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[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] Smilegate has settled in the "1 trillion won club" with sales exceeding 1 trillion won for three consecutive years.

Expectations are also growing for NCsoft and Kakao Games, which are planning to launch MMORPG in North America and Europe as early as this year. They are planning to increase the possibility of success in the Western market by applying a local profit model (BM) to their domestic hit games.

According to Smilegate Holdings' consolidated audit report on the 17th, Smilegate recorded sales of 1.5771 trillion won, up 9.5% from the previous year. This is the fifth largest number after Nexon (3.3946 trillion won), Netmarble (2.6734 trillion won), NCsoft (2.5718 trillion won), and Krafton (1.854 trillion won). Smilegate has been recording its best performance every year since its annual sales surpassed 1 trillion won in 2020.

Operating profit rose 7.1% to 643 billion won last year, the third after Nexon (995.2 billion won) and Krafton (751.6 billion won). NCsoft, one of Korea's leading game companies called 3N, is higher than last year's operating profit of 559 billion won.

This high performance was driven by RPG, the developer and operator of Lost Ark. Smilegate RPG sales amounted to 737 billion won, accounting for 46.7% of the total group sales. The operating profit is 364.1 billion won.

As Smilegate records its biggest performance every year with Lost Ark, attention is also being paid to NCsoft and Kakao Games, which are preparing to launch MMORPGs in North American and European markets. It is predicted that the profit model (BM) will inevitably change as the North American and European markets are highly reluctant to pay-to-win.

 

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