Netmarble escapes the red with $4.6m net profit after two years of losses
| Date | Type | Companies Involved | Key Datapoint |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 17, 2025 | report | Netmarble | $4.6 million profit |
South Korean mobile developer Netmarble generated $1.95 billion in revenue in 2024, up 6.5% year-over-year.
EBITDA increased by 216.5% Y/Y to $271.3 million. Meanwhile, the publisher's total costs fell from 95% of revenue in 2023 to 86% in 2024. This helped land an operating profit of $158.1m for the year, but net profit was just $4.6m.
The latter result came despite a net profit of ₩162bn ($112.4m) in Q2 - Netmarble’s most successful quarter of 2024 and its first in over a year to land in the green. Ultimately, though, 2024 was dragged down by Q4’s net loss of ₩167bn ($115.8m), attributed to a "reflection of impairment loss on intangible assets" and more.
Though Netmarble recorded a small profit for the year, this was up substantially from the ₩304bn ($211m) net loss in 2023. It also marked its first net profit since 2021.
New to arise
In Q4, Netmarble’s decade-old Marvel Contest of Champions proved the most lucrative in its portfolio with 13% of total revenue generated alone. Jackpot World and Lotsa Slots tied second at 8% each, followed by Cash Frenzy at 7%.
Netmarble’s Solo Leveling: Arise also made the top five, having released on May 8th, 2024 and contributing 6% of revenue. The action RPG surpassed 50 million installs between PC and mobile in its first six months, and according to AppMagic estimates, safely surpassed $100 million in mobile player spending in the same timeframe.
Across the industry at large, the title also positioned itself among mobile’s 10 most lucrative new games of 2024.
Casual proved Netmarble’s biggest genre of the year, accounting for 40% of revenue. RPGs were just behind at 39%. MMORPGs, classed separately by Netmarble, contributed 13% of revenue across the year.
"Though performances were still short of market expectations, Netmarble successfully turned the tables around in 2024 following two consecutive years of operating margins being in the red," said Netmarble CEO Young-sig Kwon.
"With new title releases, including Game of Thrones: Kingsroad, The Seven Deadly Sins: Origin and more coming, 2025 will be a year where Netmarble lays the groundwork for a ‘next leap’ forward."
Other upcoming titles include cross-platform games Seven Knights Re:Birth, Mongil: Star Dive and Project SOL. Mobile exclusive The King of Fighters AFK is also due to launch globally in the first half of the year.
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