Nexon revenues jump in Q2

Nexon today reported results for the three months ended June 30, including a new record for second quarter sales.

Nexon Q2 numbers

Revenue: ¥84.1 billion ($623 million), up 50% year-over-year or 40% on a constant currency basis
Net income: ¥24.7 billion ($183 million), up 176% year-over-year, but attributable to a ¥27.7 billion ($205 million) gain from favorable exchange rates

Nexon said its revenue gains were driven by FIFA Online 4, Dungeon&Fighter in China, and MapleStory in Korea, along with contributions from the mobile version of Dungeon&Fighter.

FIFA Online 4 in particular exceeded the company's expectations, doubling its revenues across PC and mobile while breaking the game's all-time revenue record (which had just been set in the first quarter). Beyond that, FIFA Online 4 boosted monthly active users, paying users, and average revenue per paying user.

Dungeon&Fighter helped grow the company's Chinese revenues by 43% year-over-year, but was still said to be below Nexon's expectations.

As for MapleStory, it grew revenues in Korea 38% year-over-year.

That marks a significant change from the previous year's second quarter, when Nexon noted lower-than-expected consumer spending after users complained about the company's handling of loot boxes. The company at the time said it was "focusing on regaining trust of users rather than focusing on monetization in the short term."

Currency fluctuations also played a role in the company's results, with Nexon noting that it benefitted from a depreciating Japanese yen and Korean won. 37% of the company's revenues come from outside those countries.

Nexon also reported a ¥5.3 billion ($39.2 million) loss on its crypto investments for the quarter.

In April of 2021, Nexon bought $100 million worth of bitcoin, when the cryptocurrency was trading above $54,800. Cryptocurrency prices have plunged since April, and bitcoin is trading at about $23,100 as of this writing.

"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 president and CEO Owen Mahoney said.

"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."

Looking ahead

For the third quarter, Nexon is forecasting revenues of ¥96 billion ($711 million) to ¥104 billion ($770 million), up 26% to 37% year-over-year.

It also expects net income between ¥26.4 billion ($195 million) and ¥21.6 billion ($160 million), down 30% to 43% to from the previous year's ¥37.9 billion ($281 million).