Nexon Reports Record Q2 2020 Revenues, MapleStory Revenue at All Time High
Nexon released their Q2 2020 earnings report yesterday with total revenues for the 2nd quarter (April - June) coming in at ~$609M. As with previous quarters, the vast majority of Nexon's revenue comes from PC games (70% PC and 30% mobile). South Korea and China remain the company's most lucrative markets with South Korea accounting for 51% of revenue and China 30%.
Nexon attributed the quarter's strength to continued out performance of MapleStory, one of the company's oldest and longest running MMORPGs. MapleStory revenue in Korea on PC grew 151% year over year and continued growth in monthly active users, paying users, and average revenue per user (ARRPU). While South Korea is the #1 market for MapleStory, the game's North American and European revenues also increased 173% year over year.
New game launches including KartRider Rush+ also contributed to the Nexon's growth, most notably the game's launch in South Korea and Taiwan exceeded the company's outlook. Mobile Dungeon Fighter Online is set to launch in China on August 12th. Given that Dungeon Fighter Online remains the company's most successful title, the game's mobile launch could give the company a huge boost in Q3 and Q4.
Nexon's new game Pipeline for 2020 and beyond remains robust as well with games like Mabinogi Mobile and Final Fantasy XI R2 in the works.
Nexon's company wide 'Pay Rate', which is the percent of their active users that spend money, came in at 15.3% for the quarter. The ARPPU (average revenue per paying user) was ~$55.67 for the quarter, up 52% year over year.
North America remains a money loser for Nexon with the company reporting losses of $1m for the quarter, a significant improvement over last year's $15m loss. Nexon's North American division hasn't reported a profit in over 10 years. The only reason losses are narrowing in North America is because of recent acquisitions. Nexon acquired Pixelberry in 2017 (Maker of the Choices games) and Big Huge Games in 2016 (maker of DomiNations). Despite these acquisitions, North America is still losing money, but given current trends Q3 could be the company's 1st profit in the region in over a decade.
