South Korean gaming company Netmarble has released the data of its earnings in the first quarter of 2021. Netmarble is one of the leading video games publishers in South Korea. It ranks among the top 3 video game publishers of the country after Nexon and NCSoft. The Seoul-based game publishers have enjoyed steady growth in market capitalization and revenue generation for the past few years. But with the advent of COVID 19 last year, many were speculating about a fall in revenue for the first quarter of this year. Despite this, Netmarble managed to pull up significant numbers. Its revenue is up by 7 percent year on year compared to last year’s figure for the same quarter.
Netmarble Reports $512.2 Million In Revenue
For the first quarter of 2021, Netmarble has released its earnings statistic. The result shows a steady 7 % year-on-year increase of revenue from last year’s stats. The South Korean video publishers have managed to secure $512.2 million in revenue for the quarter. Netmarble has also registered an operating profit of $49 million. The operating profit has bettered by 149 % as compared to last year. Although the sales at the first quarter were slightly sluggish, Netmarble managed to pull through with revenue. The South Korean gaming giants dominate the gaming market year on year with their creative strategies. This time courtesy of some of the best recent releases, the revenue has spiked. Netmarble has also managed to raise $56 million in net profit. It has gone up by 8% as compared to last time. The figures reflect the increased demand for Netmarble games.
The Reason Behind The Increase In Revenue
Not one, but many reasons can be put forward for the success of Netmarble in the first quarter of 2021. According to company officials, although they could have performed better, Netmarble still managed to pull a 7% increase in year-on-year revenue. Particularly after the COVID period, this is no small feat. One of the main reasons behind this financial success is the investment policy and game development of Netmarble. They have invested in making quality games that would attract people. The main idea is to engage as many gamers as possible. Sometimes a company manages to onboard first-timers and new gamers as well through detailed publicity.
Netmarble managed to maintain a steady user base with their recent releases and promised superior gameplays. One of the reasons behind the increase in revenue can be the smart marketing strategies that Netmarble has adopted over the past year. The company is trying to cover more user bases than before. As a result, people are playing more games with the stay-at-home orders in place for most of last year and the first quarter of this year.
Read: MICROSOFT IMPOSES AGE RESTRICTION ON MINECRAFT IN SOUTH KOREA
Analyzing The First-Quarter Report
When asked about the company’s first-quarter revenue report, Company CEO Seungwon Lee sounded optimistic. He said, “The sales in the first quarter were relatively sluggish due to the lack of new titles following the successful launch of Seven Knights 2 in the fourth quarter of 2020. In addition, the rise in labor costs in the overall Korean game industry led to a downside in profits. However, major live games such as Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross, Marvel Contest of Champions, and Lineage 2: Revolution recorded stable results. Like Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds and high-fidelity titles with renowned IPs, including Marvel, Seven Knights, and BTS are planned to be launched in the second quarter and the second half, significant sales growth and profits improvement are expected.”
Region-wise, the North American region accounted for around 36% of the revenue. The second highest-grossing region was Korea which provided around 29% percent of the revenue. In third place, there is Europe with 12% contribution. Fourth place is shared by both Japan and Asia with 9% contribution each. Other territories accounted for 5% of the revenue. The fact that Netmarble is doing better in North America than in Korea accounts for its global reach. It points out that the South Korean game publishing company can also capture American customers’ audience.
Statistics And Data Regarding The First Quarter Report’
Several original and partner games feature in the list of top gaming titles for the quarter. The best performing title of the first quarter is The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross. It earned around 15% percent of the total revenue by the company. MARVEL Contest of Champions is the second highest-grossing gaming title earning 12% of the revenue. Seven Knights 2 accounted for 11%, and Lineage 2: Revolution earned 8% of revenue. Blade and Soul Revolution earned 6% of the revenue. Harry Potter Hogwarts Mystery also did well on the revenue list accounting for 5% of the revenue. There were other games as well that performed very well in the global market. A3: STILL ALIVE (5%), Cookie Jam (4%), and MARVEL Future Fight (3%) are among them.
Other games have collectively accounted for 33% of the revenue earned by Netmarble. Genre-wise, Role-Playing Games were most successful, with 34% revenue contribution. In the second place, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games have earned 30% of the gaming revenue. Finally, casual games have contributed around 26% of the revenue, and others have added 10%.
Year On Year And Quarter On Quarter Comparison
From following the issued report by Netmarble, a detailed breakdown of the financial earnings can be obtained. The total revenue of $512.2 million in the first quarter of this year has shown a 7% increase in the year-on-year comparison. However, in the quarter-on-quarter comparison, the revenue is dropped by 8.6%.
The operating profit of $48.7 million showed a climb of 165.7% from last year on a year-on-year comparison. However, on a quarter-on-quarter comparison, it showed a drop of 34.3%.
In this quarter, the net profit of the company was $55.6 million. This was 7.7% better than last year’s figure on a year-on-year comparison. But on a quarter-on-quarter comparison, the numbers dropped by 39.8%.
