South Korea-based video game giant Krafton announced its 2Q23 and 1H preliminary earnings. KRAFTON recorded its 1H 2023 cumulative sales at KRW925.7B ($702 million).
During the first half of the year, PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS PC/console laid the groundwork for a sustainable servicing of the game by driving a variety of updates, which include enhancements to Normal Match, an addition of a Recall system, a clan system release, and Arcade overhaul. Even after the free-to-play transition, over 2 million users a month have consistently joined the game. For the latter half of the year, PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS will present users with an abundance of content, including a collaboration with a new IP and a new map release.
PUBG MOBILE has secured steady sales with the introduction of the revamped Royale Pass, which has been adjusted to a bi-monthly cadence. Especially, BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA(BGMI) was relaunched in May and is regaining traffic in the India region. In 2H, content localized for India will be added to the game while more focus and effort will be put into the Indian market through large-scale esports events. Defense Derby, which was released to the global market at the beginning of August, is achieving initial success with positive reviews from users.
| Earnings(1H23) | Earnings(1H22) | % (YoY) | |
| Sales | 9,257 | 9,465 | -2% |
| Operating profit | 4,145 | 4,808 | -14% |
| Net Profit | 3,957 | 4,392 | -10% |
With its strategy Scale-Up the Creative, KRAFTON is strengthening its game development and publishing capabilities. KRAFTON and its 11 independent studios are working on developing over 20 new games, consisting of The Bird That Drinks Tears, Project Black Budget, and Project Gold Rush. In an effort to expand its ecosystem, the company has also introduced a system for proposing new titles called The Creative.
KRAFTON is also actively fostering future growth by investing in domestic and overseas studios in order to discover unique and original creatives. Aside from all this, KRAFTON is also implementing deep learning technology in its day-to-day operations with the goal of discovering new gameplay and enhancing production efficiency. Deep learning technology will also be applied to the open-world UGC platform Migaloo, which is set for a soft launch at the end of the year.
