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FTC to investigate Nexon's alleged hostile takeover of Gamania

Jef Reahard — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, News items, Legal, Miscellaneous

Nexon's recent acquisition of Taiwanese publisher Gamania will be scrutinized by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC), according to a report in the Taipei Times. A hostile takeover is alleged, and FTC chairman Wu Shiow-ming said the commission will "ask Nexon to comment on its definition of Gamania's market share, the particular field it defines Gamania as being in, and its current relations with Gamania."

This will help determine whether Nexon has violated the Fair Trade Act, which mandates that any merger involving a company with more than 25% market share in a particular field must be reported to authorities.

Gamania contacted the FTC, ostensibly out of concern for Nexon's impact on the Taiwanese gaming industry. "It would be absolutely detrimental to the development of Taiwan's online gaming industry if a large-scale foreign corporation was allowed to take control of the local industry's operating channels and resources, whether the integration is horizontal or vertical," the company said.

FTC to investigate Nexon's alleged hostile takeover of Gamania originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 22 May 2012 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexon grows in Korea and China, 'underwhelms' in America

Jef Reahard — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Economy, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Miscellaneous

Free-to-play is generating big bucks for Nexon. Who knew, right? The Korean gaming giant's profitability is profiled in a brief blurb at Gamasutra that focuses on Q1 2012 results.

Nexon exceeded its first-quarter performance projections on the strength of F2P growth in the Korean and Chinese gaming markets. These gains were "slightly offset by an underwhelming performance for its games [in] North America," which was blamed on "certain operational challenges."

Though Nexon's monthly active user count declined from 86.2 million to 82.8 million, its paying user rate increased (from 8.3 to 10.9 percent in year-over-year comparisons).

Nexon grows in Korea and China, 'underwhelms' in America originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Funcom stock price could 'double or triple' depending on success of The Secret World

Jef Reahard — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Horror, Business models, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Opinion, The Secret World

Funcom has a lot riding on The Secret World, and a new piece at MCV outlines stock prospects for the company as the horror-conspiracy MMORPG's June 19th launch date draws nearer.

Funcom stock has risen dramatically on the Norwegian Stock Exchange since last summer, and analysts expect further growth leading up to The Secret World's release. After that, though, the predictions aren't as clear given the significant fluctuations in Funcom's stock price since its 2005 introduction.

MCV notes that shares peaked with 2008's Age of Conan release, but prices dropped significantly soon after as the game "didn't make the expected sales impact." Nonetheless, analysts are enthusiastic about prospects for post-Secret World performance. "Funcom is one of the stocks that could double or triple in value. If Funcom's next game is a success, they will definitely end up as the stock of the year," Carnegie's Espen Torgersen says.

Funcom stock price could 'double or triple' depending on success of The Secret World originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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F2P giant Perfect World experiencing financial downturn

Jef Reahard — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Perfect World International, Business models, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Battle of the Immortals

It's rare to hear news of under-performing free-to-play titles these days, but Gamasutra is running a piece on the recent stumble of industry titan Perfect World Entertainment. The Chinese online game maker recently saw its third quarter profits fall 28.8 percent to $31.9 million and also experienced a stock price dip of 16.2 percent.

According to the report, PWE's television and film business revenues surpassed expectations and helped keep the company profitable, but the performance of the online gaming division took a notable downturn (due in part to the weak returns on Battle of the Immortals). Though PWE predicts a one to five percent gaming growth spurt in the fourth quarter of 2010, analyst firm Janco Partners is decidedly less optimistic. "Aggregate portfolio online game portfolio metrics continue to disappoint and we're not confident new game releases will stabilize a decidedly negative performance trend," the firm said.

You'll find all the details at Gamasutra.

F2P giant Perfect World experiencing financial downturn originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 17 Nov 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Activision: Farmers Could Kill WoW?

Jef Reahard — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, News items

No, not those kind of farmers, but rather the 82 million+ users currently growing the garden of their virtual dreams on Facebook's wildly popular Farmville sim.

Activision-Blizzard's annual 10k report, filed on March 1 and analyzed by Robert Purchese over at Eurogamer.net, is chock full of worrisome anecdotes about the future of their massively multiplayer behemoth as well as some interesting tidbits regarding payment models.

While the report stops short of painting a completely dire picture, Acti-Blizz clearly considers the growing social gaming scene a major threat to its stranglehold on the massive genre.

"A substantial portion of our revenue and profitability will depend on the subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game category," proclaims the report. "If we do not maintain our leadership position in this category, our financial results could suffer."

Sound like common sense? Maybe, but it should be interesting to watch the current market leader adapt to the rapidly expanding online gaming space.

Activision: Farmers Could Kill WoW? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexon America's financials continue to impress in Q3

William Dobson — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: MapleStory, Business models, Economy, MMO industry, News items, Mabinogi, Dungeon Fighter Online

We reported back in August that Nexon America had begun the third Quarter of 2009 with a very solid July; their revenue for the month grew 35% over the numbers for July 2008. Now that Q3 is over, they are happily touting some additional (and still impressive) figures. August 2009 beat out last year's August revenues by 32%, and September hit a lofty 44% growth in revenues compared to the same time in 2008. Overall, Nexon America's third quarter revenue grew 36% compared to Q3 2008.

Nexon America's CEO David Kim pointed out that this success comes without the bump that releasing a new game often brings: "Increasing our revenues without having added any new games to the company's portfolio for more than a year tells me that we are on the right track. Dungeon Fighter Online is just ramping up, so no revenues generated by that game are reflected in the outstanding third quarter we've had.

Dungeon Fighter Online is still in open beta, but an item mall has just been launched for the game. We can only imagine that Nexon's growth will continue when these revenues begin to show up on future financial reports.

Nexon America's financials continue to impress in Q3 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 16 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Funcom's Q1 2009 report shows solid revenue

William Dobson — Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, Business models, Economy, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Browser, The Secret World, Casual

Funcom has released a report detailing their financials for the first quarter of 2009. They brought in over US$7 million in revenue for the period, and although this figure is slightly less than the previous quarter (but without the disastrous US$23 million depreciation loss), they are pleased with the stability of their earnings during the economic turbulence of recent times. The report also mentions some positive trends in their flagship game Age of Conan:

Longer average subscription periods, demonstrating customer loyalty
The number of new customers per month is much higher than Q4 '08 (the introduction of free trials helped here)
A solid and stable customer base for the quarter
Higher levels of activity in game than in previous periods

Not to be left out, The Secret World made it into the report as well, mostly just to say that the recent reveal was well-received, and the project is on track. Anarchy Online only really had a one-line entry in the report, and it was to say that revenues from the game were slowly declining. The casual and free-to-play games that Funcom referred to in their Q4 '08 report are also keeping to their development schedules -- the screenshot above is from a java-based MMO that is currently in the focus-testing and gameplay tweaking stages. For now though, with TSW and the other casual games still on the horizon, the overall success of Q2 '09 will once again hinge on the performance of AoC.

Funcom's Q1 2009 report shows solid revenue originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 16 May 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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