Webzen’s CI / Provided by Webzen
Webzen announced on the 12th that last year’s annual sales amounted to 214.7 billion won, an increase of 9.4% compared to the previous year, with an operating profit of 54.5 billion won, up 9.3%. However, the net profit decreased by 1.4% to 56.7 billion won.
In the fourth quarter, sales were 56 billion won, a decrease of 20.6% compared to the same period last year, with an operating profit of 15.1 billion won, down 17.1%. The net profit was recorded at 12.1 billion won, decreasing by 40.9%.
Webzen attributed the annual performance increase to the success of “Mu Monarch 2,” released in August last year. They explained that it offset the decline in revenue from long-term service games, and the growth in sales of the ‘Mu’ intellectual property (IP) business and the Metin series led to strong performance.
Webzen plans to achieve genre diversification and expand development capabilities by releasing games currently under their development and games they have secured publishing rights for through continuous investment this year. The collectible RPG genre game “Teruvise” they are developing is gaining recognition not only in Korea but also in Japan. Webzen announced that they received positive feedback for capturing gamers’ preferences with the game play of 2D Japanese-style animation showcased at various gaming shows like G-Star.
Since last year, Webzen has been preparing multiple new games through strategic investments (SI) in various game development companies. This year, they will expand their development capabilities and diversify their business by increasing financial investments (FI) alongside strategic investments. They have already completed investments in ‘Game Together,’ which has excellent development capabilities in 2D graphics-based animation production. They also made an initial investment in ‘GPUN’, founded by developers from Shift Up. The action RPG ‘Dragon Sword’ from the prominent developer ‘Hound13,’ for which they secured publishing rights last year, is considered a major game set to ensure hit this year.
Kim Tae-hyoung, CEO of Webzen, stated, “For the expansion of development capabilities and future growth, we are preparing a variety of games and businesses through our own development and external investments, pursuing a two-track strategy.” He added, “This year, we decided to retire our treasury stocks after two years and will continue our shareholder return policy based on financial stability. We will continue the efforts of all employees for the company’s performance growth and enhancement of shareholder value.”