NC cruises toward brisk earnings recovery on AION2 success

A promotional image for NC's AION 2 / Courtesy of NC

Game studio NC on Wednesday reported a solid recovery in its first-quarter earnings, driven by the success of its signature massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) titles, including AION 2 and Lineage Classic.

During its earnings call, NC announced 557.4 billion won ($372.25 million) in sales and 113.3 billion won in operating profit for the January-March period this year, up 55 percent and 2,070 percent, respectively, year-on-year.

The numbers mark a solid recovery in the company’s profitability. In 2024, the company suffered an annual operating loss of 109.2 billion won. Since then, the company has pursued aggressive restructuring and efficiency improvements, returning to an annual operating profit of 16.1 billion won in 2025 and extending the momentum into the first quarter of this year.

Driving the improvement were the company’s PC titles, whose revenue reached a quarterly record of 318.4 billion won, up 210 percent from a year earlier.

AION 2 generated 136.8 billion won in revenue, as the title, released in November last year, made a full-quarter contribution. During the earnings call, the company said it expects AION2 to maintain its lifecycle momentum in the second quarter, citing anticipated user inflows driven by scheduled half-year celebration events and a new season update.

Since its release, AION 2 recorded an average of more than 1.5 million daily active users during its first week of service and surpassed 100 billion won in revenue within just 46 days of its launch.

NC said AION 2 is scheduled for a global launch in the third quarter, and it expects strong overseas performance as various indicators are showing positive signals, even before the company launches marketing efforts.

Lineage Classic also made a strong contribution, posting 83.5 billion won in sales in the first quarter. The PC title recreates the early-2000s version of Lineage, NC’s flagship game that has been available since 1998. Lineage Classic recorded cumulative revenue of 192.4 billion won during the 90 days from Feb. 11 to May 11, extending its earnings contribution into the second quarter.

Mobile game revenue came to 182.8 billion won, as its major mobile titles from the Lineage franchise maintained solid user traffic, even after the launch of Lineage Classic.

In the first quarter, NC generated 58 percent of its revenue from Korea, 27 percent from Asia and 15 percent from North America and Europe. The share of overseas sales rose to 42 percent from 35 percent a year earlier, continuing its steady increase.

The company will launch its MMORPG title Throne and Liberty in Russia and Eastern Europe on Tuesday. It also plans to conduct global tests in the second half for Cinder City, Limit Zero Breakers, Time Takers and its highly anticipated title Horizon: Steel Frontiers (HSF).

During the earnings call, the company said Sony, which owns the intellectual property for HSF, also has high expectations for the title and is currently discussing marketing and launch schedules with NC.