W Games achieved record quarterly results, helped by its new businesses returning to profit and the impact of lower fees.

W Games said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that first-quarter revenue on a consolidated financial statement basis rose 26.6 percent from a year earlier to 205.0 billion won. Operating profit increased 25.1 percent to 68.5 billion won, and net profit rose 60.6 percent to 73.5 billion won.

Both revenue and operating profit were the highest ever for a first quarter. From the previous quarter, revenue rose 2.6 percent and operating profit increased 7.1 percent.

The strong performance was driven by an expanding share of direct-to-consumer (DTC) transactions. The DTC share of first-quarter revenue rose to 38.7 percent and in-app advertising (IAA) revenue increased in the casual segment, reducing the burden of platform fees and improving the overall cost structure.

By segment, social casino posted 155.1 billion won in revenue, continuing steady growth. The casual games segment grew 28.8 percent from the previous quarter to 24.7 billion won, and SuperNation, a subsidiary in the iGaming segment, rose 8.1 percent to 25.2 billion won. In particular, both the casual and iGaming segments returned to profit, completing a structure in which all business segments contribute to earnings.

W Games plans to drive medium- to long-term growth based on three pillars: social casino, iGaming and casual games. It aims to expand its casual games intellectual property (IP) portfolio from more than 55 currently to more than 100 within the year.

A W Games official said the record highs in both revenue and operating profit came from a combination of DTC expansion on top of a stable earnings base in social casino, revenue growth at Paxie Games and the effects of SuperNation's multi-brand strategy. The official said the company's game IP portfolio, currently more than 55, is expected to surpass 100 this year, and it will strengthen both scale and profitability by improving profitability through a wider scope of external in-app payments and by expanding the iGaming market.