After the report for the 2nd quarter of 2023, the share price of NCSOFT began to decline sharply. Shares fell 5.75% on the trading day. This drop is not a record for NCSOFT, but it is natural, since the company does not release new games, and old hits are gradually losing audience and profit.
The latest financial report did not bring good news for investors:
- All planned games were once again postponed for half a year. All the projects that the company promised to release in 2022 and 2023 did not come out. The release of some old games on the global market is also in question.
- NCSOFT openly said that Throne and Liberty and PUZZUP: AMITOI These games are not for instant profit, but are designed for a long payback.
- The company’s biggest hope for immediate box office success is AION 2, which doesn’t even have an estimated release date.
- A drop in sales in the richest direction – mobile games in South Korea and according to NCSOFT, a possible recovery in profits in Lineage W and Lineage 2M can only happen in the 4th quarter of 2023.
- High competition in the mobile MMORPG market in South Korea: Night Crows, Wars of Prasia, Odin: Valhalla Rising, Ares: Rise of Guardians, ArcheAge War and dozens of other projects are gradually taking away the audience from NCSOFT.
It has been 11 years since the release of Blade & Soul, the last MMORPG for PC. All this time, the company released only f2p mobile projects with an aggressive monetization system, for which the audience in South Korea disliked this company and did not trust new projects. And internal problems led to the creation of a trade union of NCSOFT employees, with which the company’s management does not really want to negotiate.
At the moment, the share price is at a six-year low, and visible factors for growth are not expected in the near future. According to the Korean press, since the share price fell by more than 5% in a day, a ban on “shorts” is introduced on August 10 (what is a “short” / “short game”»). So tomorrow we will see the full severity of today’s fall.
