Guild Wars 2

NcSoft recently published the result for the first quarter of 2014.

http://global.ncsoft.com/global/ir/prfile.aspx?ID=AF748C58-8D61-47E2-9B51-05A3D34FAF20

http://cast.calltogether.co.kr/ncsoft/2014_1Q/index.html (stream)

• GW2 sales 17.8 M €
• -31% YTY, -25% QTQ (in Korean Won)
• sales maintained healthy level after elimination of the special effect of 4Q 13
• about expansion: Arenabet is focused on the release in China and the time after it. In EU/NA the focus currently lies on the live service (could mean LW season 2 and more) They will talk more about the topic later on when everything (China and things in NA/EU) is completed. (my guess would be Christmas time 2014.)
• Launch in China was successful: good feedback and positive atmosphere
• In general NcSoft follows the strategy of diversification in regards to games to maintain steady revenues. Expansions are one element within this strategy.

1Q 2014 earnings releases
http://global.ncsoft.com/global/ir/earnings.aspx#none

NCSoft shares -8.50% after revealing the Q1 results
http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/overview?symbol=036570.KS

Overreaction.
Isn’t it rather usual for stocks to go up and down, and especially go down when a slightly worse financial result is presented?

Also keep in mind that these numbers doesn’t really take Chinese release into account, seeing as that has basically more or less just happened and as such those numbers aren’t really compiled yet.

I suppose it’s a good time to buy ncsoft stock.

Dont’ let me down GW2 and WildStar!

There’s a reason that people shouldn’t play the stock markets unless they have an extremely good knowledge of how they work, and even then you can’t be 100% certain what is going to happen unless you’re engaging in some kind of illegal activity.

Stocks go up and down, it happens, it doesn’t immediately mean that everyone should be super concerned.

Also NCSoft’s stocks have relatively little to do with the MMO community, Arenanet changing their game to make it more ‘commercial’ isn’t going to make the stocks go up, it’s business, not MMO politics.

Lordkrall clearly doesn’t know what he is talking about.

This is a typical response of the stock market from new information being presented. Is it bad? Yes, but it depends on the health of the company and how many future positive cash flows NCsoft produce.

FYI: Since they have Anet and NCsoft have already announced their involvement in China, the equity price already represents the Chinese market.

Algreg.3629:

what lordkrall said.

Sigh, but let me guess: You are insinuating that NCSoft would be earning a lot more money if only, IF ONLY, GW2 would adjust the game in the direction you want, correct?

overinterpretating a lot huh?

In the defense of the OP, he(or she) is only pointing out the facts.

However, what happened in the parent company (NcSoft) does not mean Anet is not performing well. First of all the a/c is consolidated and did not show how Anet is doing separately.

Further more according to this Asian financial article http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2014/05/123_157346.html, the lower than expected profit is largely due to poor result from the Lineage series.

Given NcSoft has a strong line-up for the second half of the year (Wildstar, Sword & Soul, etc), the revenue should pick up for the final quarter of the year.

papryk.6273:

Algreg.3629:

what lordkrall said.

Sigh, but let me guess: You are insinuating that NCSoft would be earning a lot more money if only, IF ONLY, GW2 would adjust the game in the direction you want, correct?

overinterpretating a lot huh?

yeah, because it is very likely that is a news item for the economically interested and not yet another DOOOOM-thread.

Belenwyn.8674:

Arenabet

This is how we should all be referring to them from now on.

Algreg.3629:

papryk.6273:

Algreg.3629:

what lordkrall said.

Sigh, but let me guess: You are insinuating that NCSoft would be earning a lot more money if only, IF ONLY, GW2 would adjust the game in the direction you want, correct?

overinterpretating a lot huh?

yeah, because it is very likely that is a news item for the economically interested and not yet another DOOOOM-thread.

But DOOOM sells papers! I mean gets forum responces.

It’s Dhuum actually.

Psh, if NCSoft stock is going down, blame Aion.

\smokebomb-flee

Can’t we see how much they earned on box sales and how much on cash-shop sales and also see Arenabet’s running cost to see the total net earnings and to see how much they earn on copy sales (at release mainly) and how much on cash-shop sales.

Two things I took away from this earnings report:

1. Revenue has finally stabilized for GW2 after steady decline. (Couldn’t tell from Q4 2013 report due to Christmas influence.) Q3 2013 = 24.481, Q1 2014 = 25.142. This is great news!

2. Europe is disappearing as a GW2 revenue source. Q3 2013 = 11.369, Q1 2014 = 5.151. Bye bye European servers!

Tasty Pudding.3764:

Two things I took away from this earnings report:

1. Revenue has finally stabilized for GW2 after steady decline. (Couldn’t tell from Q4 2013 report due to Christmas influence.) Q3 2013 = 24.481, Q1 2014 = 25.142. This is great news!

2. Europe is disappearing as a GW2 revenue source. Q3 2013 = 11.369, Q1 2014 = 5.151. Bye bye European servers!

I am not surprised by the 2. point you’ve made. Soon, it will be China only as both EU/NA will stop playing it, unless there’s something expansion-worthy out.

PS Definition of “expansion-worthy”: ‘mostly substantial, permanent content, providing inter alia a couple of new explorable zones, races, classes, plethora of new skills, weapons, in-game as opposed to in-gemstore armours, weapons, skins etc.’

PS2 I say “expansion-worthy”, not “expansion”. I still believe that the “expansion-worthy” stuff could be introduce via the Living Story.

Cloudwalkernz.1328:

In the defense of the OP, he(or she) is only pointing out the facts.

However, what happened in the parent company (NcSoft) does not mean Anet is not performing well. First of all the a/c is consolidated and did not show how Anet is doing separately.

Further more according to this Asian financial article http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2014/05/123_157346.html, the lower than expected profit is largely due to poor result from the Lineage series.

Given NcSoft has a strong line-up for the second half of the year (Wildstar, Sword & Soul, etc), the revenue should pick up for the final quarter of the year.

Yes, but what is the point of the thread? Why even bother to bring this up at all? What conclusions are we expected to garner from this information?

Pointless thread is pointless, moving on.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Cloudwalkernz.1328:

In the defense of the OP, he(or she) is only pointing out the facts.

However, what happened in the parent company (NcSoft) does not mean Anet is not performing well. First of all the a/c is consolidated and did not show how Anet is doing separately.

Further more according to this Asian financial article http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2014/05/123_157346.html, the lower than expected profit is largely due to poor result from the Lineage series.

Given NcSoft has a strong line-up for the second half of the year (Wildstar, Sword & Soul, etc), the revenue should pick up for the final quarter of the year.

Yes, but what is the point of the thread? Why even bother to bring this up at all? What conclusions are we expected to garner from this information?

Pointless thread is pointless, moving on.

Nope…it’s just an informative thread. If it’s pointless to you then don’t read and move on. Some can be interested reading ncsoft revenues.

papryk.6273:

Nope…it’s just an informative thread. If it’s pointless to you then don’t read and move on. Some can be interested reading ncsoft revenues.

To be fair if it was supposed to be an informative thread only you would have used a different title.

Corpus Christi.2057:

Tasty Pudding.3764:

Two things I took away from this earnings report:

1. Revenue has finally stabilized for GW2 after steady decline. (Couldn’t tell from Q4 2013 report due to Christmas influence.) Q3 2013 = 24.481, Q1 2014 = 25.142. This is great news!

2. Europe is disappearing as a GW2 revenue source. Q3 2013 = 11.369, Q1 2014 = 5.151. Bye bye European servers!

I am not surprised by the 2. point you’ve made. Soon, it will be China only as both EU/NA will stop playing it, unless there’s something expansion-worthy out.

PS Definition of “expansion-worthy”: ‘mostly substantial, permanent content, providing inter alia a couple of new explorable zones, races, classes, plethora of new skills, weapons, in-game as opposed to in-gemstore armours, weapons, skins etc.’

PS2 I say “expansion-worthy”, not “expansion”. I still believe that the “expansion-worthy” stuff could be introduce via the Living Story.

I agree with you Living story can be able to deliver such content. It could even be more exciting compared to an expansion delivering it all at once.

EU and NA players will rush back once there is an expansion. ANET had to see a decline coming without an expansion for so long… right? …. right????

Ok that explains what I am seeing (as European customer), even a fan site I know of that was from a GW1 community has gone offline and that community is pretty much non-existing anymore. I do wonder why there is that difference. Are European people harder to trick with marketing tricks? (Not meant negative towards US players.. I like you just as well)

If the US people could also buy a little less gems then we maybe get an expansion. Well I would love to see the results between cash-shop and box-sales separated.

Kal Spiro.9745:

Cloudwalkernz.1328:

In the defense of the OP, he(or she) is only pointing out the facts.

However, what happened in the parent company (NcSoft) does not mean Anet is not performing well. First of all the a/c is consolidated and did not show how Anet is doing separately.

Further more according to this Asian financial article http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2014/05/123_157346.html, the lower than expected profit is largely due to poor result from the Lineage series.

Given NcSoft has a strong line-up for the second half of the year (Wildstar, Sword & Soul, etc), the revenue should pick up for the final quarter of the year.

Yes, but what is the point of the thread? Why even bother to bring this up at all? What conclusions are we expected to garner from this information?

Pointless thread is pointless, moving on.

if you read the earnings report, you see that gw2 profits/sales have gone down like 33% in this quarter, Its basically a few thousand from aion right now.

That said, next quarter they will probably report a lot of gains, because they are hitting a whole new market. Selling new boxes, and selling in a market which is much more connected with the f2p model that gw2 currently uses (notice the box costs drastically reduced in china)
However;
that doesnt change the fact that among the initial release areas, they are losing customer interest/spending.

ThFH.6048:

Corpus Christi.2057:

Tasty Pudding.3764:

Two things I took away from this earnings report:

1. Revenue has finally stabilized for GW2 after steady decline. (Couldn’t tell from Q4 2013 report due to Christmas influence.) Q3 2013 = 24.481, Q1 2014 = 25.142. This is great news!

2. Europe is disappearing as a GW2 revenue source. Q3 2013 = 11.369, Q1 2014 = 5.151. Bye bye European servers!

I am not surprised by the 2. point you’ve made. Soon, it will be China only as both EU/NA will stop playing it, unless there’s something expansion-worthy out.

PS Definition of “expansion-worthy”: ‘mostly substantial, permanent content, providing inter alia a couple of new explorable zones, races, classes, plethora of new skills, weapons, in-game as opposed to in-gemstore armours, weapons, skins etc.’

PS2 I say “expansion-worthy”, not “expansion”. I still believe that the “expansion-worthy” stuff could be introduce via the Living Story.

I agree with you Living story can be able to deliver such content. It could even be more exciting compared to an expansion delivering it all at once.

Nah, just go for expansions and drop the cash-shop. If it is expansion content that means we need to pay for it and then Anet can drop there cash-shop or at lease for 99% putting all those items in the game in stead of in a cash-shop. It would simply be better for the quality of the game. If it’s expansion-like they would need to keep focusing on the cash-shop for money with all the negative side-effects we have seen for over a year now.

Rauderi.8706:

Psh, if NCSoft stock is going down, blame Aion.

\smokebomb-flee

The Lineage cash cow also seems to be teetering.

$24.3 million on three months of what had to be all but cash shop sales. We could see somewhere between $75 to $100 million as an end of the year total, not including NCSoft’s cut of Chinese revenues. Not a bad job if you can make it, really.

Devata.6589:

Is the US people could also buy some less gems then we maybe get an expansion.

And if the Pope was Jewish, he could throw one heck of a Bar Mitzvah.

Azure.8670:

EU and NA players will rush back once there is an expansion. ANET had to see a decline coming without an expansion for so long… right? …. right????

Not so sure.. I mean for sure many will come back after the first expansion but what is stuff stays the same. Gold-grind and so on. Then they might leave and never come back. I did say before. The current cash-shop focus model works great in the short term (lets say 3 years). A cash-shop focus might make less money in those 3 years but would provide more money over the longer period. So for ArenaNet they should be interested in the expansion focus (the real B2P model).

For Ncsoft however things are a little different. Going for long term (that results in shorter returns in the beginning) is a higher risk because if the game does not become and stay popular then they will make less or even lose money. While the short term squeezing out as much as they can (destroying the product in the meanwhile) will have less risk. Now on the long run they might have earned more money if they did it different, however they simply launch the next game and do the same trick again, and again, and again. For Ncsoft ArenaNet is not a company that they want to keep alive. It’s just an source of income that they want to use in a way that it provides the best income with the lowest risk.

With that knowledge it might be smart to search for a game-company that is also it’s own investor / publisher. They might be more interested in keeping the game running in the long term as that is there company.

Devata.6589:

Can’t we see how much they earned on box sales and how much on cash-shop sales and also see Arenabet’s running cost to see the total net earnings and to see how much they earn on copy sales (at release mainly) and how much on cash-shop sales.

This is a well-kept secret. Many analysts asked for numbers as well. We also will not know how big the GW2 fraction in the royalties will be in the next earnings releases. The composition of the royalties is also a well-kept secret.

Devata.6589:

Nah, just go for expansions and drop the cash-shop. If it is expansion content that means we need to pay for it and then Anet can drop there cash-shop or at lease for 99% putting all those items in the game in stead of in a cash-shop. It would simply be better for the quality of the game. If it’s expansion-like they would need to keep focusing on the cash-shop for money with all the negative side-effects we have seen for over a year now.

Why would you even think they would consider dropping the Gem Store? No matter which direction the content takes, why would they just close a source of revenue? Some of the comments made on these forums just baffle me at times….. Do some of you just not grasp that beyond providing an entertainment product, this is a BUSINESS?

No company divulges details of their revenue sources and CERTAINLY not details of their expenses unless it is publicly traded (which NCSoft is) and then only to stockholders (obviously, those documents are easily obtainable). Even then they do everything they can to keep competitors from learning too much about their internal finances. There is a level of legal disclosure they must make (to maintain public trade status), but rest assured, no company will EVER divulge more information they are legally obliged to.

Devata.6589:

Nah, just go for expansions and drop the cash-shop. If it is expansion content that means we need to pay for it and then Anet can drop there cash-shop or at lease for 99% putting all those items in the game in stead of in a cash-shop. It would simply be better for the quality of the game. If it’s expansion-like they would need to keep focusing on the cash-shop for money with all the negative side-effects we have seen for over a year now.

Cash-Shop is aiming players willing to pay 15 € or much more per month. Expansion with costs is aiming players willing to spend 50 € each 12 or 24 months.. Depending on the numbers I would rather drop expansion with costs.

Looking at the report, there was a huge drop in revenue from Lineage 1 compared to the prior quarter, dropping from 74,746 million KRW to 41,019 KRW. GW2 had more a more modest reduction from 33,555 million to 25,142 million (while their focus was pretty heavy on the China release). L2 posted a little less while Aion and B&S showed small increases. “Others” also had a slight increase. Considering the China release isn’t accounted for in there at all I think ANet isn’t in panic mode.

Brother Grimm.5176:

Devata.6589:

Nah, just go for expansions and drop the cash-shop. If it is expansion content that means we need to pay for it and then Anet can drop there cash-shop or at lease for 99% putting all those items in the game in stead of in a cash-shop. It would simply be better for the quality of the game. If it’s expansion-like they would need to keep focusing on the cash-shop for money with all the negative side-effects we have seen for over a year now.

Why would you even think they would consider dropping the Gem Store? No matter which direction the content takes, why would they just close a source of revenue? Some of the comments made on these forums just baffle me at times….. Do some of you just not grasp that beyond providing an entertainment product, this is a BUSINESS?

No company divulges details of their revenue sources and CERTAINLY not details of their expenses unless it is publicly traded (which NCSoft is) and then only to stockholders (obviously, those documents are easily obtainable). Even then they do everything they can to keep competitors from learning too much about their internal finances. There is a level of legal disclosure they must make (to maintain public trade status), but rest assured, no company will EVER divulge more information they are legally obliged to.

I did not say drop it completely but I did say 99%. Yes I 100% understand that. That’s also why I see what they do. That however does not mean I have to agree. From a pure financial viewpoint I can follow this direction (from Ncsoft) completely. However from a personal viewpoint I also want a good quality product and if it was my company (sitting in Anet’s shoes) I would also be more interested in the long term for the company.

Now why throw away the cash-shop. Well that should be why lose the focus. Why put skins, mini’s and so on in the game in stead of in the cash-shop. Why make those items all available directly by playing in stead of by buying (with real money or with ingame gold what results in gold-grind). Simply because it would mean you have a better game. Even if you would only do it with half of the mini’s that mean collectors will need to grind gold (or buy) to get the other half. That means they are not satisfied and might lieve the game. If I am interested in the long term I want them to stay.

So I would sell expansions, at least one a year. Try to get make the franchise itself big. Then you can start selling merchandise (I wonder how much Blizz earns purely on franchise). My company name would get a better name resulting in better sales when I release a new game. Look at Crytec. They did sell many Crysis 2 copies because they sad a name for themselves with Crysis 1. I was also active in the Crysis forums and I did say back then that what they did with Crysis 2 might have resulted in better sales (because of console sales) but they also destroyed there name by basically not giving the PC community what they want. (What many game-companies miss is that PC-games might not sell as good but it’s also the billboard for the console sales) meaning Crysis 3 would sell way less. And that is exactly what happened. Worse even, if Crytec ever releases a new game will people trust them and almost blindly buy it? I don’t think so.

For ArenaNet it’s the same. They made a name for themselves with GW1. Now they should keep providing that same quality to keep that name and keep sales (of expansions) high. The cash-shop focus is bad for the game and bad for the company.

So that might be a reason to not focus on that cash-shop but on expansions. It will be much better for the long run. Something that a company should also look to.

About making those numbers public. Like you say, Ncsoft has stockholders and so needs to publish information to them. I am just not sure what they are obligated to make public to them. On paper you would be one of the owners of the company so you could expect to see all numbers, but in reality thatss a little different. So I don’t know what would be obtainable and what not.

Belenwyn.8674:

Devata.6589:

Nah, just go for expansions and drop the cash-shop. If it is expansion content that means we need to pay for it and then Anet can drop there cash-shop or at lease for 99% putting all those items in the game in stead of in a cash-shop. It would simply be better for the quality of the game. If it’s expansion-like they would need to keep focusing on the cash-shop for money with all the negative side-effects we have seen for over a year now.

Cash-Shop is aiming players willing to pay 15 € or much more per month. Expansion with costs is aiming players willing to spend 50 € each 12 or 24 months.. Depending on the numbers I would rather drop expansion with costs.

For a B2P game that would be every 12 months. The big question here however is how many people you would be able to keep (again, in the long run) with expansion vs with cash-shop.

I don’t know where you get the number of 15 from. But lets say that is correct then in the long run you would want to have 4 times the amount of players. And then I am not even talking about the fact that a more popular product (of a higher quality) will also sell more merchandise and royalties and be more asured of better sales of other games and so on.

Belenwyn.8674:

Arenabet

Holy Freudian Slip Batman.

Corpus Christi.2057:

Tasty Pudding.3764:

Two things I took away from this earnings report:

1. Revenue has finally stabilized for GW2 after steady decline. (Couldn’t tell from Q4 2013 report due to Christmas influence.) Q3 2013 = 24.481, Q1 2014 = 25.142. This is great news!

2. Europe is disappearing as a GW2 revenue source. Q3 2013 = 11.369, Q1 2014 = 5.151. Bye bye European servers!

I am not surprised by the 2. point you’ve made. Soon, it will be China only as both EU/NA will stop playing it, unless there’s something expansion-worthy out.

So let me get this right… if revenue is stabilized overall but decreasing in Europe, wouldn’t that imply revenue has gone up in the U.S.?

Devata.6589:

Belenwyn.8674:

Devata.6589:

Nah, just go for expansions and drop the cash-shop. If it is expansion content that means we need to pay for it and then Anet can drop there cash-shop or at lease for 99% putting all those items in the game in stead of in a cash-shop. It would simply be better for the quality of the game. If it’s expansion-like they would need to keep focusing on the cash-shop for money with all the negative side-effects we have seen for over a year now.

Cash-Shop is aiming players willing to pay 15 € or much more per month. Expansion with costs is aiming players willing to spend 50 € each 12 or 24 months.. Depending on the numbers I would rather drop expansion with costs.

For a B2P game that would be every 12 months. The big question here however is how many people you would be able to keep (again, in the long run) with expansion vs with cash-shop.

I don’t know where you get the number of 15 from. But lets say that is correct then in the long run you would want to have 4 times the amount of players. And then I am not even talking about the fact that a more popular product (of a higher quality) will also sell more merchandise and royalties and be more asured of better sales of other games and so on.

For a company your goal is to keep as much people as possible, who pay as much as possible for your product. If you remove or reduce the cash-shop you will lose the money from people willing to pay more money than for expansions only. You can’t raise the price for the expansion to compensate this. This would cause even less people playing the game. As compensation you have to try to attract much more people, who are willing to buy an expansion or the game itself.

If you remove traditional expansions with costs and provide content for free or modules via cash-shop you avoid the problems mentioned above. In this scenario you can keep both factions: the expansion buyers and the cash-shop fans. The company can satisfy both

VOLKON.1290:

Corpus Christi.2057:

Tasty Pudding.3764:

Two things I took away from this earnings report:

1. Revenue has finally stabilized for GW2 after steady decline. (Couldn’t tell from Q4 2013 report due to Christmas influence.) Q3 2013 = 24.481, Q1 2014 = 25.142. This is great news!

2. Europe is disappearing as a GW2 revenue source. Q3 2013 = 11.369, Q1 2014 = 5.151. Bye bye European servers!

I am not surprised by the 2. point you’ve made. Soon, it will be China only as both EU/NA will stop playing it, unless there’s something expansion-worthy out.

So let me get this right… if revenue is stabilized overall but decreasing in Europe, wouldn’t that imply revenue has gone up in the U.S.?

“Soon” denotes not so distant future, while what you are referring to is present time and the numbers given above. Let me translate it using simpler language: I proposed a thesis, in which the NA follows in Europe’s footsteps and decreases its playerbase in near future, while it is Chinese players that constinute most of the playerbase. Although the present numbers indicate the decreasing trend only in Europe, it is likely that the same thing happens in the US in the future UNLESS there’s an exp-worthy content, which again may ignite the love-feeling for the game.

Cheers

Tasty Pudding.3764:

Two things I took away from this earnings report:

1. Revenue has finally stabilized for GW2 after steady decline. (Couldn’t tell from Q4 2013 report due to Christmas influence.) Q3 2013 = 24.481, Q1 2014 = 25.142. This is great news!

2. Europe is disappearing as a GW2 revenue source. Q3 2013 = 11.369, Q1 2014 = 5.151. Bye bye European servers!

There is no figure assigning sales in Europe to the GW2 sales. We cannot say what causes the drastic decrease in Europe.

Corpus Christi.2057:

VOLKON.1290:

Corpus Christi.2057:

Tasty Pudding.3764:

Two things I took away from this earnings report:

1. Revenue has finally stabilized for GW2 after steady decline. (Couldn’t tell from Q4 2013 report due to Christmas influence.) Q3 2013 = 24.481, Q1 2014 = 25.142. This is great news!

2. Europe is disappearing as a GW2 revenue source. Q3 2013 = 11.369, Q1 2014 = 5.151. Bye bye European servers!

I am not surprised by the 2. point you’ve made. Soon, it will be China only as both EU/NA will stop playing it, unless there’s something expansion-worthy out.

So let me get this right… if revenue is stabilized overall but decreasing in Europe, wouldn’t that imply revenue has gone up in the U.S.?

“Soon” denotes not so distant future, while what you are referring to is present time and the numbers given above. Let me translate it using simpler language: I proposed a thesis, in which the NA follows in Europe’s footsteps and decreases its playerbase in near future, while it is Chinese players that constinute most of the playerbase. Although the present numbers indicate the decreasing trend only in Europe, it is likely that the same thing happens in the US in the future UNLESS there’s an exp-worthy content, which again may ignite the love-feeling for the game.

Cheers

Oh, ok. You’re making things up instead of following the trends of the existing data.

That clarifies it nicely.

VOLKON.1290:

GW2 had more a more modest reduction from 33,555 million to 25,142 million (while their focus was pretty heavy on the China release). … Considering the China release isn’t accounted for in there at all I think ANet isn’t in panic mode.

Certainly not in panic mode. However, a drop of 8413 MN KW represents a drop of ~$8.2 MN (at just over 1,000 KW to the dollar), approximately a 25% decrease. This might represent an acceptable decline if ANet’s focus was more on the China release than on maintaining EU and NA sales — or, it might be at least a concern.

VOLKON.1290:

Corpus Christi.2057:

VOLKON.1290:

Corpus Christi.2057:

Tasty Pudding.3764:

Two things I took away from this earnings report:

1. Revenue has finally stabilized for GW2 after steady decline. (Couldn’t tell from Q4 2013 report due to Christmas influence.) Q3 2013 = 24.481, Q1 2014 = 25.142. This is great news!

2. Europe is disappearing as a GW2 revenue source. Q3 2013 = 11.369, Q1 2014 = 5.151. Bye bye European servers!

I am not surprised by the 2. point you’ve made. Soon, it will be China only as both EU/NA will stop playing it, unless there’s something expansion-worthy out.

So let me get this right… if revenue is stabilized overall but decreasing in Europe, wouldn’t that imply revenue has gone up in the U.S.?

“Soon” denotes not so distant future, while what you are referring to is present time and the numbers given above. Let me translate it using simpler language: I proposed a thesis, in which the NA follows in Europe’s footsteps and decreases its playerbase in near future, while it is Chinese players that constinute most of the playerbase. Although the present numbers indicate the decreasing trend only in Europe, it is likely that the same thing happens in the US in the future UNLESS there’s an exp-worthy content, which again may ignite the love-feeling for the game.

Cheers

Oh, ok. You’re making things up instead of following the trends of the existing data.

That clarifies it nicely.

Whatever makes you feel better.

Belenwyn.8674:

There is no figure assigning sales in Europe to the GW2 sales. We cannot say what causes the drastic decrease in Europe.

Was going to say the same thing. Sales for GW2 by region are not given. Sales for NCSOFTs combined products by region are.

:’( Diversification means expanding your product line in new products instead of updating on your current products. Which seems logical, but if this is there main focus it means cash out and move on.

Its because Anet experiments way too much. The core game is already a pretty massive experiment, trying to fuse old school traditional MMOs and new school action MMOs, getting rid of the trinity, etc. Then they try to layer more experimental features like the Living Story unto it. So unsurprisingly, it’s a mess sometimes.

I’m not really a finance person, but over a 2 year period it seems Jan 2013 was their lowest? With there being a 25% increase from that time to now?

Scoundrel.2139:

I’m not really a finance person, but over a 2 year period it seems Jan 2013 was their lowest? With there being a 25% increase from that time to now?

Yes, for long term investment, its not bad. The decrease just means that some investors feel less certain about the future. Or saw the news and wanted to cash out. Nothing to be worried about.

Belenwyn.8674:

Devata.6589:

Belenwyn.8674:

Devata.6589:

Nah, just go for expansions and drop the cash-shop. If it is expansion content that means we need to pay for it and then Anet can drop there cash-shop or at lease for 99% putting all those items in the game in stead of in a cash-shop. It would simply be better for the quality of the game. If it’s expansion-like they would need to keep focusing on the cash-shop for money with all the negative side-effects we have seen for over a year now.

Cash-Shop is aiming players willing to pay 15 € or much more per month. Expansion with costs is aiming players willing to spend 50 € each 12 or 24 months.. Depending on the numbers I would rather drop expansion with costs.

For a B2P game that would be every 12 months. The big question here however is how many people you would be able to keep (again, in the long run) with expansion vs with cash-shop.

I don’t know where you get the number of 15 from. But lets say that is correct then in the long run you would want to have 4 times the amount of players. And then I am not even talking about the fact that a more popular product (of a higher quality) will also sell more merchandise and royalties and be more asured of better sales of other games and so on.

For a company your goal is to keep as much people as possible, who pay as much as possible for your product. If you remove or reduce the cash-shop you will lose the money from people willing to pay more money than for expansions only. You can’t raise the price for the expansion to compensate this. This would cause even less people playing the game. As compensation you have to try to attract much more people, who are willing to buy an expansion or the game itself.

If you remove traditional expansions with costs and provide content for free or modules via cash-shop you avoid the problems mentioned above. In this scenario you can keep both factions: the expansion buyers and the cash-shop fans. The company can satisfy both

Everybody keeps talking about expansions and cash shop as if they’re incompatible business models. You could dedicate 3 people to keeping the cash shop stocked with fresh bullkitten for idiots to buy while the rest of the team works on real stuff. Not to mention the gems→gold conversion allows you to buy almost anything in the game with real money, an offer that many, many people will continue to take.

dace.8019:

Belenwyn.8674:

There is no figure assigning sales in Europe to the GW2 sales. We cannot say what causes the drastic decrease in Europe.

Was going to say the same thing. Sales for GW2 by region are not given. Sales for NCSOFTs combined products by region are.

The EU drop was most likely from the drop in Lineage sales.

Happy to see that sales for GW2 remained steady. There’s a slight increase from 3rd quarter last year from 24,481 million won to 25,142 million won or around $650k.

Karizee.8076:

dace.8019:

Belenwyn.8674:

There is no figure assigning sales in Europe to the GW2 sales. We cannot say what causes the drastic decrease in Europe.

Was going to say the same thing. Sales for GW2 by region are not given. Sales for NCSOFTs combined products by region are.

The EU drop was most likely from the drop in Lineage sales.

Happy to see that sales for GW2 remained steady. There’s a slight increase from 3rd quarter last year from 24,481 million won to 25,142 million won or around $650k.

Q3 2013:
All NCSoft NA+Europe = 28.029 (16.660 + 11.369)
All GW2 = 24.481
Non-GW2 NA+Europe = 3.548

Q1 2014:
All NCSoft NA+Europe = 28.534 (23.383 + 5.151)
All GW2 = 25.142
Non-GW2 NA+Europe = 3.392

There was a big bump up in NA revenue and a big decline in Europe revenue for NCSoft from Q3 2013 to Q1 2014. GW2 revenue in Europe declined sharply (and went up in NA.)