NCSoft Stockwatch

[FatherXmas]

There's no way Lineage is doing those kinds of numbers.

There's a very big following for that game in Korea and Taiwan.  Plus the item store for the game is bringing in big bucks.  On top of that the game's been around for 15 years, you know how attached people get to their MMO after a long period of time, right?

[Colette]

"Right now they have seen the best GW2 is ever going to do.  BS is tanking.  Wildstar is nowhere to be found.  Would you buy their stock based on that?"
-- DarkCurrent

Yeah, lemme answer that this way...

[DarkCurrent]

Whoops, down 2000 since my last post.

[General Idiot]

I can't help but wonder if the jump in Lineage sales is people getting bored of yet another generic anime grindfest and going back to what they were playing before that. Hell, you could attribute the drop in Aion sales to the same thing if you wanted to. No straight evidence in either case, but I still can't help but wonder.

[FatherXmas]

I can't help but wonder if the jump in Lineage sales is people getting bored of yet another generic anime grindfest and going back to what they were playing before that. Hell, you could attribute the drop in Aion sales to the same thing if you wanted to. No straight evidence in either case, but I still can't help but wonder.

Or they know that they can play Lineage on older, slower hardware while B&S, L2 and Aion need a more "modern" gaming rig.

[NecrotechMaster]

Or they know that they can play Lineage on older, slower hardware while B&S, L2 and Aion need a more "modern" gaming rig.

thats another reason i think coh was doing very well for being 9 year old game, while it had good graphics for new systems it still had performance for low end systems as well

[DarkCurrent]

They probably shuttled the remaining profits from CoH online store over to Lineage.

[DarkCurrent]

Rwoot!  Rwoot!  Red Alert!

I think the bottom mighta just fallen out.

Just hit their new 52 wk low of 131,500

[Blue Pulsar]

Rwoot!  Rwoot!  Red Alert!

I think the bottom mighta just fallen out.

Just hit their new 52 wk low of 131,500

Oh, it will go lower... Mhh mhh... Muh Muah! Hah! Hah! hah hah ha ha....

[Quinch]

I guess the news is starting to hit... with any luck, we'll see the same kind of cliff dive as last quarter.

As for the numbers, Lineage is surprising, but it's possible there might be some creative accountancy going on - a near-70% jump in three months is just a leeettle bit fishy.

Bits and Tits tanking is no beeg surprise - they were banking heavily on China, but the fact that the game ran afoul of the law and had to be toned down heavily just to be sellable made it indistinguishable from dozens of other, cheaper cut-paste MMOs already readily available.

And likewise, Guild Wars 2 growing isn't surprising either - NCsoft has pumped enough money fuel into the hype machine to make it self-sustaining - what feedback I'm getting from other people is that it stands it's not a bad game on its own merit. That said, a lot of that income is coming from the cash shop items, and once the "pay to win" mood shifts {and that's probably a question of when rather than if}, things are gong to get pretty interesting.

[Colette]

DIVE! DIVE! DIVE!

[MindBlender]

China's required changes hurt NCSoftcore big time.  Lets face it, if you were a teenage boy...getting your hands on a Playboy was the ultimate "win".  Put clothes on those girls and it's just the Sears underwear section.  Perhaps I have done an overshare on me at age 14

[FatherXmas]

It's not that there's a lot of shares being sold, unlike when 3Q numbers came out.  It's just that there doesn't look like there are any buyers interested until the price broke through the previous lows.  Only a bit more than 1/3rd of the volume of shares traded than back in November.

I wonder what the percentage of outstanding shares are being shorted.

Looking at the minute by minute chart at Yahoo Finance, lunch was not a very good time for the stock.  Went from 136,000 at 11:55 am to 131,500 at 12:10 pm.  Did the conference call happen then?  Hmmm.  Maybe if I get really bored I'll try to listen to it.

[FatherXmas]

China's required changes hurt NCSoftcore big time.  Lets face it, if you were a teenage boy...getting your hands on a Playboy was the ultimate "win".  Put clothes on those girls and it's just the Sears underwear section.  Perhaps I have done an overshare on me at age 14

That and Age of Wulin (Wushu everywhere else) will have a year jump on the game for that kind of Kung-Fu style MMORPG.  Plus Age of Wulin is a home grown game and not an import.

[JaguarX]

China's required changes hurt NCSoftcore big time.  Lets face it, if you were a teenage boy...getting your hands on a Playboy was the ultimate "win".  Put clothes on those girls and it's just the Sears underwear section.  Perhaps I have done an overshare on me at age 14

Playboy was  wasa good win in my day but getting a hands on a Hustler, ya was King. That is until parents caught you and made a monkey out of ya. Then ya was the Jester.

[General Idiot]

Or they know that they can play Lineage on older, slower hardware while B&S, L2 and Aion need a more "modern" gaming rig.

One would assume if they made the jump to the new game in the first place they already have a rig capable of at least running the game, but still a good point. I hadn't considered that.

Playboy was  wasa good win in my day but getting a hands on a Hustler, ya was King. That is until parents caught you and made a monkey out of ya. Then ya was the Jester.

And then the internet became a thing, and porn could be delivered to the fingertips of every curious teenager in the world in the blink of an eye whenever their parents' backs are turned. Of course, getting caught is still very much a possibility and just as embarrassing as it ever was. :p

[Kurrent]

Well, maybe if their stock continues to freefall they'll get desperate enough to sell the IP rights to CoX to another studio.  I might just be being hopeful, but we have to maintain some hope.  I miss our world.   

[OzonePrime]

Well, maybe if their stock continues to freefall they'll get desperate enough to sell the IP rights to CoX to another studio.  I might just be being hopeful, but we have to maintain some hope.  I miss our world.   

Me too!

[Colette]

Well, NC Stock continues to slowly decline. They lost 11 in the past five business days. At this rate, shares will hit rock bottom in about twelve weeks. I doubt that will happen, but that's assuming the same rate of decline since... September, 2011.

[JaguarX]

Well, maybe if their stock continues to freefall they'll get desperate enough to sell the IP rights to CoX to another studio.  I might just be being hopeful, but we have to maintain some hope.  I miss our world.   

They might but doubt even if they sell the IP it would stop stocks from falling, especially for 2-8 million selling price. They probably just fire more worker bees first starting with their international employees and on down to their domestic employees when fit really hits the shan. There stock is not freefall yet. A freefall graph kind of look like what GM looked like a while ago prior to their bailout (when it hit rock bottom declared banruptcy, got bailed out and picked up a new stock ID.). Even then the CEo still walked away with a very hefty pay day even after running the company into the ground. In the end on people that suffer is the ones trying to put food on the table to survive. The CEO might eventually  "offcially" resign, buy a private island and not lose a bit of sleep over the people that is now employed while counting the millions he walked away with even after doing a terrible job. Even if worse case for them and they go into bankruptcy and COX IP is sold it doesnt mean it will be revived. Spyker bought Saab during GM banruptcy and there havent been a new Saab since it was sold and no talks of it being revived. Saturn, is now considered defunct in 2010 and no buyer could be found, same with Hummer and rest of assets were sold to "Vehicle Acquisition Holdings LLC" which now operating under (lo and behold) The General Motors Company LLC. Of course processes may be different for a much smaller company and one in a different country but the main point is that even if they declare bankruptcy, the fate of the IP is just as uncertain as it is now. Not to mention there is nothing really stopping Nexon from upsurping NCSoft in that case and carrying on the current path and operations as is without even giving a single thought to the COX IP. Or they may pull an Enron which may or may not be an illegal process over there. These jokers may be seemingly "odd" in their decisions but remember they are not complete idiots and probably know the ins and outs to keep as much as they can under their control in one way or another.
 
The sale will add to their cash reseverve a little bit, which thay already have plenty of.