DS Investment & Securities said on the 9th that the arrival of mobile titles such as Delta Force and Valorant is weakening the competitiveness of its own PUBG Mobile for Krafton. It kept its investment rating at Buy and lowered the target price to 370,000 won from 400,000 won. The previous trading day's closing price for Krafton was 247,500 won.
Choi Seung-ho, an analyst at DS Investment & Securities, said, "PUBG PC is showing solid traffic and revenue despite the emergence of competing shooter games, but PUBG Mobile is being negatively affected by the arrival of Delta Force and Valorant Mobile."
Choi added that even considering that the fourth quarter is an off-season with no major events, "the downward slope is not small compared to last year, making it hard to confidently say that profits will increase next year in this competitive environment." Choi kept Krafton's estimated 2026 revenue at 4.3 trillion won and operating profit at 1.2 trillion won.
Noise at companies acquired in succession is also a reason for the target price cut. Choi said, "Because the profit scale is so large, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to scale up are essential," while noting, "Most of the mergers and acquisitions carried out by the company are causing noise."
Looking specifically, SDS carried out restructuring after failing TCP, and Unknown Worlds, the Subnautica developer acquired for 600 billion won, also became entangled in legal disputes with former CEOs. Even the recently acquired Last Epoch has been caught up in controversy.
New release portfolios such as Subnautica 2, Palworld Mobile, and PUBG: Black Budget are expected to post solid results based on China. "Recently, the extraction shooter genre has been gaining popularity, so expectations for Black Budget are likely to build," the report said, adding, "Palworld Mobile will have impact if it receives a Chinese license." It also said Subnautica 2 has long held the No. 1 spot on Steam wishlists, so upon actual launch it could contribute sales of 4 million to 5 million copies.