financial posts

Jagex comes in 22nd on the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 list

by William Dobson Sep 22nd 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Runescape, Free-to-play, Browser

With the hugely successful RuneScape in their stable, we've known that Jagex has been doing well for a long time now. They've already been recognized outside of the immediate gaming world on numerous occasions: Guiness World Records awarded RuneScape the title of the world's largest free-to-play MMO, and in 2008 the word RuneScape was typed into Yahoo! Search more than Lindsay Lohan and Naruto. The company's latest accolade comes via the Sunday Times Tech Track 100, where they were just ranked at number 22 on the list of the fastest growing private technology companies in the UK.

The Tech Track 100 report states that Jagex's sales have grown 84% a year for the last few years, from £5.2 million in 2005 to £32.3 million in 2008. This is the first time they've made it on to the list since the company was founded in 2001. Jagex CEO Mark Gerhardt made a statement about his company's achievement, sounding particularly proud (and rightly so): At Jagex we are passionate about the games we make and the technology we have created to develop and deliver our games; creating fun is just part of our DNA. Our values and passion have allowed us to grow one of the largest player communities in the world." The full Tech Track 100 list is available online in .pdf form.

[Via GamesIndustry.Biz]

Tags: browser, f2p, financial, free-to-play, jagex, mark-gerhardt, runescape, sales, sunday-times, tech-track-100

Co-Chairman of Activision Blizzard cashes in stock for $20 million

by Joe Blancato Mar 14th 2009 at 7:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Real life, MMO industry

Just in time for Activision Blizzard's earnings report, Co-Chairman Brian Kelly liquidated 2 million shares of his stock in the company on March 12, earning over $20 million in the process.

The move has caused some speculation that the trade spells bad news for the company's forthcoming report. Given that ~~Rock Band~~ Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft haven't showed signs of slowing even during the recession, it's a safe guess that the report won't trigger a massive sell-off. Kelly was the only director-level employee reported by the SEC to have traded large volumes of his stock, so it's unlikely his stock trade is related to Activision Blizzard's performance. When 30 percent of the board of directors begins selling off their assets, it'll be time to panic.

Tags: activision-blizzard, blizzard, economy, financial, mmo-industry, stock-trading, world-of-warcraft, wow

NCsoft 2008 profits down and Guild Wars 2 TBA in 2010-2011

by Brooke Pilley Feb 13th 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items, Guild Wars 2

After hearing recent news of NCsoft's lay-offs/restructuring at their European studio, it may not come as a surprise that their latest financial report for Q4 2008 is showing a 22% net income loss compared to Q4 2007 even though sales were up 11%. This loss was attributed to higher marketing costs for the quarter. Their overall 2008 net profits plummeted 40% compared to 2007. The high quarterly marketing costs probably had a lot to do with their Korean release of Aion, which accounted for 3% of their overall sales by games in 2008.

What does this mean for fans anxiously anticipating the release of Guild Wars 2? It means you'll have to wait a while longer. According to an anonymous source and ex-NCsoft employee, the company is heavily focused on both Aion and GW2 right now. After a successful launch in Korea, NCsoft plans to release Aion in Japan and Taiwan in Q3 2009 and in the US and Europe in Q4 2009. With such a strong Aion push in 2009, it seems to leave little room for GW2 in the calendar year. Their strong dedication to each title might explain why GW2 was pushed into 2010-2011 when many fans were hoping for a 2009 launch. Given the marketing costs of promoting Aion in Korea, it would be quite a financial burden to promote both titles simultaneously around the world.

Tags: aion, financial, guild-wars-2, gw2, ncsoft

Former STO designer: Star Trek might be "hardest MMO IP ever"

by Samuel Axon Dec 17th 2007 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, News items, Star Trek Online

Star Trek Online is one of the most anticipated MMOs on the horizon, but it's no secret that Perpetual Entertainment has had a rough couple of months. There's an ever-present air of uncertainty around STO's future.

Most of that uncertainty stems from Perpetual's legal and financial troubles, but one former STO team member has written up a blog post suggesting that making a Star Trek MMO might be a Kobyashi Maru scenario to begin with. "At first glance, Star Trek seems like the perfect setting for an MMO," said former systems designer Eric Heimburg, "but appearances can be deceiving. It's actually a huge landmine of problems."

Heimburg wrote that it's an expensive and difficult task to produce both a space game and a land game, that making space interesting is challenging, and that it's impossible to please all Star Trek fans because everyone has a different opinion about what makes the franchise great. All good points; we'll see if Perpetual has what it takes to make it all come together ... if it can even survive its financial and legal woes.

[Via TTH]

Tags: blog, elder-game, eric-heimburg, financial, franchise, kobyashi-maru, land, legal, perpetual-entertainment, space, star-trek, star-trek-online, sto

Megapublisher Shandra sees 66% profit increase

by Samuel Axon Nov 28th 2007 at 8:30PM

Filed under: Aion, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Legend of Mir: The Three Heroes, MapleStory, MMO industry, Ragnarok Online, News items

Shandra Interactive Entertainment, the Chinese operator of MapleStory, Dungeons & Dragons Online, The Legend of Mir, and the positively ginormous Ragnarok Online let the world know that its profits for Q3 2007 are up 66% vs. last year and that it is expecting further growth in coming months.

Shandra is the biggest publisher of online games in the Chinese market, and recently reached an agreement with NCsoft by which NCsoft will distribute its new title AION in China through Shandra instead of its old partner in the region, Sina (in which Shandra ironically holds a 20% stake).

Tags: asia, business, china, ddo, dungeons-and-dragons-online, financial, legends-of-mir, legends-of-mir-2, legends-of-mir-ii, maplestory, mmo-industry, ncsoft, profits, quarterly, ragnarok-online, shandra, sina

The9 buys shares in ... itself

by Samuel Axon Nov 23rd 2007 at 7:00PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, MMO industry, Sword of the New World, News items

The Escapist reports that following disappointing profits despite record sales, Chinese gaming company The9 (the Chinese carrier of World of Warcraft) saw its stock values plummet by 32% recently. The company then took the opportunity to purchase back $50 million worth of shares in itself.

CEO and Chairman Jun Zhu was quoted by The Escapist saying, "We think that the current shares price level do not reflect the company's value and potential. Mirroring this confidence, our board of directors has authorized the company to repurchase up to $50 million of its own stock."

This curiously comes after a great deal of growth of the Chinese World of Warcraft player-base in Q3 and the recent launch of Sword of the New World: Granado Espada.

Tags: blizzard, business, china, financial, grenada-espada, industry, stocks, sword-of-the-new-world, the-escapist, the9, world-of-warcraft

Gamasutra's "China Angle" reports on The9, Giant Interactive, NCsoft

by Samuel Axon Nov 21st 2007 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Aion, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Zhengtu Online

To North American and European MMO players, China is more than just a different country; it's a different universe. But it's important to keep an at least one eye on the Chinese market. Gamasutra ran its latest "China Angle" column today. Here's what we learned this time.

The9, the Chinese publisher of World of Warcraft, will be responsible for the Chinese version of EA's FIFA Online 2. The9 already operates the original FIFA Online in the PRC, and EA owns a 15% share in the company, so that's no surprise.

Newer company Giant Interactive -- who are behind the highly profitable Zhengtu Online -- saw a $38.7 million profit in Q3 2007, and all 800 employees of the company were given actual, real-life gold coins in celebration. The company is also actually awarding stocks to some of its customers.

Finally, Korean MMO supercompany NCsoft has selected a new partner company called Shandra to distribute their new title AION. NCsoft opted not to work with their old partner Sina this time. The decision to change may have been influenced by disappointing Chinese numbers for Lineage and Lineage II, two NCsoft titles which were brought to the Chinese market by Sina.

Tags: aion, business, china, china-angle, ea, fifa, fifa-online, fifa-online-2, financial, gamasutra, giant-interactive, industry, korea, lineage, lineage-ii, ncsoft, prc, shandra, sina, the9, world-of-warcraft, zhengtu-online

World of Warcraft still growing -- 9.3 million served

by Samuel Axon Nov 14th 2007 at 11:13PM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO industry, News items

Gamasutra reports that Vivendi, the parent company of Blizzard, has seen its Q3 2007 sales go up 19% over the last quarter. Vivendi credits this growth partially to the Chinese release of The Burning Crusade expansion for World of Warcraft, which occurred in Q3. The company revealed that World of Warcraft now has 9.3 million subscribers -- 300,000 more than the the number reported last quarter.

That means that WoW has grown by the size of one and a half EVE Onlines or two whole City of Heroeses in just a few months. Or put another way, the population of World of Warcraft is now greater than the population of Sweden. We think it's safe to say that World of Warcraft will be the dominant title in the industry for a while longer.

Tags: blizzard, china, financial, gamasutra, numbers, quarter, sales, subscribers, the-burning-crusade, vivendi, world-of-warcraft, wow