Soft Sales Of Lineage And Mobile Titles Drag Down NCSoft's Q1 2019 Financials
NCSoft's financial results for Q1 2019 are in the wild, and ... well, they could be better. Citing "less in-game item promotions by key IPs," the results are less-than-stellar overall, but that can be traced to two key sectors performing well below their established norms.
The original Lineage reported revenue of 20,719 million Korean won (mKRW), roughly half of its total from last quarter (39,045 mKRW), and its lowest total since NCSoft started giving us quarterly sales data, back in 2005. In other words, Lineage had probably its worst quarter ever. The "Lineage Remaster Service" is on the way, the financial statement promises, which NCSoft is counting on to restore the game to its former glory.
The other part of the financial report that looked a little grim was mobile sales, down to 198,775 mKRW, after posting a total of 222,793 mKRW in Q4. That's the lowest total for that part of the business since its meteoric rise to over half a million kRW in Q3 2017. As with Lineage's big Remaster update, a "large-scale update to Lineage M" is in the works, that NCSoft hopes will revitalize the game.
Other games in NCSoft's portfolio had minor up-or-down results, no more than a few percentage points in any direction. That includes Lineage II (20,678 mKRW in Q4 to 21,558 mKRW in Q1), Aion (12,667 to 12,323), Blade & Soul (24,993 to 23,267), and Guild Wars 2 (15,699 to 16,337). It's notable that GW2 remained steady for the quarter, even following ArenaNet's rough times and layoffs back in February.
You can download the financial statement from the NCSoft Investors Relations page.
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Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.
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