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[General Article] General: What Games Drive Nexon's and NCsoft's Profits?
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Pop quiz. Which title generated the most revenue for NCsoft in 2013? As I noted last time, February is always an informative month for those of us who like to follow the state of the global MMOG industry because it's when various publicly traded publishers report their Q4 and full year financials. So, we now know that the answer to our question was not, as many here in North America might have guessed, Guild Wars 2.
Read more of Richard Aihoshi's The Free Zone: What Games Drive Nexon's and NCsoft's Profits?
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Comments
Ooooh, that GW2 earnings drop must be putting their monetization model under some serious pressure. And it's not going to get much better in 2014 due to all the high-profile game launches on the horizon.
Even if GW2 only loses significant chunks of players for 2 months at each AAA MMO launch, that's still 30% of the year's potential spending lost...
Unless A-Net do a paid expansion, their revenue for 2014 will drop another 10-20% without a doubt.
None of those games are a threat to GW2. Next is the main threat to GW2 and it won't be out til probably close to 2016. You can't really compare a game with a sub to a game without one.
Really unsurprising. Well the increase in Lineage is surprising, but judging by the constant flow of customer rage, Fractal PR debacle, WvW PR debacle, LS debacle etc etc, as well as everything else that has happened on GW2 turf over the last 6 months, the down turn is obviously to be expected. You don't just abandon your customer base and expect to retain 100% of your former revenue.
Just so everyone knows, I still have faith GW2 will be around quite a while, and with a year of real long term permanent updates and possibly an expansion around the corner, they may just dodge the iceberg with this one! Here's to you having a successful year Anet, despite all the bad PR and development decisions over the last year, your fans will still be watching
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
If you say so, I still believe all the negative PR for the game over the past year had a large part of why the game is hurting now and why a lot of servers/ forum posters are complaining about how empty they are. A server merge, accompanied by the China release as well as real content rather than empty 2 week updates will go a long way to restoring revenue, so I do agree about the China release.
A good year for them would be to avoid any and all PR blunders and announce an expansion imo. It would go a long way to restoring our (the fans) faith in the game I believe.
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
What bad PR? Or do you call 20 people bitching on the forums bad PR? Forums give such a false perception of anything.
Not so much when you realise that the total income for 2013 (12 MONTHS) was 25% less than 2012 (4 MONTHS).
At this rate, GW2 will be going F2P soon, lol
I am really confused as to why they did not go with an expansion model. I just assumed that is what they would do when they released B2P. Obviously a B2P game that is mostly monetized by purchasing things you don't really need and doesn't have any expansions is going to struggle to maintain revenue.
No, I was referring to thousands of players that petitioned Anet to live up to their promises on the Fractal update, the abrupt closure of the WvW match up forums that resulted in a drop in WvW population (I still log in to play WvW, yes), and the massive amount of players lost during the last year due to LS updates instead of real updates. All of these things combined to give Anet a very bad image across the net and over social media sites over the last half of 2013, and I do hope they recover from it personally. The forum whiners aside, many gaming websites themselves released disgusted reviews of the last half of 2013, a cursory google search can inform you to their missteps and what the players think will fix them to make them great gain in 2014
Currently Playing: ESO and FFXIV
Have played: You name it
If you mention rose tinted glasses, you better be referring to Mitch Hedberg.
I scratched my head at the bold red text, not sure if this is a troll or not. Guild Wars 1 turns 9 this year, and it is still B2P. If you look at it on the flip side, GW2 made maintained 75% of their profits. Which I'm sure can't possibly be a bad thing, given the fact that the game has no subscription.
We could also imply that, that revenue made in 2013 is more likely from microtransactions rather than the box sales, while It could be safe to assume that the revenue made in those four months in 2012 were mostly from box sales.
Sure the profits made may not be stellar, but it shows that the game is making a healthy profit on its current business model. Good enough to where I think the game isn't in any trouble. Within in the next few months should be a good time to announce an expansion, or first at least confirm that there will be an expansion.
Lower revenue for GW2 but the %profit on that revenue should have been higher.
Basic reason: cash shop is all online distribution; physical box sales will have higher associated costs.
I would have expected some sort of "major DLC" however.
How exactly is the game hurting again?
Near 115 million in PROFIT, not total revenue, profit. That's equal to 638,888 people paying $15 per month for a year.
That would place it in the top 5 most successful subscription based MMORPGs in history. lol. And I can say that having only played the game a couple of months.
"People who tell you youre awesome are useless. No, dangerous.
They are worse than useless because you want to believe them. They will defend you against critiques that are valid. They will seduce you into believing you are done learning, or into thinking that your work is better than it actually is." ~Raph Koster
http://www.raphkoster.com/2013/10/14/on-getting-criticism/
How exactly is the game hurting again?
Near 115 million in PROFIT, not total revenue, profit. That's equal to 638,888 people paying $15 per month for a year.
That would place it in the top 5 most successful subscription based MMORPGs in history. lol. And I can say that having only played the game a couple of months.
Profit? You obviously have not looked at NCSoft's 2013 financial report.
Total game "sales" for 2013 is 690 billion KRW.
Total REVENUE for 2013 is 756 billion KRW.
Total net income for 2013 was 158 billion KRW.
Very good article , maybe this game might help Nexon this year ?
Peria Chronicles Online.
Cheers,
BadOrb.
PSO 4 years , EQOA 4 months , PSU 7 years , SWTOR launch ongoing , PSO2 SEA launch ongoing , Destiny 360 launch ongoing.
"SWG was not fun. Let it go buddy." quote from iiNoSkillzii 10/18/13
The original propoganda pixie dust villain :[]
Nexon could make an absolute damned killing if they put a tiny bit of effort and advertising into Atlantica. Too bad the game lacks any GM support whatsoever, even for Item Mall issues (not getting what you pay for, and the queue to get it fixed is several months long).
A tiny bit of effort into it could turn it into a cash cow of epic proportions, which is what NDoors had before Nexon took it over. It's a very addicting game, but one I would discourage anyone spending a penny on. Pity, because it is a unique MMO.
I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore
while i agree with your conclusions, i think calling a full quarter drop in revenue anything but 'mere'.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
NCSoft hasn't seen a penny from me since that debacle. And they'll likely never get another farthing, ever. Bean counter stupidity and stuck up maintenance of face. No wonder they're not so hot in the West.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
While I think NCSoft has he right to close down any game it owns and any studio,the way the handled the closing of CoX and Paragon Studios was lousy and I cannot blame people for having the above reactions.