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New Nexon CEO: Mobile games 'letting consumers down'
New Nexon boss Owen Mahoney had harsh words for mobile game makers at last week's Game Developers Conference. "A third of what we've done in the last few months is Flappy Bird clones. We're letting consumers down," Mahoney told Venture Beat. "I know that, because as a consumer, I really want to play a different kind of game than just a casual, short-format game. I want to play a more immersive experience." Mahoney believes that mobile devices and PCs will eventually converge, and he said that Nexon is focused on developing games -- and acquiring a North American IP -- with that in mind.
NCsoft boosts numbers in Q4 2013 while Nexon names new CEO
NCsoft is thanking its lucky Blade & Soul these days, as revenues from the game's popularity in China have helped to boost its financial status. In the recently released Q4 2013 earnings report, NCsoft announced that sales, operating profit, pre-tax income, and net income were up over Q3 2013. Overall, 2013 was profitable for the company as its income went up year-over-year. NCsoft credited a growing Lineage and a "strong" and "solid" Guild Wars 2 for this effort, as well as cost savings initiatives. While sales in Korea improved from 2012 to 2013, those in Japan, Europe, and North America all declined over the same time period. Lineage is by far NCsoft's biggest earner, followed by Guild Wars 2, Aion, and Blade & Soul. The company said that WildStar is on track to launch in mid-2014 and that the key GW2 focus is not on an expansion but with bringing the game to China. Meanwhile, NCsoft's biggest investor, Nexon, just named Owen Mahoney as its new president and CEO, replacing Seungwoo Choi. Nexon also announced a revenue and income increase in 2013 and acknowledged that it is underperforming in Japan and the West.
Nexon raises $1.17 billion from IPO, stock subsequently drops
Korean online gaming giant Nexon has raised $1.17 billion from its initial public stock offering. The filing stated that Nexon has 1.2 billion registered players, 77 million of which were active as recently as September 2011. CFO Owen Mahoney says the company's expertise made it an attractive proposition for new shareholders. "We can really bring a lot to the table. We know how to tune a game so that people will play it for months on end," he explained. Nexon's IPO was the largest on the Tokyo Stock Exchange this year, and as a result the company is now valued somewhere between $7.69 billion and $8.97 billion according to GamesIndustry.biz. Even so, Nexon's stock price slipped by 3.9 percent on its first day of trading.
