NC Corporation ($A036570)

Good morning, everyone. This is Sun-Hwa Park, Head of IR at NC. Thank you for joining us today to discuss our 2026 Q1 financial results. Joining me on the call today are Co-CEO, BM Park; and CFO, Jun Hong. Now let me begin with the financial highlights. Q1 revenue totaled KRW 557.4 billion, up 55% Y-o-Y and 38% sequentially. NC revenue reached KRW 318.4 billion, while mobile revenue came in at KRW 182.8 billion. Following the consolidation of Lihuhu and Springcomes, Mobile Casual contributed KRW 35.5 billion to the top line. As a reporting note, starting this quarter, we have integrated royalty revenue into their respective IP categories. As we continue to shift toward a first-party global publishing model, the distinction of royalty revenue has become less meaningful. Furthermore, this reclassification allows us to more clearly demonstrate the success of our strategy, expand the value of our legacy IPs, which remains a critical pillar of our growth. Turning to our PC segment. We delivered record-breaking quarterly revenue, driven by the sustained performance of Aion 2 and the successful launch of Lineage Classic. Aion 2 generated KRW 136.8 billion in revenue, while Lineage Classic delivered KRW 108.8 billion in billings and KRW 83.5 billion in revenue under our revenue deferral policy. In the 90 days following its launch through May 11, Lineage Classic reached KRW 192.4 billion in billings, significantly exceeding expectations. Thanks to the launch of Lineage Classic, the PC Lineage IP revenue grew more than fourfold year-over-year, demonstrating the enduring brand competitiveness and long-term scalability of our legacy IP. Our 3 mobile titles maintained robust user traffic and stable performance without the cannibalization impact from Lineage Classic. Lineage M generated KRW 112.8 billion in revenue with both revenue and traffic increasing Q-o-Q. Turning to the expense side. Q1 operating expenses were KRW 444.1 billion and personnel expenses totaled KRW 244 billion, reflecting pre-recognition of incentives based on our strong 2026 profit outlook as well as treasury stock-based compensation. Marketing expenses reached KRW 37.8 billion, given the distinct nature of the Mobile Casual business, we have categorized marketing expenses into 2 segments: core games at KRW 16.5 billion and Mobile Casual at KRW 21.2 billion. Q1 operating income closed at KRW 113.3 billion, representing an operating margin of 20%. Pretax income and net income totaled KRW 187.3 billion and KRW 152.4 billion, respectively, reflecting foreign exchange gains following higher exchange rates.

Good morning, this is CFO, Willy Hong. As we have consistently emphasized in previous earnings calls, this year represents an inflection point where years of strategic transformation begin to manifest as tangible growth. Our first quarter results serve as the official starting point for this growth, providing us with clear visibility into achieving our annual revenue guidance of KRW 2.5 trillion. I'd like to briefly outline our performance and strategic roadmap of 3 cores. First, our fundamental growth is being reinforced by the sustained performance of our legacy IPs and the success of new initiatives. Lineage Classic is currently exceeding expectations, thanks to exceptional player engagement, significantly bolstering our confidence in its long-term success. Looking forward, we are systematically executing a spin-off and regional expansion strategy. This includes the Southeast Asia launch of Lineage W on May 27, the entry of Lineage M and Lineage 2M into the Chinese market and the upcoming China launch of Aion Mobile currently in development with Shengqu Games. These initiatives will solidify a robust and predictable revenue base. Secondly, regarding our new IP pipeline, Aion 2 is on track for a global launch in the third quarter. Building on our proven success in expanding the MMO footprint in Korea and Taiwan, we are leveraging a specialized Western publishing team to ensure massive user acquisition and high retention in global markets. By combining Localized LiveOps with industry-leading content, we aim to establish Aion 2 not just as a hit, but as a global flagship MMO. Additionally, our upcoming titles, Cinder City, Time Takers and Breakers have officially entered the global testing phase. We are rigorously validating these titles to ensure the gameplay is optimized for global audiences in the open-world shooter represented by Cinder City and shooter genre by TT and subculture genre by our Breakers. Furthermore, our long-term pipeline, including Horizon Steel Frontiers, [indiscernible] and [indiscernible] currently under development by [indiscernible] is already undergoing systemic testing to ensure quality ahead of their 2027 plus release windows. Thirdly, our strategic pivot into the Mobile Casual sector, a key driver of our future growth is progressing exactly along the trajectory we anticipated. Q1 saw the full quarter contribution of Lihuhu and Springcomes. Starting in Q2, we will begin consolidating results from JustPlay, which will serve as a cornerstone of this business unit. Notably, JustPlay's Q1 revenue grew 76% Y-o-Y, demonstrating momentum that far exceeds our initial forecast. As JustPlay is integrated into our financials, we expect a meaningful increase in the scale of our Mobile Casual revenue. Furthermore, we are carefully evaluating additional M&A synergy plays between our portfolio studios to achieve greater economies of scale. Across these 3 strategic pillars, we are committed to delivering consistent quarterly top line growth and solid profitability. To ensure this growth is sustainable, we will continue to diversify our portfolio and optimize our cost structure to build a predictable long-term business model. Our Co-CEO, BM Park, and I will now provide further details during the Q&A session. Thank you.

[Operator Instructions] The first question will be provided by Joon Ho Lee from Hana Securities.

I have one question. It seems like the earnings for Lineage Classic and Aion 2 are very positive. So I was wondering if you could give us more visibility into your Q2 outlook and also the life cycle of these titles.

So regarding the life cycle, I cannot disclose any details for individual titles, but I would like to talk about the Lineage Classic first. Currently, the DAU trend is remaining strong. And I think an important milestone for us is the new server update called Valakas on April 22, and it has achieved the best daily average revenue on this day, and we are confident that the title will be able to running for the longer period of time. And there has been some concerns over cannibalization impact potentially. But after the release of Lineage Classic, the impact was made on PC Lineage Remastered pretty limited, which was 30% Y-o-Y decline. But overall, the Lineage IP franchise was seeing increases in both revenue and user base.

This is BM speaking. Regarding Lineage Classic, it has been 3 months since its launch, but rather in terms of MAU and its share on the PC cafes, the traffic is remaining strong. So we believe that the title will be long running. And especially for Lineage Classic, not only the returning fans, but also we are able to attract new users from those in their 20s and 30s. So we have high confidence in this title. Regarding Aion 2 traffic-wise, it is slightly declining, which is expected. But since we have long history of life service and based on that experience in June, we are going to release 6-month anniversary event and also Season 4 to attract returning fans. And we will be able to achieve both life cycle [indiscernible] revenue that are already expected in Korea and Taiwan. Regarding Aion 2, as you may know, Aion 2 Global will be released in Q3 this year. And already compared to other titles, including TL, it is showing good metrics even considering that we haven't really kicked off the official marketing events. So major marketing events will start beginning in early June through Summer Games Fest. And we will -- it will be followed by Live Streams and UA marketing. Once these happen, we think that more positive results will be garnered through Aion 2.

The following question will be presented by Junhyun Kim from HSBC.

I have 2 questions. My question is related to the growth potential of JustPlay. I believe that Mobile Casual business will be the core pillars of growth. And it seems like the JustPlay's MAU is growing rapidly compared to the peers. So what are the major competitive edges from your perspective? And regarding Q1, could you give us more visibility into its margin? And I believe the company is more focused on IP first-party titles. So probably margin will be higher, but I would love to get your outlook regarding this. And my second question is about variable cost. It seems like it has declined. I believe that's due to the increases in revenues of PC titles. Do you think that there will be any impact coming from Mobile Casual business? Or since Mobile Casual business is more focused on IAA, do you think that there will be no impact on that? And could you give us more visibility into the new title lineup for your studios of Mobile Casual business, including Lihuhu.

So regarding Justplay, I will give you more details for our next earnings call conference. However, for the last year figures, revenue was KRW 250 billion and operating profit was KRW 28 billion and operating margin was 11%. And the margin was kind of pressured by the iOS policy last year. But for Q1 revenue, JustPlay recorded KRW 98.3 billion, which is a 70% Y-o-Y increase and operating profit was recorded KRW 13.6 billion in Q1, which is 130% Y-o-Y growth. In terms of competitiveness, the most important thing that we need to notice is that compared to other Mobile Casual companies, JustPlay has first-party data because it's a rewarded app. So based on the data, we'll be able to have more accurate sophisticated UA marketing spend, and it will increase the efficiency. So you mentioned about declining variable costs. It's true that variable costs have declined compared to fixed costs, and this is mainly due to PC revenues. However, as we grow our business for the Mobile Casual sector, we believe that there will be impact coming from UA spend. And so compared to the past where we only focus on the legacy titles because we are putting more focus on the Mobile Casual sector as well, there will be chances that variable cost will change. But it will be changed that significantly, for the Mobile Casual business, we are expecting UA spend to be around mid-range of KRW 300 billion for this year. So BM will talk about this in detail. But for UA spend, even if there will be UA spend after Q1 and Q2, revenue will increase. So this is relevant to our revenue. So I hope you consider this factor when it comes to modeling our projections.

Regarding JustPlay, so far, there has been -- there is no synergy effect considered. But for this year, we expect that the growth will be 70% Y-o-Y. But starting from Q3, we'll be able to realize synergy effects with our portfolio studios. So we expect much more higher Y-o-Y growth for this year. And for variable costs, JustPlay is focusing on IAA. So most likely, the commission fees are not occurring through platforms like Google. But as we focus our business model in IAP, we want to minimize the impact by utilizing the D2C payment system. Regarding the new title lineup for our studios, for example, Lihuhu is currently planning for 20 new titles. But what is more important is about having a selective approach towards the games after it is released. So although we have like 20 titles in the lineup, but we will go through a more selective marketing approach. So every quarter, there will be around 1 to 2 core titles that will have this extensive marketing, and the numbers will be similar for other studios.

The following question will be presented by Joshua Kim from CGSI.

I have 2 questions. First is about JP's growth rates. It seems like from 2024 to 2025, JustPlay's growth rate has declined. But for Q1 growth rate, it has increased significantly. So could you explain the background behind this at the top line level? And for the second question, could you give us more color on to the personnel expenses in Q1 and the full year?

Regarding JustPlay, last year, the business was mostly focusing on AOS because there was uncertainties regarding iOS policies. However, starting from Q4, iOS started to support rewarded apps and the share of iOS has increased rapidly starting from Q4. So that's why we are expecting positive outlook for both Q1, Q2, Q3 for this year. So for the personnel expenses, I guess it's 2-parter question. We can divide that into fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed cost-wise, it is relevant to headcount and salary increases, and I can emphasize that it will be similar to last year. For variable items, it includes rewards for our tech teams and also incentives due to high operating profit. The variable expenses will be related to operating profit and contribution income, meaning that we are expecting higher variable costs because we are expecting higher profit. And starting from Q1, even if we consider such increases in variable expenses for the personnel expenses, we are still seeing high profit growth trends.

The following question will be presented by Min Uh Cha from Goldman Sachs Securities.

I have 2 questions. First is about the revenue mix of Aion 2. Could you give us more color on to the specific revenue mix between membership and MTX items? And do you think the mix will be similar when the Aion 2 will be released in the global market? And [Technical Difficulty] for I think this is an important title because it will strongly contribute to the increases in brand awareness of NC in the global market. So could you give us more high-level guidance regarding the marketing roadmap?

So roughly speaking, 25% [Technical Difficulty] membership, while 25% will come from [indiscernible] and rest of them will be related to [ kuna ], meaning that for the remaining 50%, 25% to 30% will be the items that will be purchased by [ kuna ]. So that's the rough trend that we could give at the moment.

And for the global release, I believe the overall competition would be similar, but the share-wise, we're currently monitoring the feedback and responses from the Western market. We are discussing this with the debt team, and it's not confirmed yet. But ahead of the launch, we will be able to provide more details into the roadmap. And also it will be aligned with the balance with the Korean and Taiwanese markets. And for Horizon Steel Frontiers, we are planning to have global test in second half of this year, and we will focus on viral marketing campaigns as well. But currently, it's not about development issues, but our IP holder, which is Sony is highly excited about this title. So we are currently discussing about the specific release time lines. So once it's confirmed, we will communicate this to the market.

The following question will be presented by Junhyun Kim from HSBC.

I have one more question regarding JustPlay. When it comes to competition, including JustPlay, it seems like competitions are mostly only using AOS, but JustPlay is also supporting iOS. So could you give us the background behind this? And what will be the expected next steps for JustPlay?

We cannot disclose any details because it's our own know-how. But when it comes to iOS, the platform is very sensitive to entities and abusive behaviors, but JustPlay has its own specialized systemic structure. So that's why they are able to support on iOS unlike other rewarded platforms. So I cannot give you the details because it's our own know-how. Without any further questions, I will now begin my closing remarks. As I mentioned from last year this year, based upon the efforts that we have made over the past 2 years, we are aiming to have accelerate growth and innovation. We're not just resting on those laurels that we have made in Q1 this year. Every quarter, we're going to achieve Y-o-Y and Q-o-Q revenue and operating profit growth. Of course, operating profit margin could be fluctuated across quarters because of the timing of the incentives. However, operating profit-wise, we will continue to level up and achieve sequential growth. And as our CFO mentioned, we are having more visibility into the upper bound of the revenue guidance, which is KRW 2.5 trillion. But internally speaking, we are aiming much higher revenue targets and operating profit targets. And many of you were curious about Aion 2 and Lineage Classic. But as I mentioned before, as of next year, we have 10 new titles, including spin-offs and new IPs. And based on that, we are expecting much higher growth next year. And previously, I mentioned about the revenue guidance of KRW 5 trillion by 2030. And since we have our lineup ready for 20 titles by 2030 and since we have clear growth strategies for Mobile Casual business, we believe that we are on track of achieving this revenue guidance for 2030. As I mentioned, instead of just focusing on individual title success and failure, we're going to continue to pursue more predictable and sustainable business model. And I hope that you continue to see our efforts in this regard throughout this year. Thank you. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]