Good to see they’re doing well. Check out the official news below.
TOKYO – February 9, 2023– NEXON Co., Ltd. (Nexon) (3659.TO), a global leader in Virtual Worlds, today announced the financial results for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended on December 31, 2022.
“Nexon has never been stronger, or its future brighter,” said Owen Mahoney, President and CEO of Nexon. “Despite global headwinds that have severely impacted our sector, Nexon’s revenue grew 49% year over year in Q4 and we expect to grow 28% to 38% year over year in the current quarter.
“In today’s turbulent economic environment, Nexon is anti-fragile. Our business model of Virtual Worlds, and our long-term approach to player engagement have resulted in an enormously robust business.”
Recent Highlights Include:
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In Q4, Nexon achieved record-breaking fourth quarter revenue of ¥81.1 billion, up 49% year over year on an as-reported basis and up 36% year over year on a constant-currency basis – within the range of our outlook.
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Operating income was up 269% year over year and within our outlook at ¥11.0 billion.
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Net loss was ¥7.9 billion – below our outlook due to a ¥25.0 billion FX loss primarily on U.S. dollar-denominated cash deposits.
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In Korea, Nexon generated record-breaking fourth quarter revenue, up 62% year over year on an as-reported basis and up 50% on a constant-currency basis1. Results in Korea were driven by FIFA ONLINE 4, MapleStory, HIT2 and Dungeon&Fighter Mobile. FIFA ONLINE 43 achieved record Q4 revenue, driven by successful World Cup-related events and sales promotions.
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When Dungeon&Fighter Mobile was named best game of the year by The Korean Game Awards in November, Nexon celebrated by reducing monetization to build momentum and fortify long-term relationships with players. While Q4 revenue was below our outlook, active users increased sequentially.
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In China, revenue grew by 55% year over year, based on Dungeon&Fighter posting a strong Q4 turnaround with a meaningful increase in active players. Following the Lunar-New-Year update released in January, the game is tracking toward strong year-over-year revenue growth in Q1.
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In Japan, revenue increased by 14% year over year driven by the growth of Blue Archive and a contribution from TalesWeaver: SecondRun.
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Despite growth in MapleStory, revenue from North America and Europe decreased by 6% year over year due to Choices and Blue Archive.
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Rest-of-World revenue increased by 25% year over year, driven by the growth in MapleStory M and contributions from new games.
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KartRider: Drift started its preseason globally on January 12 and will launch “Season 1” on PC, iOS, Android, Xbox and PlayStation March 9.
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Nexon is scheduled to conduct a closed-beta test for THE FINALS in Q1.
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Several more Virtual Worlds are in late-stage development, including WARS OF PRASIA, VEILED EXPERTS, The First Descendant, Warhaven and MABINOGI MOBILE.
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Nexon completed approximately ¥24.7 billion of its three-year ¥100 billion share repurchase policy announced on August 9, 2022 and expects to complete ¥50 billion in share repurchases by April 2023. We are scheduled to complete the rest of the repurchase authorization after May 2023 and by August 2025 with consideration of several factors including investment opportunities, financial conditions and market environment.
Full-Year 2022 Highlights:
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Nexon achieved record-breaking revenue in FY2022, driven by strong growth of major franchises and the launch of new Virtual Worlds.
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Revenue was ¥353.7 billion, up 29% year over year on an as-reported basis, up 19% on a constant-currency basis1. Full-year PC revenue grew by 24% and mobile revenue grew by 41% year over year.
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Operating income was ¥103.7 billion, up 13% year over year on an as-reported basis, up 2% on a constant-currency basis1.
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Net income2 was ¥100.3 billion, down 13% year over year on an as-reported basis and down 21% on a constant-currency basis1, primarily due to a comparison with 2021 when tax expense was at the low level due to recording of additional deferred tax assets on overseas subsidiaries. Additionally, we recorded valuation losses for investment funds, bitcoins and affiliates due to changes in the market environment.
First Quarter 2023 Outlook:
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Expect revenue in the range of ¥116.7 to ¥125.6 billion, representing a 28% to 38% increase year over year on an as-reported basis and a 19% to 28% increase on a constant-currency basis1
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Expect operating income of ¥45.3 to ¥52.5 billion
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Expect net income2 of ¥34.4 to ¥39.8 billion
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FX sensitivity: Every one-Japanese yen move against the U.S. dollar would have the following impact on our financials for Q1 2023:
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Revenue: ¥0.92 billion
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Operating Income: ¥0.39 billion
