Nexon set a record high for quarterly results as overseas revenue surged on the back of the solid performance of its flagship intellectual property (IP) MapleStory in the first quarter and the success of new title ARC Raiders.
Nexon said on the 14th that first-quarter revenue rose 34% year over year to 152.2 billion yen (about 1.4201 trillion won). Operating profit increased 40% in the same period to 58.2 billion yen (about 542.6 billion won). Net profit jumped 118% to 57.2 billion yen (about 533.8 billion won).
Revenue, operating profit, and net profit all hit an all-time high for a single quarter.
Nexon's long-running MapleStory franchise and the new ARC Raiders drove results. As major games gained popularity in key overseas markets such as North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, overseas revenue grew 59% from a year earlier.
A Nexon official said, "The MapleStory franchise contributed to the expansion of first-quarter overseas revenue as Grow Maple and MapleStory Worlds, both released last year, saw sales increase 42% year over year."
Grow Maple expanded the inflow of new users worldwide, and MapleStory Worlds grew sales 79% year over year thanks to the Lunar New Year holiday update effect in Taiwan. Global MapleStory also grew 8% year over year on the back of results in Western regions.
ARC Raiders, introduced in Oct. last year, sold an additional 4.6 million copies in the first quarter alone, surpassing cumulative sales of 16 million copies six months after launch. More than half of active users put in over 100 hours, maintaining high engagement.
The company said, "ARC Raiders cemented its position as Nexon's next-generation blockbuster IP by winning five global game awards, including the multiplayer award at the BAFTA Games Awards in the United Kingdom."
With the combined performance of the MapleStory franchise and ARC Raiders, revenue in North America and Europe jumped more than fourfold year over year, and in other regions such as Southeast Asia more than doubled. Nexon's overseas revenue in the first quarter increased 59% year over year, marking the highest overseas revenue for a quarter.
The FC franchise and China PC DUNGEON & FIGHTER also contributed to quarterly growth. The FC franchise maintained a solid trend thanks to the launch of a new class and a large-scale login reward event during the Lunar New Year holiday, and China PC DUNGEON & FIGHTER posted double-digit year-over-year growth on the back of the Spring Festival update.
On the same day, Nexon also announced extensions of publishing (distribution) contracts with overseas partners. With Electronic Arts (EA), it signed a long-term publishing contract for the FC franchise in Korea, and with Tencent, it extended the publishing contract for China PC DUNGEON & FIGHTER by 10 years. Earlier in Mar., it signed a publishing contract with Blizzard Entertainment aiming to launch Korean service within the year for the PC version of the global blockbuster Overwatch.
Nexon will accelerate efforts to secure a mid- to long-term growth foundation by rolling out a variety of new titles this year.
In the second half, it is preparing to launch Mabinogi Mobile in Taiwan and Japan and to release the mobile idle game DUNGEON & FIGHTER Grow, which is under development at NEXON Games. It also plans to introduce new publishing titles such as the fantasy world role-playing game (RPG) Azure Promilia and the MMORPG Project T.
Over the mid to long term, it will unveil in-house developed new titles such as DUNGEON & FIGHTER Classic, Paradise: LAST PARADISE, Durango World, and Uchi the Wayfarer.
Lee Jeong-heon, head of Nexon's Japan subsidiary, said, "We were able to achieve outstanding results in the first quarter thanks to the global success of the MapleStory franchise and ARC Raiders," adding, "We will secure mid- to long-term growth drivers through stronger strategic partnerships and a robust pipeline of new titles, and enhance profitability and global competitiveness."