NEXON Co., Ltd. ($3659)

[Audio Gap] Our ability to compete effectively, adapt to new technologies and address new technological challenges, our use of intellectual property and other statements that are not historical facts. These statements represent our projections and expectations about future events, which we believe are reasonable or based on reasonable assumptions. However, numerous risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. . Information on some of these risks and uncertainties can be found in our earnings-related charter document. We assume no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements. Please note, net income refers to net income attributable to owners of the parent stated in Nexon's consolidated financial results. Furthermore, this presentation is intended to provide investors and analysts with financial and operational information about Nexon not to solicit or recommend any sale or purchase of stock or other securities of Nexon. A recording of this presentation will be available on our Investor Relations website following this presentation. Unauthorized recording of this presentation is not permitted. With that, I'll now pass to Junghun.

Good afternoon, everyone. We appreciate you taking time to join. Earlier today, Nexon posted slide deck and press release detailing our Q1 2026 performance and Q2 outlook. On today's call, we will offer insights on our recent performance and an outlook on the second quarter, which is tracking to be the softest quarter of this year. Due to challenges in our Dungeon&Fighter franchise, our top count for MABINOGI MOBILE against last year's successful launch and the Level Cap strategy for through monetization in our FC franchise in favor of attracting new and returning players for long-term retention and growth. Beyond Q2, we envision a second half that includes a pipeline of catalysts that add portfolio diversity and growth into our business. Today's report will also offer a level of online progress on the transformation initiative outlined at our March 31 CMD. As you may recall, the initiative includes plans to improve cost management, evolve our creative process, establish margin expectation for each project, expand our business with partnership and leverage the strategic advantages that come with Nexon's large and loyal global player community. The reason is to provide a great experience for our players, create new revenue streams and to improve our margin structure. And while we are only 3 months into the multiyear plan, we are making material progress that includes pipeline review and process improvements, which we expect to have positive impact on our results in the quarters ahead. Moving to the Q1 performance. we are pleased to report liquid high quarterly revenue and operating income of JPY 152.2 billion and JPY 58.2 billion, up 34% and 40% year-over-year, respectively. And the high point in our Q1 story is the ongoing success of ARC Raiders, which finished 2025 with more than 10 million units sold and recently, sold more than 16 billion units. Notably, more than half hold of active players have spent over 100 hours in the game, totaling more than 1.5 billion hours commit to the game, statistics that reflect the enthusiasm keep ARC Raiders in the upper tier of the most played games on Steam. ARC Raiders new updates, Riven Tides was released on April 28. And the team at Embark Studios is now working on the highly anticipated October release of the Frozen Trail update, the biggest ARC Raiders update since launch. Frozen Trail will include both free content with a large new map plus new weapons, gadgets and pass. There will also be a paid premium reward pass. Similar to a season pass that will improve the exclusive content in the form of character outfits, new cosmetic types to expand the customization in the game. The update is designed to reactivate dormant players who finished the game and attract all new users. Embark believes Frozen Trail will add a multitude of hours of new game play and reshape how the game is played. We are extremely excited about October release. As pleased as we are with the ongoing commercial success, ARC Raiders offers a much larger more valuable and strategic capability for Nexon. We now have an engine for developing true global games at scale. As kris said, we did not have and we plan to make full use of it in the years ahead. Another solid popular in Q1 was the MapleStory franchise, which was up 42% year-over-year on the strength of the newly introduced experience, MapleStory either RPG and MapleStory Worlds. This performance add confidence to our disc system, the introduction of a new experience can deliver vertical growth in the established franchises. And then -- sorry, offers blueprint for enormous growth in Dungeon&Fighter and other Nexon IP. Moving to the Dungeon&Fighter franchise. On Page 3, Dungeon&Fighter began 2026 with a large new year update, which contribute to solid Q1 year-over-year growth. However, due to the offsetting decline in the mobile game, franchise revenue was down year-over-year. Changing the trajectory of the mobile game is our top priority. And following a recent franchise review, we have decided to move development of the Chinese service to our partners at Tencent. Nexon's neo per studio will maintain creative control of the game, but we believe Tencent's deep understanding of local player preprints will produce the best possible performance in the game. Moving now to Q2. Our outlook reflects challenge for both PC and mobile Dungeon&Fighter, which make this what we expect to be our weakest quarter of the year. In addition to the ongoing weakness in the mobile game, the recent updates for the PC version have not delivered the anticipated outcome. Our broader outlook on the year includes multiple initiatives designed to reverse the trajectory of this franchise in China. The first is Dungeon&Fighter Mobile anniversary scheduled this month, followed by newer co-developed content from Tencent this summer. Next is the June anniversary and a major update for the PC game timed with October National Day holiday plus our new rate and closer to the end of this year, our promising new product extension designed to inspire the core and attract new players Dungeon&Fighter: Idle RPG. Looking ahead to 2027 and beyond, we are seeing good progress on Dungeon&Fighter Classic, Dungeon&Fighter: ARAD and OVERKILL, games extending the Dungeon&Fighter IP. For the apps franchise, our strategy for leveraging all the competes is to place the highest priority on inspiring the core and on boarding new and returning players on outstanding service and reliable operations part. We believe this approach will help to drive long-term retention and establish higher traffic baseline after the event. Other releases is expected to drive our performance in our second half include Mymove in Taiwan in Q3 and in Japan in Q4. the publishing of Overwatch on Kishin Korea later this year. And of course, the launch of the upgrade Frozen Trail update with free and premium content in Q4. Looking beyond the 2026, our pipeline includes several new games with strong commercial potential starting with NAKWON: LAST PARADISE. NAKWON is a multiplayer survival in a postapocalyptic city which recently completed a closed beta test with more than 37,000 concurrent players, a significant achievement for all new game with no market team. Our Korean studios have multiple projects in development, including MABINOGI Eternity, Project RX and Vindictus: Defying Fate. We are also planning 2 publishing projects for the list late this year. The first is -- our fantasy world RPG and Project team, an MMORPG based on the hugely popular webtune overgeared IP with service for launch in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. And finally, Embark Studios, the creators of ARC Raiders and THE FINALS have 2 new games in the early stage of development. Now I will offer on updates on progress made on our transformation initiative, which is expected to dramatically involve how we create and service games in the years ahead. Following the review of our every game and processing in our pipeline, we canceled 3 titles did not test our filter for quality and commercial viability, allowing us to allocate additional resources to 2 projects that offer greater quality as well as potential for revenue and margin, NAKWON and Uchida wafer. On to training costs, these steps allow us to deploy top creative talent to projects with greater potential to attract and sustain our large number of players. These are the efforts concrete steps in our multiyear transformation. We look forward to sharing more on our progress along with the expectation that you will see the impact in our financial results. With that, I will finish with an update on some news of our recently announced partnerships that provides long-term stability and growth to our business. In March, we announced publishing agreements with Blizzard Entertainment for Overwatch on PC in Korea later this year. Under the government, Nexon will assume a publishing responsibility in Korea and provide live service, marketing, internet game room support plus hyper localization to align the game with a unique taste and preference of Korean players. For the Nexon franchise, Today, Nexon and EA announced our long-term agreement to our publishing partnership, which secured the future of our most successful franchises. Under the agreements, we will expand upon investments in growing the EA Sports FC fan base and collaborate to continually deliver authentic experiences on the game. And finally, Nexon and Tencent have assigned a 10-year extension of our long-standing publishing agreement for Dungeon&Fighter in China. The agreement provides continuity of service for millions of Dungeon&Fighter players in China. And the stable future for our mutually beneficial relationship between our 2 companies. Beyond today's agreements, our partnership with Tencent now includes adaptation and publishing of multiple next-gen titles in China, including THE FINALS, which is now in service, ARC Raiders, which recently obtained by ESPN and is scheduled for multiple beta tests in 2026 plus The First Berserker: Khazan and of course, Dungeon&Fighter Mobile. In summary, Nexon delivered a strong first quarter with sustained engagement in our nuclear blockbuster ARC Raiders and a solid growth in our MapleStory franchise. Under the transformation initiative, we are conducting a deep review of the Dungeon&Fighter franchise, which is expected to result in process optimization, improved performance and multiple new experience aimed at reigniting growth. The softness in our second quarter results will be countered by multiple catalyst, the launch of MABINOGI MOBILE in Taiwan in Q3 and in Japan in Q4, the publishing of Overwatch on PC in Korea later this year. The National Day update for the Dungeon&Fighter PC in China, ARC Raiders Frozen Trail expansion in October and the release of the Dungeon&Fighter Idle RPG before the end of the year. Our pipeline of new games is strong and renewed partnership provides stability and scale to our long-term results. With that, I will hand the call over to Uemura-san.

In Q1, revenue was JPY 152.2 billion, and operating revenue was JPY 58.2 billion. Both were within the expected range as we achieved record high quarterly revenue and operating income. Year-over-year revenue and operating income increased by 34% and 40%, respectively, driven by the strong performance of ARC Raiders and sustained growth of the MapleStory franchise led by MapleStory: Idle RPG and MapleStory Worlds. With regard to expenses, HR costs and marketing expenses were below our plan. Q1 income was JPY 57.2 billion, which exceeded our outlook and grew 118% year-over-year. This was driven by a JPY 14.5 billion FX gain on cash deposits in Q1 2026 compared to JPY 4.2 billion FX loss in the year ago quarter. Shifting to franchise performance. In Q1, the collective revenue of our 3 major franchises were roughly flat year-over-year at JPY 92.9 billion. While Dungeon&Fighter March revenue defined the MapleStory franchise delivered exceptional results and the FC franchise revenue grew modestly year-over-year. Horizontal revenue, which includes new titles, was up 188% year-over-year to JPY 59.3 billion led by ARC Raiders, we sold an additional 4.6 million units during the first quarter. The Dungeon&Fighter franchise revenue decreased by 26% year-over-year due to a decline in Dungeon&Fighter Mobile. PC Dungeon&Fighter in China posted double-digit year-over-year growth driven by the new year update. In Korea, revenue decreased year-over-year, in addition to a typical comparison with Q1 2025 in which the games revenue nearly doubled versus the prior year, recent updates, including the March new season have not resonated as we had anticipated. The MapleStory franchise revenue grew an outstanding 42% year-over-year, driven by the renewed MapleStory: Idle RPG and growth in MapleStory Worlds. In Korea, MapleStory exceeded our outlook due to the New Year update as well as anniversary updates, which began in March. However, revenue declined 8% year-over-year, owing to a difficult comparison with the same quarter last year. Global MapleStory grew 8% year-over-year and exceeded our expectations, fueled by a major winter date. Revenue from MapleStory Worlds exceeded our expectations driven by a successful New Year update in Taiwan. Year-over-year, it grew 79%. And MapleStory: Idle RPG exceeded our expectations driven by a successful major update, which led to a strong influx of new players, particularly in Korea and the United States. Refunds related to the coding issue were completed in March, resulting in a reduction of JPY 6.7 billion in revenue and JPY 0.5 billion in operating income in Q1. The FC franchise revenue exceeded our outlook driven by New Year and team of the year updates and increased slightly year-over-year. Revenue from MABINOGI MOBILE grew compared with a year ago when the game was released in March. A series of major updates during the first quarter helped stabilize the game's user networks. And finally, ARC Raiders sold an additional 4.6 million units, reaching cumulative unit sales of 15.5 million in Q1. More recently, the game surpassed an incredible 16 million units sold. Moving on to our Q2 outlook. Revenue is expected to be in the range of JPY 107 billion to JPY 119.7 billion, representing a 10% decrease to a 1% increase on an as-reported basis, a 16% to 6% decrease on a constant currency basis year-over-year. Our outlook reflects the decline in the Dungeon&Fighter franchise and MABINOGI MOBILE, which faces a tough comp with last year's successful launch while expecting ongoing growth in the MapleStory franchise and contribution from ARC Raiders. For the PC version of Dungeon&Fighter, we anticipate year-over-year revenue decline. The April new season update in China contributed to an uplift in DAUs. However, monetization initiatives tied to the update did not meet our expectations. Our plan is to leverage the anniversary event in June to build momentum ahead of the major update aligned with the October National Day holiday and a new rate content. We also expect a year-over-year decline in Korea. We aim to increase engagement and drive performance by introducing new content, including a new rate in the latter half of the year. The Dungeon&Fighter Mobile, we expect year-over-year revenue to decline as the March level cap update did not sustain the rise in user level. We plan to acquire new and lapsed players through the anniversary update in May and accelerate the deployment of co-developed content updates with Tencent from this summer. We expect Q2 revenue from the Dungeon&Fighter franchise to decline year-over-year. Moving to MapleStory franchise, we expect Q2 revenue to increase approximately 20% year-over-year, driven by the continued contribution from MapleStory: Idle RPG. For PC, MapleStory in Korea, active users have grown year-over-year since the March anniversary update, which we expect to contribute to solid player engagement leading into the summer update in June. However, we expect revenue to decline due to a difficult year-over-year comparison. For global MapleStory, we expect the performance to remain stable, supported by dedicated hyper-localized content. We expect the year-over-year revenue decline for MapleStory Worlds due to the comparison with the exceptionally strong performance of its Taiwan launch in Q2 2025. for MapleStory: Idle RPG, we anticipate the gain will maintain engagement supported by a major event tied to the half anniversary in April. As per the franchise, our Q2 focus is on large-scale acquisition through the FC Online anniversary update and the work up, which starts in June. Our collaboration with nable collaboration with, the #1 travel portal in Korea puts us in contact with a large spectrum of soccer fans during the event. Our strategy in leveraging the World Cup enthusiasm is to deliver high-quality service and growth monetization for long-term engagement and growth following the event. For MABINOGI MOBILE, beginning in Q2, the game will be up against difficult comparisons against the post-launch quarters. As such, we anticipate revenue to decrease year-over-year compared to its exceptionally strong launch in Q2 2025, while expecting it to be slightly down quarter-over-quarter. We're scheduled to launch a game in Taiwan in Q3 and in Japan in Q4. ARC Raiders has maintained player engagement with a steady pace of content updates in the first half. However, we expect quarterly unit sales to continue to normalize in line with the floated nature of premium games. Embark Studios is now working on a large and highly anticipated update in October, which will include free content as well as a premium reward pass. Moving to the operating income outlook. We expect Q2 operating income to be in the range of JPY 16.1 billion to JPY 25.3 billion, representing a 57% to 33% decrease on an as-reported basis or 66% to 43% decrease year-over-year on a constant currency basis. The operating income decline is based on the revenue decrease, primarily in the high-margin China business as well as increased customer acquisition costs related to performance-based marketing for MapleStory: Idle RPG and increased HR costs. While our full year plan reflects head count and HR costs to remain flat year-over-year in 2026. In the Meantime, we expect net income to be in the range of JPY 16.1 billion to JPY 23.2 billion, which represents a 4% decrease to a 38% increase on an as-reported basis or a 22% decrease to a 16% increase on a constant current currency basis year-over-year compared with Q2 2025, in which we recorded an FX loss of JPY 17.5 billion. Finally, I would like to offer some perspective on shareholder returns. In addition to the long-term value produced by growing our existing franchises with new experiences and releasing new games with global appeal, like ARC Raiders, we expect that cost management initiatives and renewed focus on commercial viability in our product portfolio will deliver greater profitability and returns for our shareholders. Reflecting our expectation of continued strong cash generation and improved efficiency, in 2026, we plan an annual dividend of JPY 60 per share. Additionally, today, Nexon's Board of Directors approved the execution of the repurchase for JPY 30 billion worth of shares scheduled from May 15 to July 31, 2026. Now I'll hand the call back to Junghun.

Thank you, Uemura-san. Before we take your questions, I would like to offer a quick summary of how Nexon's recent result fit into our vision for the full year. We are pleased with the first quarter results, including ongoing engagement in ARC Raiders and sustained strength of the MapleStory franchise. We are also acutely aware of challenges to our Dungeon&Fighter franchise, and the implications that will have on our full year results. Addressing the challenges is our top priority. The decisive actions we have taken to development of the mobile game closer to the large player base in China marked a start of multiple process forms designed to improve the quality and frequency of content updates that engage the core players and attract new ones. Following the close of Q2, our softest quarter this year, the second half of our year will be defined by multiple list, the launch of MABINOGI MOBILE in Taiwan and Japan, Overwatch on Kinshin in Korea, the National Day update and newly for PC Dungeon&Fighter in China. The big ARC Raiders Frozen Trail update with free and premium content and a highly promising release of Dungeon&Fighter Idle RPG. All of this happening in parallel with our exploration initiative aimed at fundamentally involving how we make and service games to improve product quality and profitability. Well managed to change doesn't happen overnight. Our transformation is moving steadily, and you can expect to see the impact on our results in the months ahead. The new share repurchase plan reflects our competence in this vision. With that, operator, we are ready to take questions from our guests.

[Operator Instructions] The first question is from Morgan Stanley, Seyon Park.

I have a few questions. I'll go one by one. The first question is relating to the monetization of ARC Raiders. You mentioned a major content update in October, the Frozen Trail update. And it seems like it will be a mix of free content, but also premium passes. So is it fair to expect a meaningful rebound in monetization following this update is my first question. .

Thank you, Seyon. This is Junghun. I would like to answer this question from my end. So first off, I would like to start by saying that this is the biggest update ever since the launch of ARC Raiders and thus, either both in terms of how the users are anticipating about this and any other aspects of the game, we also have high anticipation towards this. So ever since the launch of the game, we have been closely observing how our community reacts and how they play our games very closely and listening to their feedback. So our conclusion was that players do not just want more content piled on the game. But what they really want is for us to go deeper, delivering a much bigger content experience in publishing the core systems of the game. So that is what this October update is really about. We are rolling out a big new map and new goals for our Endgame players. And when it comes to the lower side of the game, we plan to introduce story content that digs to the origins of Arc. So all of them in October update. Basically, you'll be able to see some pretty significant changes in the second half of this year. When it comes to the monetization side, perhaps the biggest thing that we are focusing on right now with this large update that is offered for free, we expect it to bring lapsed players back and also drive sales as new players come in, thanks to this update. And at the same time, alongside that, as mentioned, we are planning a paid premium reward pass with exclusive content, which we believe will expand customization, things like character outfits, cosmetic items and new types of cosmetic items that expands customization. Lastly, ARC Raiders has recently announced to its community that it will now be shifting its focus on its live service to launch greater and bigger updates in 6 months or longer period of time cadence. So since we have prepared so many things for this upcoming October update, we would highly appreciate your continued interest in this. And that concludes my answer. Thank you.

My second question, I apologize, I have decided to ask another question on the second question. But the second question is relating to the Dungeon&Fighter franchise in China, which I'm well aware that the company is aiming to recoup. We're seeing, I think, many years where the revenues are lower than what it was, let's say, 4, 5 years ago. And I'm just kind of wondering as time passes, as the players age and as new games and new content become more in fashion, is there the view that the franchise could be aging. And as a result, it becomes increasingly more difficult to maintain revenues. Is that maybe something that as investors, you should be worried about? That would be my second question. .

Thank you, Seyon, for your question. This is Junghun again, I'll be able to answer to that piece as well. So the question that you have just raised, I believe, is the biggest and most foundational and most essential question that any game developers around the world who are servicing long-standing live games must be considering and pondering about. So I would say that an online game, it's just like a living creature. Basically, every single moment of your game, you will see an inflow of new users and churning of existing users. So what I would like to highlight here is that this different kind of behaviors or patterns that people show as they age when they play and enjoy long-standing and old games is something that can be actually demonstrated through data. And this was what I was able to learn from my experiences as well. So if we take a look at like a long-standing live services and live franchises that has been there for more than 15 years, just Dungeon&Fighter and MapleStory, obviously, if you look at the daily number of new users coming into the game, it may look not too significant. However, if you kind of your view to the annual basis landscape, the amount of new users in flowing to our games are really truly astronomical. So even at this point, I would like to highlight how the user base is circulating. And I would say that it might not be too much of a price view if you say that with user aging, the game metrics will decline. So basically for the Dungeon&Fighter franchise as well as the short-term mission that we'll have to address. I think one of the big things here is the fact that in this action RPG, this update directions has been kind of deep rooted right now so that it is kind of easy to expect what to come. Basically, there will be some similar patterns of dungeons and max level increase and everything. Basically, we are thinking that we will need some freshness in terms of how the game is designed. I would say that this is more about the quality or the direction of the content itself, rather than the structural layers of people or user cohorts aging and the time passes by. So we believe there are different layers of challenges here. So 2 things I would like to highlight in terms of providing this freshness to the game. This has been a topic that Nexon, Neople and our partner, Tencent, have been kind of contemplating quite deeply for many years already. We have been exploring many exciting new ideas in order to provide more freshness. And when it comes to the Mobile Dungeon&Fighter China service, we believe that such consideration and contemplation will come to fruition starting from the second half of this year in our game and also for the PC Dungeon&Fighter. And also second part that I would like to address is, as we have mentioned at the CMD, basically, we are now demonstrating some segment diversification portfolio diversification as we did with the MapleStory franchise. And we believe that is kind of a fundamental solution to it. So as we have seen with the MapleStory franchise, we believe this expansion strategy is working and start -- and throughout next year as well as years to follow under concrete plan, we are now making necessary preparations to apply this MapleStory playbook to Dungeon & Fighter franchise. Thank you. That would conclude my answer.

The next question will come from Yijia Zhai from UBS Securities. .

I have 3 questions, and I would like to start by starting on the first question. You have mentioned that the D&F franchise in China, going back to the regional guidance from the previous quarter, the expectation was to stay flat. So I would like to get some more details on what exactly is leading to this. What is your analysis on the case? Also, related topic to the Level Cap. Previous understanding is the PC version had some level of effect. However, that does not seem to be the case anymore. So how am I supposed to look at this? What is the understanding we should have on that status? Also on your collaboration with Tencent, you are talking about transferring some of the development capabilities to Tencent for the Chinese version. Does that mean that you're going to be shrinking your development capabilities in Korea? And also if that is the case, is there going to be a change in your cost structure? This will be the first question.

Thank you very much for your question. So I think the question that you have raised has also some correlations our PC Dungeon&Fighter service in China. So I would like to offer a take on -- regarding the Dungeon&Fighter franchise itself for this question. So looking at our -- the major Q2 updates for the Dungeon&Fighter franchise and how it played out. the indicators surrounding traffic and user engagement did come in at a meaningful level. That said, however, the revenue side numbers were a little bit softer than we had hoped for. And what I would like to emphasize is that Dungeon&Fighter franchise traffic volume is holding up solidly thanks to this update. To touch upon the revenue side, we expect the PC service to land at roughly last year's level, and the mobile service is likely to have a tougher time compared to last year. So for me to touch briefly upon how we are approaching each platform of PC and mobile. First off, on the PC side, we will push to maximize our user engagement through 2 main big momentums, first of which is the June anniversary event that historically gives us the biggest traffic boost -- traffic spike of the year and also a major update timed to the October National Day holiday. So following that, we will carry those momentums on retention and engagement all the way through a big update in the coming year. So moving on to the mobile side. As we have laid out capital markets briefing, this still remains the single highest priority what we need to address. So on mobile, the update that we have released in March brought in some meaningful amounts of increase in traffic, but the durability of that traffic didn't quite live up to our expectations. So basically, an RPG experience is about growing the power of your character and progressing throughout the game. Basically, users are not finding motivation in the entrenched patterns of the character progression system in our game, and that is our analysis. So what they truly want is fresh content updates, the kind of experience you have not had before in Dungeon&Fighter. So that is the essence of the problem that we need to solve. We recently announced that the development of Dungeon&Fighter Mobile China is moving over Tencent. However, it would be a mistake to read that as us shrinking our Korean development team. So Tencent's team in China will basically be leaning more towards content that is better aligned with Chinese mobile players taste. And our Korean team with, obviously, their deep understanding of the IP will keep the overall creative controls. So this year, the 2 teams will be working side-by-side closely to build a new meta for Dungeon&Fighter mobile and a progression ladder that players actually would desire to climb, including different content like modes, systems and everything. So we do expect content under such codevelopment setup to start rolling out in earnest from the second half of this year. However, rather than driving excessive monetization push, what we truly focus on is the -- is to grow total traffic across the broader Dungeon&Fighter franchise ecosystem. And through that to make this an IP franchise that stays in the heart of our community for an even longer period of time. In parallel, we are also working on AI-based changes to our workflow so that we can speed up our iterations. So far, our kind of running symbolic motto in doing so has been doubling our content output and getting our production speed to the point where we can ship as many as 2 major rates per year. So we have consistently backed such objectives with investment in people, resources and R&D. So we are confident that the AI-based workflow changes we're currently doing R&D efforts on will give that production speed another true acceleration, and of course, to be clear, speeding up the content update cadence on a nearly 20-year-old truly pixel-based live game, this is a genuinely challenging task. However, we believe we are making real progress on building an environment where our developers can actually focus on the creative part of the job. So basically, our aim is to kind of automate away the production grinds that is just simple, repetitive and so that we can ultimately push content supply to many times what it is today. So last thing that I want to add is that for both PC and mobile Dungeon&Fighter services in China, our goal is not about recovery. It is about growth. And we are under that goal putting so much efforts and investment even today. So I believe it was today -- it is today, but we have announced this 10-year contract renewal for Dungeon&Fighter PC service. And we believe this has laid out a stable -- even more stable foundation for us to achieve this growth. That's all from my end.

I do have high expectations for how the AI capabilities are going to have in your development flow. Now I would like to ask a follow-up question on what has been explained. So with the development being transferred to Tencent for China, does it also going to change the take rate. And also in the guidance, you have shared the revenue targets. Now is that in growth? Or is that also considering the take rate? I would like to hear on that.

Regarding the revenue, take rate is not included.

My second question was going to be on the PC version of the D&F franchise, but you have already included in your previous answer to what I wanted to hear. So I would like to skip that and move on to the third question. Now the next question is on HR costs. In the original guidance, previous quarter, you have mentioned that there's going to be a JPY 9 billion worth increase. However, currently, there doesn't seem to be the same level of increase. And you have also mentioned that the D&F is performing quite well, better than expected, in fact, which I imagine would mean that you will be paying some performance-linked bonuses payment for the ARC Raiders. Now so -- but are there any other potential reasons, causes that might bring down the HR costs. If you could clarify that, I'd really appreciate.

Thank you. I would like to first answer and to explain on ARC Raiders. I would like to mention that the performance is not actually overshooting what we have expected. It is in line with our expectations. As we explained previously, there has been a deferred profit -- deferred revenue. And that is why that it may appear to be greater than what we had previously announced. So what could be the contributing cost for bringing down the HR cost. We have been controlling our hiring. This is the one contributing factor. And the second is that for those performance, those titles that are underperforming, there has been a reversal of bonus allowance. And as for the future outlook for HR costs, as we have announced at the previous CMD for the full year, our expectation is to land at the level similar to the previous year.

The next question is from Taishan from Nikkei.

Two questions. First question is related to your performance. I understand that you forecast Q2 to be the lowest quarter of the fiscal year. But you also mentioned that there will be catalysts that will revamp the situation. So I would like you to share with us what is your full year view? Is it correct to understand that we are heading towards the improvement in the performance? Or are there any other pullback factors such as the ARC Raiders.

Thank you very much your question. We only give the outlook/guidance for the upcoming quarter, so we cannot give you any full year guidance. So I would like to speak in qualitative terms. Regarding the 3 major franchises, let me walk you through each title. Firstly, Dungeon&Fighter, the issues are very clear. So heading towards the second half of the year, we were going to prepare ourselves for National Day event and also prepare for the annual anniversary which will be celebrated in June. Secondly, about MapleStory franchise, we are seeing a very favorable trend, and we would like to continue this momentum. Thirdly, FC World Cup is a tailwind, and we will like to fully leverage on that and try to increase the engagement from the new to long perspective. About horizontal growth, I believe that ARC Raiders is a very good example. We are preparing ourselves for a major update scheduled in October. And we hope that, that will yet provide another propellent impact given the current momentum. So talking about the new pipeline, there are multiple titles that we are preparing. Firstly, MABINOGI is scheduled to be launched in Taiwan as well as in Japan. And we have Overwatch and also we have Project t. And also, we have Dungeon&Fighter Idle RPG, and all of these are in the pipeline heading toward the second half. And of course, I should not miss Azur Promilia as well. So you can understand from all the names that I have listed right now that there are many catalysts heading towards the second half.

Listening to your answer, I have a follow-up question. It seems that are many positive elements starting from Q3. So is it correct to understand that the dip in Q2 is only a temporary dip.

It is true that China business is in a challenging situation and we need some time in order to rebuild the business in China. So it's very important to decide how we are going to rebuild our business in China. But other than that aspect, as I have mentioned, there are multiple catalysts that we can count on. So it all depends on what kind of countermeasures that we can take and overcoming the challenges that we have in China and continue our growth trajectory.

Let's move on to the second question, which is about FX forecast. I want to know what is your sensitivity to FX fluctuations and what will be the full year impact? And please share with me as much as you can.

We do not actually "forecast" what will be the FX, but if you can kindly turn to Page 10, which elaborates on our FX sensitivity, as you can see for now for Q2, we are assuming JPY 159.33 to a dollar. Excuse me, I would like to correct myself. If you can turn to Page 19. This is a slide that shows FX sensitivity. And regarding the revenue, assuming that, that is a JPY 1 change in FX between yen to dollar for revenue, there will be the impact of JPY 750 million. And for the operating income, there will be an impact of JPY 140 million.

[Operator Instructions] Ms. Ara, I would like to turn the call over to you for any closing remarks.

Thank you. If there are no further questions, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your participation in this online earnings presentation. Please feel free to contact the NEXON Investor Relations at [email protected] should you have any further questions. We appreciate your interest in Nexon.

That leads us to the end of the meeting. Thank you for your participation.