Curse

Zinger314 · Nov 07, 2007, 10:53 PM // 22:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Article, for you lazy people

Today, NCsoft announced its third-quarter results, and while sales were up 5 percent quarter over quarter to $88.3 million, its net income for the quarter fell 5 percent quarter over quarter to $11.1 million, down a substantial 21 percent year over year.

Supported heavily by its home base, 55 percent of NCsoft's sales occurred in Korea. Breaking down the remaining 45 percent, NCsoft accrued $15.1 million from North America, $9 million from Europe, $8.6 million in Japan, and $2.8 million in Taiwan. The publisher also received $4.8 million in royalty income.

NCsoft noted sales were up 81 percent in Europe, which it attributed to its biggest new release for the quarter, Guild Wars: Eye of the North. In all, total sales of ArenaNet's massively multiplayer online game Guild Wars were up 57 percent on the release of Eye of the North, garnering $14.4 million in sales. However, its Lineage franchise remained the primary breadwinner of the quarter, logging $26.2 million in revenue for the original game and $35.8 million for its successor, Lineage 2. City of Heroes and City of Villains combined for $6.3 million in sales.

NCsoft expects sales to continue to rise in the fourth quarter, riding the roll out of Richard Gariott's Tabula Rasa. Commenting on the company's performance and future outlook, NCsoft CFO JaeHo Lee said, "During the third quarter, sales in North America and Europe rose with the successful launch of the Guild Wars' expansion pack. We expect to see an increase in fourth quarter sales with the newly launched Richard Garriott's Tabula Rasa. Aion is in a closed beta testing process, and user responses are very positive."

Following its deal to develop games for the PlayStation 3 in July, NCsoft has undergone a significant Western expansion in recent months. After receiving a hefty grant from the British government, the publisher revealed it would be nearly doubling its operations in Brighton, England. In October, NCsoft officially unveiled Orange County, California-based Carbine Studios, which is at work on an unannounced game. Yesterday, the publisher announced it had acquired Cryptic Studios' stake in the City of Heroes and City of Villains franchises, and that it would continue development of the two games at its newly formed NorCal Studios in Mountain View, California.

$14.4 million made from GWEN divided by $40 per GWEN game equals atleast 360,000 players still playing Guild Wars (slightly more, due to discounts in GWEN's price). Quite interesting.

What I also find interesting is that Lineage I and II combined generated nearly four times the sales in that quarter than sales than Guild Wars.

Of course, if Tabula Rasa fails (the initial reports I've heard about it weren't great), then NCSoft, and consequently GW2, will be in a pickle.

EDIT: That's the last time I use the Windows Calculator for big number calculations.

Spazzer · Nov 07, 2007, 10:56 PM // 22:56

Well, to be fair, EOTN was more of a GW2 advertisement than an actual game. Getting paid to promote another game can't hurt all that much.

ヽ(´ー｀)ﾉ · Nov 07, 2007, 11:00 PM // 23:00

$14.4 million made from Guild Wars: Eye of the North divided by $40 per Eye of the North game would equal to 360,000. So it is true that at least 36,000 players still play Guild Wars.

crazybanshee · Nov 07, 2007, 11:03 PM // 23:03

Interesting.. I played Lineage 1 until I finally gave up and just concentrated on GW a few months ago. I love the game but hate the total lack of support the company gives it. I'd be curious how that breaks down even further, as I'm guessing most of the income must come from Korea since there's got to be less than 1000 people total playing Lineage on US servers anymore. (and most of them are bots now anyway)

Bo Azum · Nov 07, 2007, 11:04 PM // 23:04

Not everyone bought Eye of the North, but still play. Conclusion fails.

Croco Clouds · Nov 07, 2007, 11:06 PM // 23:06

but still 40$ still hurt my wallet since I am not currently playing GW:EN

Ctb · Nov 07, 2007, 11:09 PM // 23:09

Count me in as another "bought and isn't playing it". I went as far as Umbral's and lost interest. I'm back in Proph now, in fact, pulling a 1.5 year old monk along to Ascension.

BohemianKeith · Nov 07, 2007, 11:15 PM // 23:15

Yeah and how many of those sold EOTN packages are actually players and not mules for bot accounts, farmers, etc.

«Ripskin · Nov 07, 2007, 11:18 PM // 23:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by BohemianKeith

Yeah and how many of those sold EOTN packages are actually players and not mules for bot accounts, farmers, etc.

Bot accounts for eotn?

You have to actually do something to get through that game, so I don't think so.

Antheus · Nov 07, 2007, 11:19 PM // 23:19

I wonder if the changed US$ ratio is reflected in these figures.

Winterclaw · Nov 08, 2007, 12:45 AM // 00:45

500K people or more would have bought GWEN if it was better.

Ulivious The Reaper · Nov 08, 2007, 01:16 AM // 01:16

Allot of people are willing to buy the game and not play, both my brother and sister are that way, last Christmas they got prophecies and factions (respectively) then bought the other games them selves through money acquired through trivial tasks. And yet my brother has about 200 hours over 14 months and my sister ~25

So, it's just really hard to base the amount of people still playing on the amount of people whom bought the game, and also it's hard to base their success in the future on this. I personally will pay up to 120 dollars for GW2, can't wait ^^

Corwin_Andros · Nov 08, 2007, 01:35 AM // 01:35

Also have to take note of the fact that NC Soft (with the exception of the online stores) doesn't sell directly to the public. They certainly aren't selling to the retailers at $40 a pop. Not sure what that amount is offhand either. Perhaps someone in the retail market could enlighten us on what they typically pay for the games they sell and we could get a better estimate of how many copies of GW:EN were sold.

draxynnic · Nov 08, 2007, 03:11 AM // 03:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bo Azum

Not everyone bought Eye of the North, but still play. Conclusion fails.

The conclusion is accurate: it places a bottom limit on the number of people who've played the game since the release of EOTN (I'm willing to bet someone who buys EOTN has logged in to GW at least once since release).

I disagree with the conclusion that the Lineage franchise has four times the sales of GW in the quarter, however: since it's a subscription game, they may be coasting along on existing sales or just plain getting more per sale than EOTN returns. Certainly it's earning money, but at a rough guess I'd say the figures probably represent getting twice as much money from twice as money people rather than the same money from four times as many people

.

Also, I concur with the suspicion Tabula Rasa is going to fail... and if it doesn't, it'll likely be succeeding at the expense of something else. The problem with NCSoft putting out so many MMORPGs - especially subscription MMORPGs - is not only that it's competing with the likes of WoW and LOTRO, it's competing with itself.

EDIT: Noticed grammatical error

Snow Bunny · Nov 08, 2007, 03:57 AM // 03:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by draxynnic

The conclusion is accurate: it places a bottom limit on the number of people who've played the game since the release of EOTN (I'm willing to bet someone who buys EOTN has logged in to GW at least once since release).

Quote:

Originally Posted by draxynnic

Also, I concur with the suspicion Tabula Rasa is going to fail... and if it does, it'll likely be succeeding at the expense of something else. The problem with NCSoft putting out so many MMORPGs - especially subscription MMORPGs - is not only that it's competing with the likes of WoW and LOTRO, it's competing with itself.

Yep.

1 2 t w e l v e

seut · Nov 08, 2007, 06:21 AM // 06:21

GW is NCSoft's current star product beside some fat cash cows like Lineage. Although this star is sinking to become a financial bovine soon.
The total lack of mentioning the name Dungeon Runners speaks volumes about the financial success of that payment experiment (free basics, goodies for subscribers).
In other news: NCSoft just bought the IP for City of Heroes and will make some investments into it.
If Tabula Rasa will rise to be a new star, is yet to be seen. Of course it would be hard to swallow for NCSoft, if it won't be a success. But they are not betting everything on this one horse and their base of investments is diverse enough to survive.
At least this company is courageously enough to try new paths in the MMO genre even at the risk of failure (remember Auto Assault?). Though GW2 might be destined to be more of the "same old" concepts to become another secure cash cow to fund other experiments.

Red Sonya · Nov 08, 2007, 06:37 AM // 06:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bo Azum

Not everyone bought Eye of the North, but still play. Conclusion fails.

Agreed. I didn't buy EOTN and I still occassionally play, but, not as much as I used to. There's tons of new games being released this month that are more worthy of my time like "Hellgate London", plus I just got Galactic Civilization: Dark Avatar and then there's Call of Duty 4 and The Witcher (this game is awesome, it's what GW's should have been). I like advancing characters and gear. GW's has lost that portion of what I enjoy in these action oriented role playing games. It's become repetitive boredome.

Iuris · Nov 08, 2007, 08:13 AM // 08:13

Trust me, Hellgate London is not worthy of your time...

wetsparks · Nov 08, 2007, 08:44 AM // 08:44

Personally I like Hellgate: London, but to each their own.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corwin_Andros

Also have to take note of the fact that NC Soft (with the exception of the online stores) doesn't sell directly to the public. They certainly aren't selling to the retailers at $40 a pop. Not sure what that amount is offhand either. Perhaps someone in the retail market could enlighten us on what they typically pay for the games they sell and we could get a better estimate of how many copies of GW:EN were sold.

Corwin is right here. They made 14.4 million off of Guild Wars this quarter, but it wasn't at $40 per. That is what the stores sell it at and the stores want to make money. Seeing as how some store (I think Best Buy) a while back was selling GW:EN for $30 I think it is safe to say that NCSoft sold guild wars to retailers for around $20-$25 dollars. For easy math, take $20, and double Zingers number of 360,000 people bought GW:EN to 720,000 people bought it.

EDIT: Some of that money could have come from sales of other GW games like the platinum addition or Factions/Nightfall. If you believe some of the posters on this website (and you really have no reason not to) they bought those games because of the publicity that GW:EN was getting and I'm sure there are many more like them.

-Loki- · Nov 08, 2007, 09:06 AM // 09:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zinger314

What I also find interesting is that Lineage I and II combined generated nearly four times the sales in that quarter than sales than Guild Wars.

Because Koreans actually play them.