Curse

sambront · Feb 07, 2007, 06:16 PM // 18:16

How will this effect Guild Wars, if at all?

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech...0394711780.htm

Quote:

NCsoft Earnings Fall on Sluggish Sales in 4th Quarter

NCsoft Corp., Korea's top online game maker, recorded a 6 percent fall in their fourth quarter earnings due to sluggish sales, the company said Wednesday.

The firm said its net income stood at 18.65 billion won ($20 million) during the October-December period, down from 19.83 billion won a year before.

Sales dropped 6.7 percent to 90.22 billion won and operating profit plunged 24.0 percent to 15.42 billion won.

Ncsoft said its net profit plunged 42.9 percent to 38.05 billion won for the whole year of 2006 from the previous year while its annual sales unchanged at 338.68 billion won.

Analysts attributed the poor performance to decreasing popularity of online role-playing games, in which NCsoft has been leading the market with its hit Lineage series.

02-07-2007 10:40

perfect · Feb 07, 2007, 06:18 PM // 18:18

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/new...hp?story=12673

Quote:

February 7, 2007

NCsoft Profits Dip 43%, Guild Wars Boosts West

Officials from South Korean massively multiplayer online (MMO) games publisher NCsoft have revealed details of the company’s fourth quarter financial details, in which profits dropped by more than 40 percent.

The company reported net profits for the full year of KRW 38.0 billion ($40.5m) on sales of KRW 338.7 billion ($361 million). Sales were relatively unchanged on the previous year but net profit was down by 43 percent, year on year. The drop in profits was blamed on increased in investment in expanding the company’s game portfolio and future growth. The full year results also include a one time write-off related to the failed Auto Assault in the second quarter of 2006.

Fourth quarter results saw a net profit of KRW 18.7 billion ($19.9m), up from KRW 12.8 billion ($13.6m) in 2005, on consolidated sales of KRW 90.2 billion ($96.1m), up 6 percent from the previous year. Brisk sales of evergreen titles Lineage and Lineage II were credited for the increase, along with the successful launch of Guild Wars: Nightfall.

By region, fourth quarter sales in Korea were KRW 53.4 billion ($56.9m), down 1 percent, and in Japan KRW 8 billion ($8.5m), down 13 percent. The launch of Guild Wars: Nightfall and an increase in players for Lineage II saw North American sales rise by 14 percent to KRW 18.0 billion ($19.1m), with European sales up by 76 percent to KRW 10.8 billion ($11.5m) for the same reasons. Of total sales, the company saw a total of 46 percent being derived from overseas.

In terms of specific game titles, Lineage sales increased by 2 percent on the previous quarter, with Lineage II down by the same percentage. Sales of the Guild Wars franchise rose by 65 percent, with City of Heroes/Villains down by 26 percent. Of total sales for the company Lineage accounted for 35 percent, Lineage II 36 percent, Guild Wars 22 percent and City of Heroes/Villains 6 percent.

The company’s earning guidance for the next financial year stands at sales of KRW 358 billion to 367 billion ($384m to $394m) and an operating profit of KRW 42 billion to 49 billion ($45m to $53m). The company expects to launch new MMO title Aion in Korea at the end of 2007, as well as an upgraded version of service platform PlayNC. New Western-orientated titles Exteel and Dungeon Runners are expected in the first half of the year, with Tabula Rasa and a new Guild Wars update in the second half of the year.

Looks like Guild Wars is farther from the grave than many of the naysayers think. I think we should be seeing some Chapter 4 info in the next month or so and many more chapters in the future.

sambront · Feb 07, 2007, 06:28 PM // 18:28

Sweet. Thanks.

Is Auto-Assault officially closed now?

Shmanka · Feb 07, 2007, 06:30 PM // 18:30

Great post, good for guildwars yet maybe not so much for NC. I finally get to be relieved of all the "leavers/complainers" by these stats. Guildwars I expect to only go down in a very long time to come. Let the good times roll'

Kityn · Feb 07, 2007, 06:34 PM // 18:34

What also could be hurting NcSoft is this. Depends on how many have been doing this. Could be hundreds of people taking away the profits that NcSoft would otherwise be making. And the players who were using this were also taking away profits from NcSoft.

http://www.plaync.com/us/news/2007/0...i_talks_a.html

And this

http://www.fbi.gov/page2/feb07/iptheft020107.htm

zwei2stein · Feb 07, 2007, 06:35 PM // 18:35

making less profit != dying

Bread Fan · Feb 07, 2007, 06:36 PM // 18:36

Analysts attributed the poor performance to decreasing popularity of online role-playing games, in which NCsoft has been leading the market with its hit Lineage series.

When Prophecies was out I would suggest to others "Yeah man go grab this game it's awesome". In PvE when you would do a quest you would get rewarded by unlocking a skill which to me was the best thing ever .That wasn't the case with later chapters. Now when on-line friends (most of my real life buds don't do computer games) ask me what I am playing I do say GW but I let them know it's not worth purchasing.

Kityn · Feb 07, 2007, 06:46 PM // 18:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bread Fan

Analysts attributed the poor performance to decreasing popularity of online role-playing games, in which NCsoft has been leading the market with its hit Lineage series.

When Prophecies was out I would suggest to others "Yeah man go grab this game it's awesome". In PvE when you would do a quest you would get rewarded by unlocking a skill which to me was the best thing ever .That wasn't the case with later chapters. Now when on-line friends (most of my real life buds don't do computer games) ask me what I am playing I do say GW but I let them know it's not worth purchasing.

How about you let them make up their own minds about wether or not it is worth purchasing? Sure that is your opinion but there are many 10's of thousands that say otherwise. If someone asks me if it is worth buying I say 'Sure but that is my opinion, here is a friend key for you to try it out.'
Never ever make the decisions for other people, unless of course you get paid to do it for a living.

Shmanka · Feb 07, 2007, 06:47 PM // 18:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bread Fan

In PvE when you would do a quest you would get rewarded by unlocking a skill which to me was the best thing ever.

... Although I agree I suppose you are making the claim that GW is not good enough to buy since there is no skill rewards per quest.

It does suck yet at the same time I see the reasoning in the PvP campaign(factions) its quick easy just level buy all the skills you want asap, not have to dive into the campaign to obtain something specific. Yet I fail to see why nightfall did not have the skill quest reward mechanic. Good point could make PvE more interesting, but I think you don't exactly have the reason why sales are down.

RTSFirebat · Feb 07, 2007, 06:55 PM // 18:55

Auto Assault was a rubbish game anyhow. I played the beta and was completely unimpressed.

EPO Bot · Feb 07, 2007, 06:55 PM // 18:55

I think it is because you are supposed to use those nifty skillpoints.

Ouchie · Feb 07, 2007, 06:55 PM // 18:55

Hummmm new Guild Wars in second half of the year - guess that answers some speculation as to when chapter 4 will be out

Bravesoul · Feb 07, 2007, 07:23 PM // 19:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by zwei2stein

making less profit != dying

Not necessarily, it just means simply that they need to do something different in order to show investors that will improve in the future.

You can see this by them writing off AutoAssault as well as coming out with new titles and expanding on their more profitable existing titles.

Good to see that they are holding off a little on the next Guild Wars. Of course I say this in the sense that now they have no excuses for not fixing the existing problems that have persisted in the first couple chapters.

Kook~NBK~ · Feb 07, 2007, 07:31 PM // 19:31

When one of your products, especially when you don't have a large number of products in your line, fails, it makes a huge impact on your profits. All of the developement time, production, distributing, etc. all cost money that they can't recover because the product didn't sell.

Profits are down, they're not gone. If they had lost money, then there may be cause for concern. Besides, GW sales are up by 65%. I don't think they're in as much trouble as people are trying to make out.

Warmaster Patton · Feb 07, 2007, 08:04 PM // 20:04

It's only one quarter. You never know what the next few quarters will be. Like Kook said, the profits are down and not in the negatives. This quarter and the next will tell whether or not NCSoft is losing money/profit.

ikpt · Feb 07, 2007, 08:16 PM // 20:16

Guild Wars sales went up 65%, yet their earnings took an overall hit. What does this mean? This means that even if GW sells great, more people are playing other games. If all those games sell poorly, GW will not be enough on it's own.

Let's look at the bigger picture next time, ok?

(aimed at people who think GW can save a publisher by itself.)

Exoudeous · Feb 07, 2007, 08:29 PM // 20:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by ikpt

Guild Wars sales went up 65%, yet their earnings took an overall hit. What does this mean? This means that even if GW sells great, more people are playing other games. If all those games sell poorly, GW will not be enough on it's own.

Let's look at the bigger picture next time, ok?

(aimed at people who think GW can save a publisher by itself.)

I dont think you are looking at the bigger picture. Ncsoft is only the publisher, ncsoft haveing poor sales doesn not afect Anets revenue since Anet is only working on guild wars which is selling well.

NCsoft loseing money does not equal anet loseing money

=HT=Ingram · Feb 07, 2007, 08:45 PM // 20:45

the fact is private servers for MMOs are booming... there are literally 100s of them with 1000s of players a day all seeking a place to play because the product they purchased is too expensive to keep otherwise. The ONLY exception to date of this extortion is GuildWars. And because of this it will legitimately last years beyond its predecessors that have subscription fees.

Indeed I am looking at right now a list of about 50 WoW private servers some with the burning crusade addition on it, and guess what? they are packed... Seeing as it was Blizzard that had this Private server option back during the beta but consequently did a bait and switch and removed it at release... I call that a cheap a$$ move on their part... And since I will NEVER touch a subscription server again... This is all there is to play the product I purchased on... indeed the company IPs are blocked from my network because I will only use free servers to play that pitiful excuse of a game...

Anets business model is secure in that they have a good efficient and Fair model in place. If you don't want a chapter don't get it... But you can play what you have purchased forever at face value... As it should be... Indeed if you look at the release schedule for chapters the only thing they could do to make a little more money is distribute via web only for a few chapters with a marginal release in retail only... This would yield a bigger profit for anet in the end... And still maintain the free to play feeling...

I think sometime soon this is how it will end up being... Once they get their store kinks worked out...

There is no need to find or use "FREE Private servers" because shocker GW is free to play!!! so why would anyone go to a lesser content server? The other games WoW, EQ, Linage, FF, EvE, ect... they all have the free to play feature removed and as such do very little to increase their content or player base. so In the end they are doomed to fail to the free servers eventually... No matter what they do legally. for every one they take down 30 will pop up... Just like all other P2P services... The more they tighten their grip, the more systems will slip through their fingers... (Shameless Star Wars Knockoff Quote...)

baddog992 · Feb 07, 2007, 08:51 PM // 20:51

Gw cannot cost anything to keep active, Gw is selling well fact. Nc the company took a hit on a game that did not do well, Gw will be fine. It is making a profit, 1 game for the company did not. I dont think Gw can save a publisher by itself but it doesnt hurt that it made a profit.

lightblade · Feb 07, 2007, 09:45 PM // 21:45

Even if NCsoft go bankrupt, it wont effect Anet in anyway. Why? Because GW is doing good and there's plenty of other investors willing to "donate" money. NCsoft would just sell off Anet to another company to keep itself alive.