Kakao is a major company in South Korea with over 5000 employees and its fingers in many pies, from a major instant messaging app and taxi service to online music distribution. But around here, we know it best for its stewardship of MMORPG Black Desert. The company’s recent financial report covering the fourth quarter of 2016 suggests Black Desert did well indeed when it launched in the west — a story we don’t often hear.
In fact, Kakao touts Black Desert as one of the major factors in its games division reported 63% year-over-year revenue increase and 19% quarter-over-quarter revenue increase (the other being mobile game publishing, which has been its forte since the 2014 corporate merger). Fans of the game in the west don’t have much to fear, is what we’re saying.