Nexon Releases Earnings for Q2 2022

Record-Breaking Q2 Revenue Driven Primarily by China Dungeon&Fighter, MapleStory, FIFA ONLINE 4, and Dungeon&Fighter Mobile in Korea

Operating Income Up 47% YoY

Board of Directors Approves Three-Year Share Repurchase Policy to Buy-Back up to ¥100 Billion

NEXON Co., Ltd., a global leader in Virtual Worlds, today announced financial results for its second quarter ended on June 30, 2022.

“Nexon’s record-breaking revenue in the second quarter was driven by a combination of great games and best-in-class live operations,” said Owen Mahoney, President and CEO of Nexon. “The improved performance of MapleStory in Korea, and Dungeon&Fighter franchise in both China and Korea reaffirms our thesis that Virtual Worlds grow at a steady, if non-linear rate and that slow intervals very often foreshadow dynamic new growth.”

“Nexon is uniquely resilient. We built this company to resist disruption from events like inflation, foreign exchange and supply chain issues. Steady revenue from core franchises, allows us the time and creative freedom to get it right on new titles in development.”

Recent Highlights Include:

In Q2, Nexon achieved record-breaking revenue. Group revenues were within the range of our outlook – ¥84.1 billion, up 50% year-over-year on an as-reported basis and up 40% year-over-year on a constant currency basis.
Operating income was up 47% year-over-year to ¥22.7 billion and within our outlook.
Net income was ¥24.7 billion up 176% year-over-year – exceeding our outlook. Results were driven by a FX gain of ¥27.7 billion, primarily on U.S. dollar-denominated cash.
Quarterly performance was driven by growth in major franchises including Dungeon&Fighter in China, MapleStory and FIFA ONLINE 4 and Dungeon&Fighter Mobile in Korea.
In Korea, MapleStory revenue grew by 38% year over year. MAUs, paying users and ARPPU all increased year-over-year driven by the well-received 19th Anniversary update in April and Summer update in June.
Combined mobile and PC revenues on FIFA ONLINE 43significantly exceeded our outlook driven by successful events and sales promotions. MAUs, paying users and ARPPU all increased year-over-year. As a result, its revenues more than doubled and topped the record set last quarter.
Also in Korea, Dungeon&Fighter Mobile continued its strength as user engagement remained high, driven by the rich content and carefully-managed live operations. Dungeon&Fighter on PC grew by 34% year-over-year.
In China, Q2 revenue increased by 43% year-over-year on an as-reported basis and 25% year-over-year on a constant currency basis1. Dungeon&Fighter’s revenue increased year-over-year driven by well-received Labor Day package sales.
In North America and Europe, the revenues increased by 30% year-over-year driven by MapleStory M and contributions from new games.
Revenues from the Rest of World increased by 77% year-over-year driven by the growth in MapleStory franchises and contributions from new games.
In Japan, revenue decreased by 1% year-over-year. While there was a contribution from Counter:Side, this was offset by revenue decreases from TRAHA and V4.
On June 15, 2022, Nexon completed the three-year ¥100 billion share repurchase announced on November 10, 2020.
On August 9 Nexon’s Board of Directors approved a new ¥100 billion share repurchase policy. Shares will be repurchased by August 2025, guided by factors including investment opportunities, financial and market conditions.

Third Quarter 2022 Outlook:

Expect revenues in the range of ¥96.0 to ¥104.0 billion, up 27% to 37% year-over-year on an as reported basis, up 13 % to 22% year-over-year on a constant currency basis1
Expect operating income of ¥30.1 to ¥36.6 billion
Expect net income2 of ¥21.6 to ¥26.4 billion
Forex sensitivity: Every one Japanese yen move against the U.S. dollar would have the following impact on our financials for Q3 2022

‒ Revenues: ¥0.72 billion

‒ Operating Income: ¥0.26 billion

For more information, visit https://www.nexon.com/main/en

Nathan Stevens

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I have always enjoyed playing video games and am a programming team lead for a video game company. I co-founded Gaming Cypher because I enjoy the gaming community and would like to provide the best news service around. Feel free to ask me any questions and I will make sure to get back to you quickly.