NCSoft is expanding its growth engines around the long-term popularity and regional expansion of existing intellectual property (IP), global launches of new titles and a mobile casual business. It will roll out about 10 games in sequence from the second half of this year through next year, and expand its mobile casual business into a platform linking its own studios with external developers.

NCSoft set out the mid- to long-term business direction on a conference call for its 2026 second-quarter earnings release held on Monday.

Chief Financial Officer Won-jun Hong (홍원준) said, "A new management strategy with three pillars - legacy IP, new IP and mobile casual - has begun to show tangible results," adding, "We are building a diversified portfolio that does not rely on the success of a single IP."

Second-quarter consolidated revenue was 770.5 billion won and operating profit was 173.9 billion won, up 101 percent and 1,053 percent, respectively, from a year earlier. The success of Lineage Classic and the consolidation of JustPlay drove earnings growth. Lineage Classic posted revenue of 185.5 billion won and Aion2 logged 71.9 billion won, while mobile casual revenue was 169.7 billion won, accounting for 22 percent of the total.

◆New titles to roll out from the second half... simultaneous global push

NCSoft plans to roll out about 10 titles in sequence across the second half of this year and next year, including 4 large-scale games as well as in-house titles and third-party publishing games.

Co-CEO Byeong-moo Park (박병무) said, "If you include third-party games with which we have signed publishing deals and in-house developed games, it totals about 10 titles," adding, "We will be launching games almost every month." He stressed, "All upcoming games will be based on simultaneous global launches."

To that end, it has hired staff with global publisher backgrounds and overhauled its collaboration system between headquarters and overseas organisations. By region, it plans to expand from Southeast Asia and China to South America and the Middle East and North Africa starting next year.

The company is also working to extend the lifecycle of existing IP. Lineage Classic still has solid monthly active users (MAU) 140 days after launch, it said.

Park said, "In general, MMORPGs tend to bring in many users early on and then fall sharply, but Lineage Classic still has very solid MAU even 140 days later," adding, "Somewhat cautiously, we expect it to follow a lifecycle similar to LineageM."

Aion2 is also seeing improved user indicators after a July update and revisions to its product structure. Despite lowering membership prices and adjusting the charging structure for cosmetic items, PC usage indicators and revenue in July and August rose from June and MAU stopped falling and inched up. NCSoft said it expects Aion2 to avoid the same downward trend in the third and fourth quarters and to sustain long-term popularity.

In China, it is discussing entry plans with an existing partner for the Aion IP. It had planned to consider entering China after the global launch of Aion2, but brought negotiations forward as publishing proposals from multiple Chinese companies continued. Cooperation plans - including publishing the PC version of Aion and developing a mobile version of Aion2 - have been agreed in principle, and the company said it expects contract signing and a separate disclosure to be possible as early as August once detailed terms are finalised.

◆JustPlay to expand into a game platform

The mobile casual business, which began to be fully reflected in earnings from the second quarter, will also be built into a separate growth engine. JustPlay's second-quarter revenue was 125.6 billion won, up about twofold from a year earlier, and revenue at its mobile casual development studios also grew about 20 percent to 44.1 billion won.

NCSoft had initially planned to quickly promote links between JustPlay and acquired developers, but focused first on platform growth as JustPlay's own growth ran faster than expected.

Park said, "Because JustPlay's own growth is so fast, we are first focusing on maximising the benefits of that growth," adding, "In the second half, we will connect SDKs to our in-house studios, and next year we will connect third-party studios as well to develop it into a proper platform." It plans to publish games from studios it has secured on JustPlay starting in the second half, and expand the platform's scope next year by bringing in external developers as well.

Mobile Casual Division head Anel Cheman (아넬 체만) said, "JustPlay is focused on bringing in high-quality users, and these users have higher lifetime value (LTV)." He added that it plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) for user acquisition (UA), LTV improvements and operational efficiency.

It also plans to bring in third-party games, secure direct demand from advertisers and add new content such as videos to expand JustPlay into a platform linking user acquisition, advertising and content.

Cheman said, "JustPlay's MAU grew 70 percent year on year," adding, "As game operations improve, LTV will also grow further."

Park said he expects the mobile casual business's organic growth and synergies among acquired studios to begin in earnest from the second half. He said revenue contributions from mobile casual publishing titles in preparation will begin next year, and it is also discussing additional mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

◆Guild Wars 3 development steps up... growth centred on new titles in 2027

In the mid to long term, global new titles are expected to contribute more to earnings. NCSoft aims to secure additional revenue in 2027 through regional expansion and spinoffs of existing games, while generating larger revenue from global new titles that will follow the global launch of Aion2.

Park said, "In 2027, regional expansion of existing games and spinoff games will steadily add revenue, but big revenue will mainly come from new IP," adding, "About 10 games, including 4 large-scale titles, are scheduled for global launches."

It is also increasing investment in the development of Guild Wars 3. Guild Wars 3, which had been in a core development stage through last year, shifted to full-scale production this year, and the company also suggested it may run alpha and beta tests next year. Guild Wars 3 will be released on multiple platforms, including ArenaNet's own platform as well as Steam and consoles, and it plans to launch in Asia as well after localisation. As it uses Unreal Engine 5 unlike Guild Wars 2, it is also expanding technical cooperation between NCSoft headquarters and ArenaNet.

Park said he expects the company's previously presented upper-end revenue guidance for this year of 2.5 trillion won to be "significantly exceeded". He said growth could slow somewhat in the third quarter due to seasonal factors, marketing costs and the advance reflection of developer compensation, but he expects the pace of growth to pick up again in the fourth quarter.

It is also preparing 3 to 4 large-scale games that have not yet been disclosed, targeting launch in 2028 to 2029. If mobile casual and global new titles grow as planned, it also plans to try to bring forward the timing of achieving its 2030 revenue target of 5 trillion won.

Park said, "These results are meaningful in that the foundation-building of existing IP, new IP and new businesses has shown up in the numbers," adding, "We will work to achieve the 5 trillion won revenue target for 2030 sooner."