Fewer releases save Nexon

Nexon reported marginal shifts in yearly revenue and operating profit, Thursday, maintaining business as usual thanks to revenue from V4 and cost-saving on overall marketing due to fewer releases last year.

In 2019, Nexon earned 2.68 trillion won ($2.26 billion) in revenue and 1.2 trillion won in operating profit, up 4 percent and 3 percent on constant currency from the year before.

Nexon is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange First Section and is included on the Nikkei 300 Index.

When adjusted to reflect today’s yen-won exchange rate, the company’s revenue and operating profit slid 2 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Nexon is still the biggest South Korean game company by revenue, with Netmarble trailing behind with 2.17 trillion won and NCSoft with 1.7 trillion won.

Korean customers buoyed Nexon’s performance in 2019, the company said, stressing that on-year revenue in the country rose 22 percent and on-year quarterly revenue for the fourth quarter rose 57 percent.

In the fourth quarter, after releasing new mobile title V4, Nexon gained 7 percent in on-year quarterly revenue and 16 percent in on-year quarterly operating profit.

In 2019, Nexon released eight new mobile games and one new computer game. Over the previous three to four years, the annual average stood at 10 mobile games and five computer games.

The company said the lower number of releases had raised its operating profit by helping it save on marketing costs.

From this year onward, Nexon plans to make selectively focused game launches.

Nexon’s much-anticipated high-end graphic mobile game Traha, released in April and backed with a 10 billion won investment, did not sail as smoothly as hoped, and the release of games SINoALICE and The Kingdom of the Winds: Yeon was indefinitely postponed.

By Lim Jeong-yeo (kaylalim@heraldcorp.com)