Krafton Net Profit Soars To 348.6 Bln Korean Won, Expands Investments In Developers

KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 (Bernama) -- KRAFTON Inc’s net profit for first quarter 2024 (1Q 2024) expanded to 348.6 billion Korean won from 267.2 billion Korean won last year. (1,000 Korean won = RM3.46)

For quarter on quarter (QoQ), it recorded a 24.6 per cent jump in sales to 665.9 billion Korean won, setting a record-high quarterly sales while operating profit was also up significantly to 310.5 billion Korean won, a spike of 89.0 per cent.

In a statement, KRAFTON revealed its sales by business division, namely PC/console is at 255.2 billion Korean won, mobile (402.3 billion Korean won) and others (8.4 billion Korean won).

Through various live services using PUBG: Battlegrounds IP, there has been high growth in all areas, including sales and traffic, and to continue with this trend, KRAFTON focuses on securing stable traffic and enhancing monetisation models, and actively pushing forward with investment and development for IP franchises.

The PC/console of PUBG: Battlegrounds saw its monthly active users (MAU) and sales reach the highest figures since the Free-to-play (F2P) transition in 2022, while the mobile business also showed a steady increase in traffic due to the sixth-anniversary theme mode and the HomeGround content.

Meanwhile, Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) increased the interests of users with content tailored to local Indian festivals and co-marketing with Bollywood movies, opening a UniPin web store for a third-party payment platform to improve profitability.

In addition to BGMI’s stable service this year, KRAFTON plans to concentrate on diverse publishing experiences and game-centric investments to be the leading publisher in the Indian market.

KRAFTON also expanded investments in developers to secure future growth engines, by acquiring promising global IP through equity investments in developers and second-party publishing in 2023, aligned with its ‘Scale-up the Creative’ strategy.

Last year, the company saw a total of 10 investments and this year’s pace has already accelerated with nine investments carried out in the first half of this year.

Additionally, KRAFTON also conducted the first beta test of its major 2024 title ‘Dark and Darker Mobile’ exclusively in Korea for five days in April, which attracted over 50,000 participants and will initiate a full-scale optimisation for the global launch in the second half of 2024.

-- BERNAMA