Guild Wars 2, Blade & Soul drive NCSoft back into profit

After an unpleasant year of decreasing revenue and profit, NCSoft is back in the black thanks to a couple of MMORPG launches and increased income from international streams.

The Korean publisher boasted of "significant growth" thanks to Guild Wars 2 and Blade & Soul. Sales reached ₩182,189 million ($167 million) a 23% year-on-year increase and a 24% quarterly increase.

Operating profits were ₩50,612 million ($46 million), up 50% year-on-year; as NCSoft saw weighty declines over the last three quarters, and made a hefty loss in the Q2, this must be something of a relief.

The publisher provided a breakdown of sales by region showing the vast majority on revenue still comes from Korea, but US and European sales increased significantly thanks to Guild Wars 2. The US went from providing 4% of sales in Q2 to making up 16% in Q3, with Europe jumping from less than 1% to 11%.

Another breakdown, this time by title, showed Guild Wars 2 overtaking Lineage 1, NCSoft's traditional big earner. Over the last two quarters the MMORPG represented in 38-45% of the company's sales, but that dropped to 23% in Q3, with Guild Wars 2 snaffling 27% and Blade & Soul managing 20%. Aion also noted a decrease, something of a trend over the last year.