Netmarble Corp., a major South Korean game developer and publisher, said Thursday it swung to a net loss in the first quarter from a year earlier due to a lack of new major releases and decreased sales of its existing titles.
The company said in a regulatory filing that it logged a net loss of 51.8 billion won (US$40.2 million) on a consolidated basis in the three months ending in March, shifting from a net profit of 61.9 billion won a year earlier.
For the quarter, Netmarble posted an operating loss of 11.9 billion won, compared with operating profit of 54.2 billion won a year ago. Sales rose 10.7 percent to 631.5 billion won.
The company said the net loss is blamed on the lack of new major releases during the period and a slowdown in the growth of sales of its existing slate of games. Sales from overseas reached 529.4 billion won, while sales at home amounted to 102.1 billion won.
Personnel expenditures also climbed 30.3 percent to 186.8 billion won as Netmarble hired more staff for new development projects. Marketing costs also increased 45.4 percent on-year to 112.9 billion won, the company added.
New titles planned for release in the second quarter include “Golden Bros” and “BTS Dream: TinyTAN House.” The company also plans to release new major titles, such as “Seven Knights Revolution” and “Overprime,” in the second half of 2022.
Source: Yonhap News Agency