For the first time since its founding, KRAFTON's cumulative operating profit surpassed 1 trillion won in just three quarters. The success of its flagship intellectual property (IP), "PUBG: Battlegrounds," drove growth. While the market has raised concerns about an excessively high dependence on a single IP, with major new titles also slated for a mass launch in 2027, KRAFTON is expected to focus for the time being on expanding the Battlegrounds IP franchise, its "cash cow."
KRAFTON held an investor relations (IR) session on the 4th and said that third-quarter revenue this year rose 21% from a year earlier to 870.6 billion won. Operating profit for the same period was 348.6 billion won, up 7.5%. Cumulative revenue through the third quarter came to 2.4069 trillion won, and operating profit reached 1.0519 trillion won, both at a record high. It is the first time since its founding that KRAFTON surpassed 1 trillion won in cumulative operating profit in just three quarters.
By business, the PC segment posted record quarterly revenue of 353.9 billion won, up 29% from a year earlier. Growth in PC revenue was led by a range of collaboration content with the popular girl group aespa, G-Dragon, and the hypercar brand Bugatti.
On a conference call that day, Bae Dong-geun, KRAFTON's chief financial officer (CFO), said, "In the case of the PC segment, we sustained traffic growth through a series of collaboration content with aespa, Bugatti, and G-Dragon," adding, "Even compared with the first quarter, the peak season this year, we achieved additional growth, proving the strength of the Battlegrounds IP."
Mobile segment revenue rose 14.8% to 488.5 billion won, while other segment revenue came to 18 billion won, up 131% from a year earlier, reflecting ad performance in the ad tech segment of recently consolidated subsidiary Neptune. "Battlegrounds Mobile India" (hereafter BGMI), the India version of Battlegrounds Mobile, also posted record quarterly revenue.
Launched in 2017, Battlegrounds is the core IP that accounts for most of KRAFTON's revenue. KRAFTON's strategy is to diversify its business by expanding the Battlegrounds franchise while discovering new IP. Its mid- to long-term goal is to secure multiple large IP comparable to Battlegrounds, and the company is making aggressive investments such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A) under a five-year mid- to long-term plan to secure "Big franchise IP," while running 11 new projects.
However, with the earliest new releases coming next year and most clustered in 2027, and this year's new titles falling short of expectations, there is a view that reliance on the single Battlegrounds IP will likely continue into next year. CFO Bae Dong-geun said, "We expect new IP launches to increase explosively in 2027 compared with this year and 2026," adding, "Under the five-year plan, 2027 will be a major inflection point."
Next year's main new titles were cited as "Subnautica 2" and "Palworld Mobile." However, specific launch timings were not mentioned. The new open-world survival crafting title "Palworld Mobile" will be demonstrated for the first time at G-Star, an international game show in Busan, on the 13th. As for the ocean adventure game "Subnautica 2," its release was delayed once due to differences of opinion between the former management of Unknown Worlds Entertainment, which is developing the game, and KRAFTON, followed by legal disputes.
Asked about the impact of the release of "Battlefield 6" by U.S. major game company Electronic Arts (EA) on Battlegrounds' performance, CPO Bae said, "There was a slight impact on Battlegrounds traffic right after launch, but it is steady now." Bae said, "After 'Battlefield 6' came out, I was curious and tried it myself," adding, "It is a well-made title, but traffic is falling faster than expected, whereas Battlegrounds traffic remains steady."
Bae added, "We have operated the PUBG Battlegrounds PC service for eight years, and this is not the first time a competitor has emerged during that period," emphasizing, "The reason PUBG can exist as a long-lasting IP is that when competitors appear, we take them as new catalysts, creating a virtuous cycle and growing."
They also announced a hiring freeze plan tied to the transition to an "AI-first" company. CPO Bae said, "The biggest change brought by AI-first will be a hiring freeze except for teams developing original IP and AI talent related to deep learning." Bae said, "This does not mean we will cut costs through AI, but that we must raise each individual's productivity at the companywide level, and from that perspective we will partially freeze hiring."
Earlier, KRAFTON announced an "AI-first" strategy to expand the scope of AI use across technology, organization, and culture, and to apply AI throughout management and decision-making. To that end, it will invest about 100 billion won to build a graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster and, starting next year, invest 30 billion won annually to support employees' use of AI tools and training. CEO Kim Chang-han said, "KRAFTON will lead AI innovation across the game industry through the AI-first strategy."