What’s that spell? Loads of money! Probably.
Continue reading “NCSoft Q2 Financial Highlights: Lods of Emone”
Tag: Income
NCSoft Q1 Revenue: L2M Spurs Historic Sales
Nexon Quarterly Report Shows Disruption From COVID-19
Activision Blizzard Q4 Finances: Lesser Billions
Activision Blizzard has released their fourth quarter financial reports and if you were hoping the company would burn to the ground following last year’s Hearthstone debacle, well you’re going to be sorely disappointed.
The positive side of this year’s Q4 report is that Activision didn’t pair an announcement of record revenues with hundreds of layoffs. We still expect the company to siphon a few hundred million in taxpayer dollars for simply existing in 2019. Unfortunately Activision hasn’t been able to keep up its record results from last year as the company has seen multiple straight quarters of revenue loss. Sad for the investors, but since Activision isn’t infinitely expanding not quite a surprise.
Despite this, Q4 results exceeded expectations according to Bobby Kotick.
“Our fourth quarter results exceeded our prior outlook for both revenue and earnings per share,” said Bobby Kotick, Chief Executive Officer of Activision Blizzard. “Our recent Call of Duty® success illustrates the scale of our growth potential, as we expanded the community to more players in more countries on more platforms than ever before. With our strong content pipeline across our franchises and momentum in mobile, esports, and advertising, we look forward to continuing to delight our players, fans and stakeholders in 2020 and beyond.”
Net revenue dropped from $2.3 billion for Q4 2018 to $1.98 billion in 2019, while overall net bookings similarly fell. Activision boasted a monthly average user rate of 409 million with a large portion coming from King (249 million) and of course the ongoing success of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch.
Investors are happy because Activision increased dividend payouts by 11% and you have to focus on the important things.
Source: Activision
In 2018, Activision Blizzard Got $228 Million From Taxpayers For Existing
If you live in the United States and thought you could get away with not giving Activision money simply by not buying their products, you’re in for a nasty surprise.
ITEP, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, posted a list of 60 companies avoiding all federal income taxes in 2018.
“For decades, profitable Fortune 500 companies have manipulated the tax system to avoid paying even a dime in tax on billions of dollars in U.S. profits. This ITEP report provides the first comprehensive look at how corporate tax changes under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act affect the scale of corporate tax avoidance. The report finds that in 2018, 60 of America’s biggest corporations zeroed out their federal income taxes on $79 billion in U.S. pretax income. Instead of paying $16.4 billion in taxes at the 21 percent statutory corporate tax rate, these companies enjoyed a net corporate tax rebate of $4.3 billion.”
Activision Blizzard notably started out 2019 with the best results in company history, which they celebrated by firing nearly a thousand workers. While celebrating their major financial success and putting hundreds of people out of work, Activision also wound up claiming a -51% effective tax rate. Yes, Activision got $228 million from US taxpayers simply for existing.
We should all get a ride on Bobby Kotick’s private plane. We helped pay for it after all.
Source: ITEP
NCSoft Income Dips In Q2, Lineage Is Doing Just Fine
NCSoft this week released their second quarter earning reports and the results are not entirely great, but not entirely bad. While sales dropped 6% over last year, profits are down 19% with net income down 17% over the same period. NCSoft’s mobile titles are still going very strong and now make up the vast majority of the company’s revenue with Lineage continuing to be the breadwinner on the traditional MMO side.
Lineage launched a remaster update and revamped monetizations that has been credited for a spike in sales and has seen user numbers more than double. NCSoft believes that this rebound revenue will remain solid and that other updates in the second half will maintain revenue numbers. According to NCSoft statements, Lineage M continues to maintain its highest numbers ever. NCSoft also expressed pride in Lineage II, noting that “the fact that a game in its sixteenth year is achieving 55% YoY growth is extremely encouraging for us,” with more updates coming in the second half of the year that should accelerate growth. There were no additional notes for Aion, Blade & Soul, and Guild Wars 2.
The second half of 2019 is set to bring Lineage II M to the market which NCSoft hopes will shake up the market with its differentiated content. Aion 2 and Blade & Soul 2 are progressing smoothly with NCSoft taking aim to ensure that the games are received well not just in Korea but in the international market as well. Lineage II M is set to launch in the fourth fiscal quarter 2019 followed by international launch in a “timely manner” with minimal gaps. They did acknowledge concerns with the Korean MMO market due to underperformance of recent launches in the country and whether the market has further growth potential. NCSoft stated that their own internal numbers indicate that there is a large potential demand of customers “waiting on the sidelines” for something to appear, and that Lineage II M is exactly the title that can satisfy that pent-up demand, however they do recognize that adding overseas revenue is necessary and that Lineage II M will cater to that market.
As for NCWest, NCSoft noted the company is going through a “process” to improve efficiency from the studio, but does not see a significant decrease in labor costs from the entity in the coming year which should assuage fears of further layoffs.
On the topic of cloud/console gaming, it was stated that PC titles from the beginning will be designed to be played on a console format going forward. There are internal projects looking into cloud gaming, but nothing that could be discussed at this time. ArenaNet is looking at several projects including a potential mobile Guild Wars 2, however there are no solid titles that could be announced at this time as all of the projects are still under review.
(Source: NCSoft quarterly income)
Activision Blizzard Releases Quarterly Report, Hearthstone Up, WoW Down
Activision Blizzard released their third quarter revenue statements this week, and the news is all around great for the developer. Chief among the announcement is the news that the publisher is set to acquire Candy Crush developer King for $5.9 billion in equity value. Net revenues for the quarter amounted to $990 million up from $753 million for the same quarter last year.
Call of Duty has increased sales by double digits, fueled both by game sales and supply packs, while Destiny broke sales records on Playstation with player engagement now three hours a day. Skylanders has also increased sales, despite heavier competition with more products on the market, while World of Warcraft fell to 5.5 million subscribers.
Bobby Kotick’s statement:
“We continue to benefit from our focus on creating the world’s best interactive entertainment. Our incredibly talented employees around the world once again delivered great content and strong financial results. Mobile gaming is the largest and fastest-growing opportunity for interactive entertainment and we will have one of the world’s most successful mobile game companies and its talented teams providing great content to new customers, in new geographies throughout the world. King has a truly fantastic management team and over 1,600 incredibly talented employees and we are excited to welcome them into the Activision Blizzard family.”
(Source: Activision Blizzard)
Perfect World Entertainment Posts Q2 2014 Finances
Perfect World Entertainment has posted their second quarter income for 2014 and the results are looking pretty good. For the second quarter, total revenues amounted to $149.6 million USD, an increase by about 4% over last quarter. Gross profit similarly increased by a small margin to $109.4 million with operating profit decreased nearly 30% to $20.7 million. CEO Robert Xiao attributed much of the increase in revenue to the success of client-based games like Swordsman Online and the publishing of Dota 2 in China.
Expenses rose in the second quarter due to an increase in sales and marketing as well as research and development. For the next quarter, Perfect World Entertainment expects an increase in revenue between 3-8%.
(Source: Perfect World Entertainment)
Perfect World Entertainment Posts Strong Growth
Perfect World Entertainment has posted their most recent quarterly income, showing a strong growth in the first quarter of 2014 despite lowered promotional activity. Revenue for the international publisher amounted to $124 million, down 2.5% from the previous quarter but going along overall with a 44% annual growth. The mobile sector of Perfect World Entertainment grew from 10% of overall revenue to 15% last quarter, thanks in part to the 3D mobile RPG Fantasy of the Immortals.
The publisher is set to increase revenues thanks to their deal to publish Dota 2 and Neverwinter in China, both of which are expected to launch this year. Neverwinter is also expanding several titles in its library to more territories, including the Portuguese version of Neverwinter which launched in Brazil earlier this year. Revenue for the second quarter is expected to rise around five percent, thanks to upcoming launches in China.
(Source: PWE income report)
2012 Is Jagex's Best Year Ever
In the vacuum of space, no one can hear you scream. Say what you want about Squeal of Fortune and Solomon’s Store, Jagex’s two cash shop ventures in RuneScape, but they have brought in oodles of money. 2012 has become Jagex’s biggest year to date, with income spiraling above the fifty million pound mark for the first time in the company’s history. Jagex is now the largest independent game studio in the UK with over five hundred employees, and has boasted an influx of users last year into RuneScape as well as the recent release of RuneScape 2007, a classic ruleset server.
2013 looks to be an even better year for a game that has reportedly been dying since 2005, depending on which player you ask.
(Source: Jagex press release)
MMO Fallout 