KB News Desk
Game studio Krafton posted solid earnings numbers for the second quarter of this year, with its operating profit showing a 1.5-fold growth from a year earlier.
According to the company’s regulatory filing, Krafton’s consolidated sales stood at 707 billion won ($515.42 million), up 82.7 percent year-on-year to set a new quarterly high. Its operating profit reached 332.1 billion won, up 152.6 percent during the same period.
From January to June this year, the company’s revenue amounted to 1.37 trillion won and its operating profit hit 642.6 billion won, which were also the highest half-year earnings so far.
During its earnings call, Krafton attributed the growth to the stable sales and traffic trajectories of its flagship title PUBG: Battlegrounds and related services. The company said the number of monthly active users of the title’s PC version grew 40 percent compared to a year earlier, while the number of paying users doubled.
In its mobile business, the company said PUBG Mobile and Battlegrounds Mobile India gained favorable user responses while their monetization models are also on track to create revenue.
Krafton said it is set to release two new titles this year: Dark and Darker Mobile and inZOI. Both games will be showcased later this month at Gamescom in Germany to gauge the reactions of Western gamers.
To diversify its portfolio with new intellectual properties (IP), Krafton said it executed a total of 11 investments in game studios in the first of this year. Before the earnings call, the company announced its acquisition of the development team of Japanese game developer Tango Gameworks and the IP of its rhythm-based action game, Hi-Fi Rush.
“Krafton plans to discover original games and IPs and create a service that grows steadily through continuous improvements and content updates,” the company said. “We plan to expand the PUBG IP franchise business and identify high-potential IP through various methods, including in-house development, minority investments and acquisitions.”
