NCSoft's Mobile Division Drives Q2 Decline, Project TL And Aion 2 Launching Next Year

NCSoft's Q2 2020 financial report revolves primarily around one word: mobile. The company's quarter-over-quarter revenue dropped 192,544 million Korean won (mKRW), and the mobile sector itself was down 196,015 mKRW, accounting for nearly the entire difference. As the company put it, Lineage M and Lineage2 M sales were slower due to fewer in-game promotions, leading up to bigger updates in the second half of the year. On the bright side, operating costs were also down sharply between quarters, nearly equaling the drop in revenue.

Even so, mobile games accounted for 357,145 mKRW in revenue, as compared to just 103,659 mRKW for PC MMORPGs. That was broken down into the usual five primary games, with the biggest mover -- in the wrong direction -- being Lineage. Fortunately, the venerable MMO has room to spare, as its drop down to 34,264 mKRW still makes it #1 in the company's portfolio. Aion also experienced a rather sharp drop, from 10,143 mKRW to 8,194 mKRW, while Guild Wars 2 actually rose, from 12,530 mKRW in Q1 to 15,639 mKRW in Q2.

During the investors' call, questions were asked about games currently in the NCSoft pipeline. Project TL's closed beta is being delayed due in part to the ongoing pandemic, but an in-house test is coming over the next few weeks. The PC version of the game will likely come first, sometime next year, with console-based versions planned to come later on the next generation of consoles. Also, Aion 2 will be "a totally different re-interpretation of the Aion IP" and will launch next year, after Blade & Soul 2.

You can get the NCSoft Q2 2020 financial report on the company's investors relations site.