[THE INVESTOR] NCSoft beat third-quarter earnings expectations on the back of rebounding revenue from “Lineage M” in Korea, said KB Investment and Securities on Nov. 12 maintaining a “buy” recommendation and raising the target price to 550,000 won (US$486.42) from 480,000 won.
Its revenue and operating profit surpassed market consensus at 403.8 billion won and 139.0 billion won, respectively, as revenue from the mobile game increased 3 percent from the previous quarter to 215.7 billion won. It is quite encouraging that while most Korean blockbuster MMORPGs hit the highest revenue point upon release and begin a downturn, “Lineage M” saw the highest number of daily active users a year after an update, said analyst Lee Dong-ryun.
Expectations are high for the game to maintain the momentum and as the game maker is planning a major update to celebrate the 20th anniversary of “Lineage 1” in the fourth quarter, its revenue is likely to improve further, the analyst forecast.
By Hwang You-mee (glamazon@heraldcorp.com)