NCSoft Stockwatch

[FatherXmas]

I feel sorry for Carbine Studios.  KDB Daewoo is projecting only 1/2 the income 4th quarter that WildStar had in the 3rd.  Ouch.  Good thing that KDB's estimates can be wildly inaccurate.

NCSOFT announced an FPS called Project HON.  Looks cool.  Sadly it'll likely not be available outside of Korea for a time.  Here's a link to the trailers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV5OxuihF3A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvO8UPoy8fU

[Surelle]

I feel sorry for Carbine Studios.  KDB Daewoo is projecting only 1/2 the income 4th quarter that WildStar had in the 3rd.  Ouch.  Good thing that KDB's estimates can be wildly inaccurate.

NCSOFT announced an FPS called Project HON.  Looks cool.  Sadly it'll likely not be available outside of Korea for a time.  Here's a link to the trailers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV5OxuihF3A

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvO8UPoy8fU

I notice a lot of devs and publishers are going into MMOFPSs, or hybrid MMOs with shooting.  There's Destiny (half MMORPG/half FPS), Blizzard's new 2015 game "Overwatch" (half MOBA/half FPS), etc.  I think the MMORPG genre is just totally oversaturated, and in NCSoft's case, they have such a bad reputation for being game killers that people avoid their MMORPGs over that as well.

What they really need to do is learn how to run their games properly and how to respect their customers.  Their players are not brainless savants who will just blindly shut one game launcher down for the last time as they shutter a game, and then open up the next launcher as NC launches a new title.

[FatherXmas]

I notice a lot of devs and publishers are going into MMOFPSs, or hybrid MMOs with shooting.  There's Destiny (half MMORPG/half FPS), Blizzard's new 2015 game "Overwatch" (half MOBA/half FPS), etc.  I think the MMORPG genre is just totally oversaturated, and in NCSoft's case, they have such a bad reputation for being game killers that people avoid their MMORPGs over that as well.

What they really need to do is learn how to run their games properly and how to respect their customers.  Their players are not brainless savants who will just blindly shut one game launcher down for the last time as they shutter a game, and then open up the next launcher as NC launches a new title.

I disagree with the notion that NCSOFT are game killers.  With the exception of CoH, every other western MMO they killed performed poorly under anybody's criteria and compared to their home titles in Korea, vastly under performed.  GW2 is still going strong, with income in 3rd quarter nearly twice CoH's last reported entire year.  WildStar may still be successful now that management has been beaten about the head and shoulders that Raids and hard core content doesn't convince players to pay a monthly fee.  They canceled their holiday events (Xmas is cancelled and so was Halloween) to work on revamping the play and rewards as well as stomping out bugs.

I agree that MMORPGs are a saturated market.  There's WoW and everyone else.  But it's like 500 channels and nothing's on.  Nearly all are hybrid/F2P which means we have enough annoying things that you will feel compelled to subscribe monthly, unless you have the patience of a saint.  Or they are P2W kind of F2P like ArcheAge.

[LydiaFrost]

Im currently playing BnS on a russian server.

You can play the censored or the uncensored version. I use the uncensored Version, but right now, the differences arent so great.
It is really good looking, and has a nice combat system, but. its a railroad with one questline for all chars. I enjoy the quest, but i dont think there is much to hold me in game, when its done.

At least you can Glide, and thats very nice with the scenery :)

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=imageshack.com%2Fa%2Fimg674%2F5835%2FGKQZ5X.jpg

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=imageshack.com%2Fa%2Fimg537%2F9898%2FtvFzao.jpg

Lydia Frost MM

[Razy]

I disagree with the notion that NCSOFT are game killers.  With the exception of CoH, every other western MMO they killed performed poorly under anybody's criteria and compared to their home titles in Korea, vastly under performed.  GW2 is still going strong, with income in 3rd quarter nearly twice CoH's last reported entire year.  WildStar may still be successful now that management has been beaten about the head and shoulders that Raids and hard core content doesn't convince players to pay a monthly fee.  They canceled their holiday events (Xmas is cancelled and so was Halloween) to work on revamping the play and rewards as well as stomping out bugs.

I agree that MMORPGs are a saturated market.  There's WoW and everyone else.  But it's like 500 channels and nothing's on.  Nearly all are hybrid/F2P which means we have enough annoying things that you will feel compelled to subscribe monthly, unless you have the patience of a saint.  Or they are P2W kind of F2P like ArcheAge.

I agree Wildstar may be doing great for now. PvP issues remain unsolved. And trying to become another WoW in my opinion is a mistake. They will need some yrs before they can actually be competition for wow. WS concentrate to much in raids, and group content, even tho they know 60% of their population are solo players. Lvl 50 tunnels into 5 man missions, and 20 man raids. Not to mention the tedious task of atonement before you can raid. Drop 4 rewards are mostly for those to team up, once again forgetting the solo player and the people who enjoy teaming in little groups of 2-3 ppl.

[FatherXmas]

I agree Wildstar may be doing great for now. PvP issues remain unsolved. And trying to become another WoW in my opinion is a mistake. They will need some yrs before they can actually be competition for wow. WS concentrate to much in raids, and group content, even tho they know 60% of their population are solo players. Lvl 50 tunnels into 5 man missions, and 20 man raids. Not to mention the tedious task of atonement before you can raid. Drop 4 rewards are mostly for those to team up, once again forgetting the solo player and the people who enjoy teaming in little groups of 2-3 ppl.

When you say "become another WoW" I hope you mean in style with vanilla WoW style raids because if you mean "WoW killer" or WoW sized player base.  I don't think anyone expected that, not one bit.  You also knew that the Carbine Studio founders left Blizzard after WoW launched right?  They were looking to do a SciFi version so of course the similarities with WoW is strong.

[Safehouse]

Im currently playing BnS on a russian server.

You can play the censored or the uncensored version. I use the uncensored Version, but right now, the differences arent so great.
It is really good looking, and has a nice combat system, but. its a railroad with one questline for all chars. I enjoy the quest, but i dont think there is much to hold me in game, when its done.

At least you can Glide, and thats very nice with the scenery :)

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=imageshack.com%2Fa%2Fimg674%2F5835%2FGKQZ5X.jpg

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=imageshack.com%2Fa%2Fimg537%2F9898%2FtvFzao.jpg

Lydia Frost MM

Holy cow! Dat axe :P

Joking aside, it's a pretty looking game. Although I have heard the complaints about the questline - literally a line

[microc]

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2015/02/133_172863.html
looks like ncsoft payed a lot for a online payment company.

[Blondeshell]

That article reads like it was written by Dilbert's pointy-haired boss. So many buzzwords.

[FatherXmas]

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2015/02/133_172863.html
looks like ncsoft payed a lot for a online payment company.

$40 million isn't a lot if they become THE way to handle all online transactions in gaming in Asia.

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/tech/2015/02/129_172863.html

[microc]

http://global.ncsoft.com/global/ir/earnings.aspx
wildstar took a big hit...

[saipaman]

http://massivelyop.net/2015/02/12/nexon-pressures-ncsoft-as-largest-shareholder/

What are the odds that the CoX IP is one of the 'non-core' assets that Nexon wants NCSoft to sell?

Dare we dream?

[Blackout]

Considering its not actually in use, I would Imagine it is a non core asset. Could be wrong of course, but it seems fairly likely.

[JanessaVR]

http://massivelyop.net/2015/02/12/nexon-pressures-ncsoft-as-largest-shareholder/

What are the odds that the CoX IP is one of the 'non-core' assets that Nexon wants NCSoft to sell?

Dare we dream?

Wow.  Indeed, could this actually work out to be in our favor?  I'm kinda doubting that CoH currently counts as a "core asset."

[rebel 1812]

Wow.  Indeed, could this actually work out to be in our favor?  I'm kinda doubting that CoH currently counts as a "core asset."

Well standard business procedure is to search the market looking for the best price.  I don't think there has been any other buyers in the 2 years since it shut down.  So that would be any offer would be the best one.

[microc]

http://www.whowired.com/406687.htm
this may be why nexion want to control ncsoft.
looks like ncsoft on a buying bing with no real plan on what it buying.

[microc]

http://www.whowired.com/406699.htm
looks like the stock war is heating up.

[Drauger9]

What kind of company is Netmarble I wonder?

I'll have to look them up....

[FatherXmas]

I've been remiss by not posting about this.

Basically Year over Year, NCSOFT Income is up 10.8% while profits are up 43.4%. 

The biggest mover income wise for the year was royalties, some 70.9 billion KrW, likely from China so that strategy started to work.  Next biggest positive change in income is, well, WildStar, bringing in some 49.5 billion KrW.  Then B&S which is now in Taiwan as well as Japan and Korea (China's revenue from B&S is in royalties and not broken out by game) with 13.9 billion KrW.

The downers are lead by GW2, down some 37.7 billion KrW.  That may have contributed to the push of an expansion now than earlier.  The original Lineage is also down some 24.8 billion KrW even though it had the best quarter ever in 4Q.

As for Nexon's "demands", NCSOFT gave them the polite middle finger during the conference call when asked about them.  The old Korean noncommittal meaning no answer on some.  But they did say they weren't going to close out their Treasury Stock, stock that isn't traded currently that they can use to buy stuff.  They said that dividends will reflect how well the company is doing and will go up along with the company's fortune.  They also said they will invest their money where they think will do the most good.  That said they did invest in a toy drone company as well as buying several small mobile game developers.  They also invested in a payment processing company used in Asia.

[Drauger9]

Thanks for the update FatherXmas.

It's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out and what it means for us. On how to get our game back, hopefully things are far enough along in the negotiations that it wont add more time to the finish line.