NCSoft has published their first quarter finances, and as always there is good news and bad news. Quarterly sales were up, although profits were down nearly 20% due to increased labor cost, royalty expenses, and other factors. Korea grew due with sound in-game item sales, while Japan dropped. Aion and Lineage performed strongly. Lineage 2 … Continue reading “NCSoft Q1 2012: Aion/Lineage Up, Lineage 2 Down”
Aion free to play technically doesn’t launch until next week, but NCSoft has something all players can get into, past, present, and prospective. Starting today, inactive accounts that are in good standing will be reactivated and able to log on. When Aion Truly Free goes live, a new server Kahrun will be launched. While you … Continue reading “NCSoft Reactivating Aion Accounts”
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 … Continue reading “NCSoft Q4 Finances: Sales/Profit Down”
It’s been two years since I last talked about the lawsuit between NCSoft and TERA developer Bluehole Studio, so I think a recap is necessary. Many years ago, before Lineage III was known as Lineage Eternal and when NCSoft still had plans to develop the MMO on the Unreal 3 engine, several members of the … Continue reading “NCSoft Is Suing TERA Again”
You know, I hadn’t really noticed until tonight how small NCSoft’s library has become in the west. With the shuttering of Lineage, Auto Assault, Tabula Rasa, Exteel, and Dungeon Runners, us westerners are left with Aion, City of Heroes, Guild Wars, and Lineage 2. Four titles? Granted, we have Blade & Soul (hopefully) coming out … Continue reading “NCSoft Outsourcing European Hosting?”
If there was ever a game to give Diablo 3 a run for its money, it is Lineage Eternal. Fully revealed late this year, Lineage Eternal brings players back to the days of Lineage with even more chaos and destruction. We were treated to a fourteen minute video of pure gameplay, with cutscenes, massive battles, … Continue reading “Games To Watch Out For: NCSoft Edition”
Over in Korea, players have a lot more to lose when a company leaks their information. Unlike in most other countries, players are often required to register to MMOs with the Korean equivalent of the social security number, and more than once data leaks have resulted in these numbers being readily available for the gaming … Continue reading “NCSoft, Nexon, Others Relieved Of Identity Attacks…”
Lineage II’s free to play launched almost as expected: the servers were steamrolled by the Persian Army sized group of newcomers, and naturally players experienced problems reliably logging in and staying logged in last night. In preparation for the transition, NCSoft opened a brand new server (Shilen) and today revealed yet another new server, Magmeld. … Continue reading “Dr. NCSoft Prescribes Extra Lineage II Server”
NCSoft has released its financial documents for the third quarter, and the report starts with “Revenue and Operating Income came down due to soft promotions for in-game items sales versus Q2.” In fact, the publisher is reporting a 22% loss quarter over quarter and 32% year over year loss in operating profit, as well as … Continue reading “NCSoft Third Quarter Finances: Profit/Revenues Down”
You’ve most likely heard of “jackpot items,” even if you aren’t entirely familiar with the term itself. These items cost real money and only offer the chance at a high level piece of equipment, usually a very slim chance at that. I’ve been rather critical of jackpot items in the past, I’ve referred to them … Continue reading “Nexon, Hanbitsoft, NCsoft Block Korean Probe Into Gambling”
MMO Fallout 