Netmarble’s latest financials show a 49% slump in EBITDA earnings (calculated before tax and other expenses) as well as an 8% drop in sales year-on-year.
According to their Q2 2023 report total sales stood at $465.98m while EBITDA earnings were at $8.38m. The company also announced they had seen operating losses of $28.76m and a net loss of $34.04m. 84% of Netmarble’s sales came from overseas, totalling $400m. Total sales grew by a very slim 0.1% quarter on quarter, suggesting a slow recovery. EBITDA earnings meanwhile dropped 46.3%.
CEO of Netmarble, Young-sig Kwon commented, ”We’ve been seeing sustained growth from games like Tower of God: New World, which reached the top five revenue charts in the Korean App Store and Google Play Store, and a game based on Netmarble’s Stone Age IP, which is maintaining a top rank in the Chinese App Store.
“We look forward to launching new titles in the second half of the year, such as Arthdal Chronicles and Solo Leveling: ARISE, despite performance being affected by an absence of new games and revenue decrease of existing titles in the first half.”
Financial grumbles
While the year-on-year drop in earnings is not necessarily worrying, a 46% drop quarter-on-quarter is certainly cause to sit up and take notice. This indicates that the post-Covid slump which saw many mobile makers that had experienced explosive growth during the pandemic period, heavily normalised back to pre-Covid growth, may not be entirely over as expected. Netmarble had previously performed exceptionally well from 2021 through into 2022, even making our Top 50 list, however the correction seems to have hit them particularly hard.
Netmarble had previously been betting on major launches in China to catapult them to recovery, however judging by changes quarter on quarter it seems their late arrival is having a pronounced effect. Netmarble will be focusing on these upcoming releases and growing an existing strong portfolio including major titles like Marvel: Contest of Champions in order to resume trajectory.
