Netmarble Corp. has broken its seven consecutive quarterly losing streak, reporting a significant turnaround in its financial performance for the fourth quarter of 2023. This positive shift was largely attributed to the success of its newly launched game, “Seven Knights Idle Adventure,” which quickly became popular following its release in September. The South Korean gaming giant, the country’s second-largest game publisher by revenue, revealed a swing to an operating profit of 17.7 billion won ($13.3 million) for the quarter ending in December 2023, a noteworthy improvement from the loss reported in the same period the previous year.
This marks the company’s first quarterly profit since the end of 2021, surpassing the anticipated 7.3 billion won profit forecasted by Yonhap Infomax. Although revenue saw a slight decline of 3.2% year-on-year to 664.9 billion won, it exhibited a growth of 5.4% from the previous quarter. Additionally, Netmarble’s net loss considerably narrowed to 195 billion won, down from a loss of 436.6 billion won a year earlier.
The resurgence in the final quarter has notably reduced Netmarble’s annual operating loss for 2023 to 69.6 billion won, improving from the 108.7 billion won loss in 2022. This recovery signals a promising future for the company, buoyed by the success of “Seven Knights Idle Adventure” and anticipation for upcoming new game releases.
