KRAFTON posted strong results in the third quarter this year on the back of growth in the "PUBG: Battlegrounds" intellectual property (IP). Cumulative operating profit this year topped 1 trillion won for the first time.
KRAFTON said on Nov. 4 that third-quarter revenue rose 21% on-year to 870.6 billion won. Operating profit came to 348.6 billion won, up 7.5% from a year earlier.
As a result, cumulative revenue through the third quarter came to 2.4069 trillion won, and operating profit reached 1.0519 trillion won, setting a record high. It is the first time since the company's founding that cumulative operating profit for the first to third quarters has surpassed 1 trillion won.
By business segment, third-quarter revenue was 353.9 billion won for PC, 488.5 billion won for mobile, 10.2 billion won for console, and 18.0 billion won for others. The PC platform, centered on the "PUBG: Battlegrounds" IP, grew 29% on-year and posted its highest-ever quarterly revenue.
A range of collaboration content drove revenue growth. Battlegrounds rolled out back-to-back collaboration content with popular K-pop idol aespa, singer G-DRAGON, and French ultra-luxury car brand Bugatti. The company said the buzz from these collaborations led to rising traffic.
For mobile, diversified content such as the global franchise "Transformers" theme mode and the growth-type skin "X-Suit," along with strong live service, led revenue growth.
"Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI)" also logged its highest-ever quarterly revenue. A KRAFTON official said, "Our localization strategy worked, as we introduced various fun elements including India-exclusive skins and improved the user experience by expanding servers." Other revenue rose 131% from the third quarter last year as advertising results from Neptune's ad-tech segment were reflected.
KRAFTON plans to continue accelerating the expansion of the Battlegrounds IP. On PC and console, it will continue IP collaborations and pursue efforts to transition Battlegrounds into a "PUBG 2.0" gameplay platform. The mobile segment also aims to sustain growth through content diversification and stable live service operations.
In line with its five-year mid- to long-term plan to secure "big franchise IP," the company continues to discover new franchise IP and make aggressive investments. As part of that, it is bringing in strong production leadership and development teams and is operating a total of 11 new projects.
Looking ahead, KRAFTON said it will strengthen specialized production capabilities and broaden its IP lineup across diverse genres. The new open-world survival crafting title "Palworld Mobile" will be unveiled for the first time at the international game show "G-STAR" in Busan on the 13th.
KRAFTON also announced its mid- to long-term plans at the earnings announcement that day. First, it will ramp up localization strategies and hunt for new titles so that BGMI can strengthen its competitiveness in the Indian market, accelerating global growth. A KRAFTON official said, "We will expand our user base through collaborations with local Indian brands, region-tailored content, network optimization, and UGC mode updates, and focus on building a fandom by leveraging esports tournaments."
Earlier, KRAFTON executed cumulative investments totaling 300 billion won with the goal of "growth with India." It is also focusing on discovering new IP in games and digital entertainment. In March, it secured management control of Nautilus Mobile, which owns the Real Cricket series, India's leading mobile cricket game. KRAFTON will directly publish Real Cricket 24 going forward and pursue the acquisition of sports licenses.
KRAFTON is also speeding up its transition into an "AI-first" company. To that end, it will build a graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster with an investment of about 100 billion won and, starting next year, invest 30 billion won annually to support employees' use of AI tools and training.
It is also developing a proprietary foundation model with 500 billion parameters through a consortium with SK Telecom and is establishing an in-house AI development and utilization system that spans from large-scale training to service internalization. Through this, it said it aims to advance CPC (Co-Playable Character) and strengthen leadership in game AI technology.