South Korean publisher Netmarble saw a drop in revenue during Q1 2024 as the company cited a lack of new game launches for the decline.
The company generated $440.86 million during Q1 2024, down 2.9% year-over-year and 12% from the previous quarter.
Operating income rose to $2.78m during the quarter, following a $20.6m loss last year. Net losses amounted to $7.43m, down from a $33.9m loss in Q1 2023.
Company breakdown
Overseas revenue accounted for 83% ($365.26m) of the company’s global sales. North America accounted for the largest share of revenue, representing 48% of sales. It was follow by South Korea (17%), Europe (13%), Southeast Asia, Japan (6%) and the rest of the world (7%).
Netmarble’s biggest revenue-generating games were Jackpot World (10%), Lotsa Slots (9%) and Cash Frenzy 9%) - all titles from its SpinX division, which it acquired for $2.19 billion in 2021.
The publisher’s casual games portfolio was its biggest revenue generator, making up 47% of sales. RPG accounted for 33%, MMORPG 9%, and other genres 11%. It should be noted that its casual portfolio includes social casino titles from SpinX.
Cutting costs
Netmarble has made efforts to reduce its costs in recent quarters. It cited that its labour costs had fallen by 4.3% Y/Y and 1.8% from the previous quarter to ₩179.59bn ($132.5m) due to the “optimisation of work forces”.
Marketing costs also fell 1.2% Y/Y and 20.5% quarter-on-quarter, owing to the lack of new game launches.
Netmarble is set to launch new MMORPG Raven 2 across platforms on May 29th, 2024. It also has four other titles set to launch in the second half of the year, including The Seven Deadly Sins: Idle Adventure, King Arthur: Legends Rise, RF Online Next, and Demis Re:Born.
“Netmarble achieved operating profit in the first quarter through continuous efforts to streamline costs, despite the absence of newly launched titles,” said Netmarble CEO Young-sig Kwon.
“Arthdal Chronicles: Three Factions, which was launched in late April in Korea and Taiwan, and the recently unveiled Solo Leveling: ARISE have both shown promising results in their initial stages.
“Netmarble is also set to release Raven 2 in Korea in late May, along with launching four new titles later this year. We will focus all of our capabilities on restoring Netmarble’s global competitiveness in the gaming business this year.”
