4Bn of Tencent game related revenue missing somewhere (all games that generate revenue below $121M to have missed the report)?

     

    Haters gonna hate and twist the numbers...


    Translation: I cant attack the numbers so I will attack the source. Hey, atleast I can continue to attack Eve Online numbers. Take that Eve Online!

     


    Really hope GW2 has an expansion to fall back on in 2014. How else are they going to pay the HUGE development team? Launching in China? Heh, yeah, not funny I know.

    No, I can't attack those numbers since they aren't official numbers.

    Those numbers are from a study that doesn't disclose its methods and have errors on their study like the Lineage micro transaction revenue values. (and apparently 20% of WoW revenue comes from the cash shop).

    But hey, since there are no official numbers for SWTOR lets use whatever numbers, even if they come from a source with other errors.

    Yeah how the heck is Anet going to pay the huge developer team - I mean they only make 60% more revenue than CCP while having 60% of the CCP workforce. 

    It is funny I never saw any threads on "how my god how is CCP going to keep its developer team with that kind of revenue".

    Currently playing: GW2
    Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders

  • MMOGamer71MMOGamer71 Member UncommonPosts: 1,988
    Grats GW2 !!
  • DamonVileDamonVile Member UncommonPosts: 4,818

    Why do people always have to rush out with " those number are fake!!!"

    You can't post on the internet that you made a billion dollars this year in a financial statement then tell the ( IRS or whatever your country has) you really lost money.  It's not a joke or a marketing ploy to lie about these things. People go to jail or get fired when they make mistakes on these things.

  • TenkouseiTenkousei Member UncommonPosts: 114

    Great! Enough money to finally bring B&S to the west!

    Not that it's ever going to happen ... :'(

  • yui1989yui1989 Member Posts: 5
    i bet its because of BnS in china not gw2 in us/eu & bring in gw2 to china will further their growth even more, nice strategy ncsoft : )
  • TenkouseiTenkousei Member UncommonPosts: 114
    Originally posted by Torvaldr
    Originally posted by Tenkousei

    Great! Enough money to finally bring B&S to the west!

    Not that it's ever going to happen ... :'(

    Well after we dumped all over Lineage, can you blame them? It costs a lot of money to localize a game and western gamers are sort of fickle. We hate grind one year and love it the next. If people want to see BnS over here then they should have been sending the signal to NCK that they like Korean games, but they haven't. How well has the west supported Lineage, L2, and Aion? Why would they think BnS will see any different treatment?

     

    I still hope that there's hope that one day i can hope that we'll see K-games back in the west, even if they're a niche market.

     

  • rodingorodingo Member RarePosts: 2,870
    Congrats to NCSoft and ANet for proving, yet again, their game vision and payment model is successful.   I know it won't stop forum drama here though, regardless.

    "If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor

  • orbitxoorbitxo Member RarePosts: 1,956

    good to see Anet doin well with GW2.

    even though i dont play it much, shows great work does pay off.

  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,855

    Oh god.......

    here we go again......

    "GW2 is a failure!"

    "No!, It's quite successful!"

    "The figures are in and they don't lie!"

    "No!, The figures have a spin put on them and are subject to interpretation and don't reflect reality!"

    "GW2 is being carried bu NCSoft's other titles!"

    "No! ANET is responsible for generating much of NCSoft's revenues!"

    "The servers are empty!"

    "No! The servers are always populated!"

    and on and on we go.

     

  • TalulaRoseTalulaRose Member RarePosts: 1,247

    Lineage grew significantly in Korea while GW2 remained solid in US/EU

    GW2 NA didn't grow.....its peaked. The other games in other game markets grew.

    GW2 will do the same as GW. Slow steady sales making enough to keep it going.

     

    With the NA market not going to grow that much I expect resources to be out into the games which are growing. Doesn't bode well for the game that its growth has already tapered off.

  • BadSpockBadSpock Member UncommonPosts: 7,979

    Be nice to see GW2 in China, maybe B&S in the West... I still don't have a problem with Anet and NCSoft's idea of what an in-game shop should look like.

    Aion was... bad... I'm just still surprised to see Lineage doing so well still.

  • Ender4Ender4 Member UncommonPosts: 2,247

    The interesting number will be the expansion sales assuming they stop being dumb and actually make one. The fact it is a B2P game without any expansions that is still making a profit over a year after release pretty much spits in the face of all the crooked games charging sub fees now.

  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,855
    Originally posted by Ender4

    The interesting number will be the expansion sales assuming they stop being dumb and actually make one. The fact it is a B2P game without any expansions that is still making a profit over a year after release pretty much spits in the face of all the crooked games charging sub fees now.

    Sub fees aren't crooked. The P2P model is not a bad model. But there has to be a value in a subscription for it to work. The problem games have had was a business model mismatch. WoW has the right business model. SWTOR launched with the wrong business model. Once EA adjusted theirs, SWTOR became much more successful. GW2 was designed from the ground up around it's business model and it works. Not without it's flaws though, I do have some complaints about the game's economy, and it's impact on crafting due to the Gem/Gold market. But that's another thread. GW2 has the best Cash Shop I've seen and is one of the few games I'll actually support using it. It's still not my preference. I still prefer P2P. But P2P would never work for GW2.

     

  • Sal1Sal1 Member UncommonPosts: 430
    I don't understand why Lineage is so popular in South Korea. The numbers show that it's just a gigantic money maker there.
  • Niall18Niall18 Member Posts: 31
    Well, Now that NCSoft has made its money.. Maybe they have enough to bring Blade & Soul 2 NA:P 

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  • Gaia_HunterGaia_Hunter Member UncommonPosts: 3,066
    Originally posted by TalulaRose

    Lineage grew significantly in Korea while GW2 remained solid in US/EU

    GW2 NA didn't grow.....its peaked. The other games in other game markets grew.

    GW2 will do the same as GW. Slow steady sales making enough to keep it going.

     

    With the NA market not going to grow that much I expect resources to be out into the games which are growing. Doesn't bode well for the game that its growth has already tapered off.

    I'm not sure how you can say if the game is growing or not based on revenue since it is a buy the box with optional cash shop.

    And GW2 still has a bunch of markets to enter - Russia has no official release, neither has Brazil, China is in Betas (although realistic revenue from China will be some royalties money), South Korea, Taiwan and Japan have no localization.

    Also, there is basically any data to go around - 3Q12 & 4Q12 are special quarters where the lion share of 3 million boxes are accounted for - box sales are a 1 time sale.

    So there is only 1 year of mostly cash shop revenue available to the public,

    Something important to notice is that GW2 had higher revenue in 2013 than GW1 in expansion years.

    2006 saw the release of Guild Wars Factions and Guild Wars Nightfall.

    GW1 that year made $50M. GW2 in 2013 made $115M, with no expansions.

    image

     

    Currently playing: GW2
    Going cardboard starter kit: Ticket to ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dominion, 7 Wonders

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