Nexon Had "Record-Breaking" Q1 In Korea, Game Development "On Track" Despite COVID-19

Nexon had a "record-breaking quarter in Korea" through the first three months of 2020, again showing that whatever issues many segments of society are having with the COVID-19 situation, the video game industry seems to be doing pretty well for itself. "Shelter at home" has never offered this many entertainment options.

(In fact, one of the primary bullet points of the investor presentation is "Game development on track with no major disruption from COVID-19," which isn't too surprising, considering how well South Korea has managed the crisis.)

As expected, the highlights are mostly for games in Korea, which enjoyed a 78% year-over-year increase from Q1 2019. China's revenues were "within expected range," and the two countries overall accounted for 88% of Nexon's revenue in the quarter. The other 12%, broken up into Japan, NA/Europe, and the rest, were all driven by MapleStory M (in Japan) and the PC MapleStory (everywhere else). Japan's revenue segment is very small, however, and unlike NCSoft, most of Nexon's revenue -- nearly 80% -- is still coming from PC gaming.

That's something the company might be looking to change in the future, with mobile versions of Dungeon&Fighter, KartRider Rush+, FIFA, Final Fantasy XI, Mabinogi, and Dynasty Warriors 9 in the pipeline. In fact, 10 of 13 upcoming titles are for mobile devices, with two of the other three having a mobile companion game: KartRider: Drift and Project BBQ, a PC 3-D online action RPG based on the Dungeon&Fighter universe. The third is Embark Studios' project, which is the only Nexon-owned title I'm really looking forward to -- especially with MapleStory 2's imminent demise later this month.