The third quarter earnings report from Krafton, aka the company that owns PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and TERA, isn’t full of what one might call mind-blowing news in terms of fiscal headlines, but at the same time the company appears to be doing well, which (if we’re honest) is probably all that the investors care to hear anyway. Still, there is some context that gamers may want to keep abreast on.
In terms of Q3, Krafton did see a 17% decline in quarterly revenue – its lowest since Q4 of 2020 – but net profit increased by 27%. The company attributes this to PUBG’s growth for the quarter, noting “steady traffic and retention” after the battle royale shooter went free-to-play in January – between 60K and 100K new users are being drawn in daily according to the report. PUBG Mobile was also up for the quarter by 27%, drawing in 65% of the company’s total revenue alone.
The rest of the report talks up Krafton’s future titles and expansion plans, including its intention to acquire The Descent developer Neon Giant, plans to open a new dev studio in Canada to work on a game based on a series of Korean fantasy novels, mention of a PvPvE looter shooter called Black Budget, and references to general excitement to its survival horror game The Callisto Protocol, the “narrative experience” that’s apparently tied to PUBG.
In terms of actual MMORPGs, readers will remember that Krafton-Bluehole shut down both TERA on PC and Elyon; judging by this quarterly report, Krafton is clearly ready to move on past those games and face-first into everything but MMOs.
