Category: Editorials

NCSoft’s Sales Per Region, Per Quarter, Mapped


Click on me to enlarge. I look much better zoomed in.

I’ve mapped out the sales per region over the entirety of NCSoft’s financial statements, dating back to the first quarter of 2005. You’ll see that Korea makes up more of NCsoft’s sales generally than every other region combined, and occasionally even doubled. Sales in North America and Europe peaked in 2009 and have been on a steady decline since, with European sales you will see becoming virtually nothing in Q2 2012 (less than 1% of total sales for the quarter). Japan has its ups and downs but is on a general incline, and Taiwan has been relatively stable since its tracking began in 2007. Royalty sales are on an incline, with a few stumbles along the way.

NCSoft may be banking on Guild Wars 2 to save its sales in North America and Europe. Guild Wars sold millions of copies and did quite well in the West. Shutting down City of Heroes will cut NCSoft’s income by a small amount, small beans compared to the sales of Guild Wars 2.

Just a few notes:

  • Units are KRW in Mn.
  • Up until Q3 2008, royalties were included in Korean sales.
  • Taiwan was not listed until Q1 2007.
  • Up until around 2006, NCSoft changed its label “US” to “North America.” For the sake of continuity, N. America has been used for the entire list.

NCSoft's Sales Per Region, Per Quarter, Mapped


Click on me to enlarge. I look much better zoomed in.

I’ve mapped out the sales per region over the entirety of NCSoft’s financial statements, dating back to the first quarter of 2005. You’ll see that Korea makes up more of NCsoft’s sales generally than every other region combined, and occasionally even doubled. Sales in North America and Europe peaked in 2009 and have been on a steady decline since, with European sales you will see becoming virtually nothing in Q2 2012 (less than 1% of total sales for the quarter). Japan has its ups and downs but is on a general incline, and Taiwan has been relatively stable since its tracking began in 2007. Royalty sales are on an incline, with a few stumbles along the way.

NCSoft may be banking on Guild Wars 2 to save its sales in North America and Europe. Guild Wars sold millions of copies and did quite well in the West. Shutting down City of Heroes will cut NCSoft’s income by a small amount, small beans compared to the sales of Guild Wars 2.

Just a few notes:

  • Units are KRW in Mn.
  • Up until Q3 2008, royalties were included in Korean sales.
  • Taiwan was not listed until Q1 2007.
  • Up until around 2006, NCSoft changed its label “US” to “North America.” For the sake of continuity, N. America has been used for the entire list.

Falling Out #13: Perpetually Wrong


You all know this person. Happy birthday, Ultima Online.

Return To Britannia In September


Fifteen is a big number for any video game to still receive regular support and updates, but Ultima Online has been trucking along since its launch in September 1997. Actually these days it seems like five is a high number for many MMOs to still receive regular updates. Still, the fact that Ultima Online is still alive and kicking says a lot about the development team behind it, and what better way to celebrate than to invite everyone back for a month?

For fifteen years Britannia has been a world of arcane arts and cold steel, a world where the Apprentice can become Legendary, a world where Warriors become Champions. Throughout its rich past Britannia has been a place where histories have unfolded, where new friends have become family, and where each new adventure can lead to great fortune.

Through the month of September, old players are welcome to come back. Simply log into your account and start playing.

Important: The Return to Britannia event does not begin until September 5th. I’m not sure why this isn’t announced on the news page, but it was confirmed elsewhere.

(Source: UO Herald)

List of MMOs On Steam Greenlight


Hey there, folks. With Steam Greenlight, Valve has opened Steam up to the community. Now, developers can pitch their games and let the players decide what is listed for sale. So if you want your favorite MMO (or non MMO, if you’re into that sort of thing), you should be pitching your favorite developers to get off of their lazy backs and start pitching!

But for now, I’ve compiled a list of games that you can vote for on Greenlight.

  1. [MMORPG] Blockade Runner
  2. [MMORTS] Dawn of Fantasy
  3. [MMORPG] Face of Mankind
  4. [MMOFPS] Heroes & Generals
  5. [MMORPG] NEStalgia
  6. [MMORPG] Perpetuum Online
  7. [MMORPG] Star Sonata
  8. [MMOFPS] World War II: Battleground Europe

ROBLOX Shows Off iPad Version


ROBLOX on the iPad might have a ways to go, but the version shown above appears to be running quite smoothly.

City Of Heroes Sunsetting Later This Year


In a news post on the City of Heroes website today, Andy Belford has announced that Paragon Studios will be shutting down, and City of Heroes will be closing by the end of the year. The reason given in the article is “realignment of company focus” at NCSoft. Effective immediately, all subscription services and paragon purchases will be halted.

Thank you. Thank you for your years of support. You’ve been with us every step of the way, sharing in our challenges, encouraging us to make City of Heroes better, more than everyone else thought it could be. We couldn’t have come this far without you. I implore you all, focus on the good things of CoH and Paragon Studios. Don’t dwell on the “how” or the “why”, but rather join us in celebrating the legacy of an amazing partnership between the players and the development team.

More information will be coming within a few weeks. It appears NCSoft hasn’t picked up any (or much) of the Paragon Studios team, because Belford pitched this:

To any potential studios looking to grow your team; hire these people. You won’t regret it.

City of Heroes launched in 2004 as the first, and in many minds the best, super hero MMO. Since then it has gone on to release 22 issues (major updates), and three expansion packs. In June of last year, City of Heroes adopted a free to play model.

(Source: Paragon Studios)

FFXIV Shuts Down November 11th For 2.0


I think Final Fantasy XIV is the first time I’ve ever said “this game is shutting down” with a positive outlook. Earlier this month, Naoki Yoshida explained to us that Final Fantasy XIV will shut down at some point in the future in order in order to make way for the MMO’s relaunch, A Realm Reborn. In a producer’s letter released today, Yoshi revealed that the shut down date has been determined: November 11th, at midnight PST (8:00am GMT). The servers will remain down until A Realm Reborn launches.

A Realm Reborn will initially roll out in a four phase alpha test. The first test will only be available to Japan, however Yoshi has asked the players to answer a poll if they would prefer to keep the current version servers online (albeit with no progress saved to Realm Reborn after the initial shut down) so they can at least play while they wait.

(Source: FFXIV)

Raptr: Star Trek Online Bundle Coming 9/4


Raptr is one of my favorite apps to have running in the background, next to xfire. Essentially it is a simple program which tracks how much time you spend in games on your PC, Xbox and PS3, tracks your achievements, and ranks you in each game based on time played and achievements earned. It also has a host of other features, including chat and suggested/featured games to check out. But what I love most about Raptr are the coupon codes that the game hands out on a pretty regular basis.

Currently in beta, the Raptr rewards is pretty basic. The list is mostly populated with item bundles for Blacklight: Retribution and Lost Saga, but every once in a while the program has pulled in some great rewards. We’ve seen giveaways for Mists of Pandaria beta keys, 50% off TERA coupons, and free copies of Rift. The next bundle, set to go live September 4th, involves Star Trek Online. By achieving “newbie” rank or above in Star Trek Online, players will be able to claim the Bridge Officer Bundle. By achieving experienced or above, players will be able to redeem an exclusive cosmetic pet.

The Bridge Officer Bundle contains:

  • Consumable item that grants 2,500 EXP
  • Pack of 5000 Raw Dilithium
  • Random Rare ‘Purple’ tiered weapon (space or ground)
  • Pack of random ‘self’ dual consumables
  • Pack of random ‘team’ dual consumables

Raptr costs absolutely nothing and neither to the rewards. The only catch is that each reward is limited in quantity, so you’ll have to act fast once the giveaway starts September 4th.

(Source: Raptr)

Jagex Announces Upcoming Bot Ban, New Account Security, HTML, and More


Suffice to say, there has been some animosity among the RuneScape community lately with Jagex’s increased focus on their cash shops (Squeal of Fortune and Solomon’s Store). Mark Gerhard has taken to the RuneScape front page to pen a letter to the community addressing concerns over Solomon’s store and the future of RuneScape. In the letter, he states that great care is taken to ensure that anything offered on the store does not affect the integrity of RuneScape or Jagex. Over the past year and a half, the RuneScape team has doubled in size.

We place immense value in our – and your – game’s integrity, feedback from our community, and continually improving the game experience for all, and we have a strong track record of making decisions in this area that we know may be sub-optimal, commercially speaking, but represent our values. For example, we know that directly selling gold, XP or even accounts would generate between 10 to 15 times more revenue than Squeal or Solomon’s Store generates combined. However, we simply won’t do it, because we don’t believe it’s the right thing for the long-term health of the game.

Gerhard goes on to address bots, spam, and account security:

This week, you should notice a significant reduction in gold farmer spam. Over the course of the next few weeks, we will not only be launching our most comprehensive and formidable anti-bot update but players will also see a significant upgrade to their accounts’ security to protect against phishing and hijacking. This is called Jagex Account Guardian, and we’re introducing it within the next two weeks.

Finally, the letter offers a screenshot toward a future RuneScape update, running the client via HTML rather than through Java (pictured above), and notes that there are already plans to bring RuneScape to additional platforms.

We will have more coverage of the anti-bot updates as they appear, which will be “over the next few weeks.”

(Source: RuneScape)