NCSoft aims to achieve 5 trillion won in revenue by 2030 by shifting focus from traditional IPs like ‘Lineage’ to mobile casual games as a new growth engine.
NCSoft held a management strategy meeting on December 12 at its R&D center in Seongnam, unveiling ambitious plans to pivot from relying on the legacy intellectual property (IP) represented by 'Lineage' to expanding its mobile casual gaming segment. The company has set a revenue target of 2.5 trillion won for the current year and ambitious plans to reach 5 trillion won by 2030. Central to this strategy are three key growth pillars: enhancing legacy IPs like 'Lineage', securing new IPs, and expanding into the mobile casual gaming market, which comprises over 30% of the global gaming market.
The importance of mobile casual games is underscored by the formation of a dedicated mobile casual center last year and the recruitment of Arnel Cheman, an expert from the European mobile casual market. NCSoft plans to acquire mobile casual platform companies like 'Just Play' to integrate various publishing capabilities and build a robust ecosystem in this sector. This move marks a significant strategic shift, indicating that the company aims to diversify its portfolio and reduce the risks associated with the reliance on larger MMORPG titles where the financial success of the company can hinge on the performance of single games.
In pursuing this new direction, NCSoft will adopt a rapid testing approach for mobile casual game prototypes, allowing them to quickly produce and iterate on multiple game concepts and make swift decisions based on user feedback. NCSoft CEO Park Byung-moo highlighted the need for the company to mitigate variability in financial performance that comes from being heavily invested in MMORPGs, stating that achieving sustainable and predictable growth is now a priority for the company’s future.
