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[Alpha Biz=(Chicago) Reporter Kim Jisun] The possibility of a credit crisis is raised as credit ratings of major Korean game companies such as Netmarble and Com2uS, which have been mired in poor performance, have been under downward pressure one after another.
According to the financial investment industry on the 14th, the Korea Corporate Evaluation lowered the credit rating outlook for Pearl Abyss and Com2uS from 'A (stable)' to 'A (negative)' on the 8th. This means that the credit rating is likely to be downgraded from 'A' to 'A-' in the near future.
On the same day, the Korea Corporate Assessment warned Netmarble that overall creditworthiness drop pressure is high. Netmarble has already been downgraded from 'AA-' to 'A+' by Nice Credit Rating and Korea Corporate Rating at the end of last year. In June this year, NICE Investors Service lowered its rating outlook to "negative," raising the possibility that the rating will be further demoted.
Considering that there are currently only five game companies with valid credit ratings, including NCsoft and W Games, more than half of the game companies are under pressure to lower their credit ratings. The main reason for the crisis is poor performance. Netmarble, Pearl Abyss, and Com2uS are suffering from deficits as they have failed to produce large-scale box office hits amid slowing sales of existing games. Until the third quarter, Netmarble recorded operating losses for the seventh quarter and Com2uS for the fourth consecutive quarter, while Pearl Abyss also posted a cumulative loss of 10.9 billion won in the first to third quarters of this year.
The annual salary increase parade, which swept the industry in 2021, has also returned as a boomerang. Labor costs for the three companies rose more than 30 percent from 203.5 billion won in the first quarter of 2021 before the annual salary hike to 265 billion won in the third quarter of this year.
AlphaBIZ 김지선(stockmk2020@alphabiz.co.kr)
