NCSOFT targets $3.38 bil. in sales by 2030 through more shooters, anime games

NCSOFT co-CEO Park Byung-moo speaks during a press conference at the company's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday. Courtesy of NCSOFT

SEONGNAM — NCSOFT, a major Korean game developer and publisher, said Thursday it aims to achieve 5 trillion won ($3.38 billion) in annual sales by 2030 through a long-term, sustainable strategy based on a diversified product portfolio.

"I promised that we will post 2.5 trillion won in sales for this year, with meaningful operating profit," Park Byung-moo, co-chief executive officer (CEO) of NCSOFT, said during a press conference held at the company's headquarters in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

"We will grow every year and every quarter," he said. "Ultimately, we will achieve annual sales of 5 trillion won by 2030, with a return on equity of about 15 percent."

NCSOFT posted 1.5 trillion won in sales in 2025, down 4.5 percent from a year earlier, amid sluggish demand for its massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) titles, such as Lineage, Aion, Blade & Soul and Guild Wars.

"Our game portfolio depends largely on MMORPG titles and certain markets, such as Korea, Taiwan and Japan," he said. "This imbalance increases the volatility of our earnings, as success or failure of a single game can significantly affect our performance."

To improve earnings stability in a more predictable and sustainable way, the company plans to expand its lineup of shooter and anime-style games.

Park said the company has already set a schedule to launch 10 new games by 2029.

"We will develop spinoff games based on our franchise titles and expand target markets so they can serve as stable cash flows, generating an estimated 1.5 trillion won in annual sales," he said. "For new projects, we will strengthen our screening systems to assess new games from the development stage and monitor market conditions in a timely manner."

On top of that, NCSOFT also plans to establish a strong presence in the casual mobile gaming market as a key strategy to diversify its portfolio and achieve the 5 trillion-won sales target.

"Mobile casual games accounted for about 30 percent in the global game industry, but Korean gamemakers have paid little attention to them," Park said. "We set up a mobile casual center to build a comprehensive ecosystem based on our development, publishing, data analysis and technology capabilities."

In line with this plan, NCSOFT appointed seasoned European game industry veteran Anel Ceman as head of the newly established mobile casual center to spearhead its global expansion.

The company has also acquired overseas casual game developers, including Singapore-based mobile game publisher Indygo Group in December and German game developer JustPlay GmbH earlier this month.