Day: February 15, 2012

Star Vault Reports 50% Increase In Sales


Star Vault could use some good news going for it. After the web hearing just a few days ago where Henrik announced that only five permanent employees remain with the rest filled in by contractors. In an announcement on Aktie Torget, Star Vault has reported an increased interest in Mortal Online. Sales of licenses have increased 50%, and CEO Henrik Nystrom has made the following statement:

“We have the last month, noted a number of interesting positive trends regarding nyköp, gambling activity and to some extent, extensions of subscriptions. Game Activity – players that typically have been logged on Mortal Online per day – has increased significantly by about 83 percent and is an indication that players enjoy the game. The increased activity also makes the game more fun, more vibrant and there are naturally pleased with the increased number nyköp and – albeit marginally – increased subscription renewals.

The positive trend can be explained with our upgrade of the so-called Territory Control, which I think many players have been curious to try while waiting for our next expansion, “The Awakening”. It’s been a good start to 2012 and now we are working on with our future expansion, “The Awakening” that we expect to add further appeal to Mortal Online. “

You can find the entire (short) announcement below.

(Source: Aktie Torget Exchange)

NCSoft Q4 Finances: Sales/Profit Down


NCSoft has posted their fourth quarter finances. Sales were hit with a 6% loss since the last quarter, with operating profit reportedly taking a 51% hit and net income down 42% since last quarter. NCSoft attributes the decline in sales and profits due to scaled back in-game item sales.

Year over year sales from 2011 compared to 2010 saw a similar drop in revenue by 7%, operating income by 24%, and income by 21%, due to what NCSoft refers to as a weakened user base, and an expansion in research and development. Labor costs increased 9%, marketing increased 25%, and variable expenses grew 7%.

You can see from the chart above that Lineage has continued its dip in sales, which NCSoft attributes to a lack of item sales in-game. Lineage II’s sales opened up somewhat, attributed in the release to “roust sales in Japan.” Aion saw a dip in sales of about 8%, as did Guild Wars (22%), and City of Heroes has shown a 22% increase in sales over Q3.

In terms of regional breakdown, Korea’s stake in NCSoft dived from 69% in Q3 to 60% in Q4. North America rose from 4% to 5% while Europe dipped from 3% to 2%. Japan almost doubled its share, from 12% to 21%, while Taiwan lowered its share from 3% down to 2%. Royalties increased to 10% from 8%.

City of Heroes and Lineage II went free to play recently, with Aion moving free to play in Europe.

(Source: NCSoft Finances)

Guild Wars 2 Opens Door For Non-Cosmetic Cash Shop


By now, I hope that I don’t have to lecture any of you on how important wording is in this industry. When Realtime Worlds said that they had no intention of shutting down All Points Bulletin, they didn’t factor in the results of their ongoing chapter 11 bankruptcy forcing the game to shut down. When Turbine stated that they had no intention of selling equipment with stats at the time, they technically spoke the truth. When Sony answered the free to play question by saying they would not alter existing player’s game, and launching a separate product, they were telling the truth.

Guild Wars Guru has noticed an alteration made to the Guild Wars wiki by user JohnSmith, who is a confirmed Arenanet employee. Previously, the article read:

Yes, micro-transactions will exist. These will be cosmetic additions which will not affect balance or gameplay, similar to the transactions offered by Guild Wars.

Now the article reads:

Yes, micro-transactions will exist. Be assured goods and items bought for cash in GW2 do not offer any advantage over those available in the game through the investment of time.

So the wording changes from only cosmetic items to not being more powerful than existing items. Now, this could simply be referring to Arenanet’s plan to include mission packs and transmutation stones in the cash shop, or the possibility of boosters, or it could open the door for selling equipment that is only as powerful as equipment found in-game. Martin Kerstein of Arenanet weighs in later in the thread.

As usual, everybody just needs to calm down a bit. This change was done to actually make the wording easier to understand – seems like that was not the case.

But the statement in it is still the same: Nothing you will be able to buy in the in-game store will give you an advantage over people who are not buying anything. That is the baseline.

So the outcome is that Arenanet, for now at least, is being vague on a familiar level to companies of the past. For now we’ll simply have to wait for clarification by Arenanet on an exact list of what will be sold in the Guild Wars 2 cash shop.