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)
MMO Fallout 
That is an absolutely fantastic graph.
I was going to ask, “What happened to City of Heroes in late 2009?” But then I figured it out.
This article needs better fact checking. City of Heroes did indeed go free to play, but was cancelled despite being modestly profitable with subscriptions and good in-game sales during Q4 (on Nov 30th) with the in game store being closed for the entirety of Q4.
Steele,
I suggest you take a better look at the dates on articles before you post. This article was published February 2012 and covers the data from NCSoft’s Q4 2011 and annual statements. If you are looking for their Q4 2012 reports, which won’t include City of Heroes or Guild Wars, those won’t be released until mid-February.