Author Topic: NCSoft Stockwatch (Read 719473 times)

damo2113 · « **Reply #2220 on:** January 17, 2014, 11:53:14 AM »

Yeh, i found that funny too, nexon wont really be anywhere as affected.

FatherXmas, do you think the bill is likley to pass? And if it did, how bad do you reckon the damage would be?
They say "14 members of parliment" already support it, but i googled it quickly and there are 300 members.

14/300, well you can do the math on that passing..

malonkey1 · « **Reply #2221 on:** January 17, 2014, 02:50:27 PM »

Quote from: Drauger9 on January 17, 2014, 05:56:55 AM

So if the South Korea does pass this law. Then maybe companies like NCSoft would be interested in the western markets again. Unless the EU and America decide that video games are a virtual Meth lab. LOL!

That'll only be true once the Breaking Bad video game comes out.

dwturducken · « **Reply #2222 on:** January 18, 2014, 05:29:29 PM »

Another large factor that applies really only to South Korea is the gaming culture in that country. Some gamers, particularly in Starcraft, are like professional athletes, at least in terms of salary and popularity. It's not a perfect analogy, but it is something kind of unique to that country. The likelihood of a law like that being even proposed in the US or EU is slim to none, unless we see a rash of kids in either region dying of malnutrition because they're gaming to the exclusion of all else. You'll notice that any news piece about truly bad behavior focuses on someone in SK or China.

On the other hand, I will always rub my hands together and cackle like a bad cartoon villain at the mere prospect of fiscal harm coming to NC$oft, because @#$% them...

Randomvector · « **Reply #2223 on:** January 28, 2014, 02:17:04 AM »

Whats been fueling the big drop the last few days?

FatherXmas · « **Reply #2224 on:** January 28, 2014, 04:27:11 AM »

No idea but a 20% loss in value in about 20 trading days is ... interesting. Nothing sticks out in the news over there. There is a general malaise in the world stock markets this month with declines everywhere. Maybe it's a reaction to the gaming sector in general. WoW subscriptions are down, EA still has various problems, the mighty Nintendo is losing money. Could be jitters over the government getting a bit further along in it's "online gaming is bad let's tax it as well as keep the young people (under 21) off when they should be sleeping and studying" legislation.

NCSOFT did announce a number of promotions within the company today, but that's today. All the news I'm seeing about B&S from China is very positive.

Randomvector · « **Reply #2225 on:** January 28, 2014, 08:24:15 PM »

Thanks Father Xmas.
I hadn't seen anything so was curious if there was something I missed.

Beltor · « **Reply #2226 on:** January 29, 2014, 01:40:33 AM »

I've noticed alot more of hacking, bot post, cyber crime and cyber scams than usual recently. It seems to be mostly aimed at the US but has went up globally. I wonder if the stock market drop is related. Best to be paranoid on the web for a while.

LaughingAlex · « **Reply #2227 on:** January 29, 2014, 01:45:03 AM »

Quote from: dwturducken on January 18, 2014, 05:29:29 PM

Another large factor that applies really only to South Korea is the gaming culture in that country. Some gamers, particularly in Starcraft, are like professional athletes, at least in terms of salary and popularity. It's not a perfect analogy, but it is something kind of unique to that country. The likelihood of a law like that being even proposed in the US or EU is slim to none, unless we see a rash of kids in either region dying of malnutrition because they're gaming to the exclusion of all else. You'll notice that any news piece about truly bad behavior focuses on someone in SK or China.

On the other hand, I will always rub my hands together and cackle like a bad cartoon villain at the mere prospect of fiscal harm coming to NC$oft, because @#$% them...

Thing is though, you do not see mmorpgs being used in professional gaming circles simply because even seeing a good player play, is very, very boring and unentertaining. MMORPGs are generally very bad for competitive gaming, because of that, I would not be surprised if NCSoft doesn't have much following if any in the competitive circles, even in South Korea. Their following tends to be those who enjoy working in their games, rather than actual gamers.\

FatherXmas · « **Reply #2228 on:** January 29, 2014, 03:53:58 AM »

But PvP tournaments in MMOs can be entertaining to watch. The original GW had a couple of PvP tournaments in Asia featuring teams from various countries competing. But now the new thing is MOBAs like LoL or DOTA 2. It's not just Starcraft 1 + 2 anymore.

Drauger9 · « **Reply #2229 on:** January 29, 2014, 05:55:07 AM »

Quote

I've noticed alot more of hacking, bot post, cyber crime and cyber scams than usual recently. It seems to be mostly aimed at the US but has went up globally. I wonder if the stock market drop is related. Best to be paranoid on the web for a while

True, I had my Runes of Magic account hacked recently and to be honest it's so old. I don't even care to get it back LOL!

Quote

But PvP tournaments in MMOs can be entertaining to watch. The original GW had a couple of PvP tournaments in Asia featuring teams from various countries competing. But now the new thing is MOBAs like LoL or DOTA 2. It's not just Starcraft 1 + 2 anymore

Agreed, I love watching PVP matches in WOW but haven't really checked out an other games pvp. I've even watched some StarCraft matches. The thing about those are they can start really slow but the end of the match can be pretty intense.

damo2113 · « **Reply #2230 on:** January 29, 2014, 11:49:30 PM »

Yes, this drop in the last month has been quite dramatic. I suspect its a combination of 2 factors. First we had the legislation scare, second was the global market scare, in the last few days the majority of the drops have been due to the emerging market woes, and last nights FOMC Taper in the US. I suspect things will stablise rather soon, dont forget the earning call in the 13th of Feb too.

Right now i think the question left unanswered us whether the stock market globally will continue to fall, or rally at support like the historically have, and whether Korea passes this anti gaming bill.

BTW, anyone know when the Bill is expected to be voted on?

FatherXmas · « **Reply #2231 on:** January 30, 2014, 05:21:18 AM »

Last I heard it got approval to be discussed in committee. I have no idea how their national legislature is set up but it sounds a lot like having the pre weekly status meeting meeting to determine what will be discussed in the weekly status meeting which will have a post weekly status meeting meeting to discuss what was decided on the weekly status meeting.

damo2113 · « **Reply #2232 on:** January 30, 2014, 10:07:49 PM »

Any idea where i could find a disclosure of the minutes of the meeting?
If such a thing exists.

Would be interested in reading it.

Cheers

Twisted Toon · « **Reply #2233 on:** January 30, 2014, 11:39:12 PM »

Quote from: FatherXmas on January 30, 2014, 05:21:18 AM

Last I heard it got approval to be discussed in committee. I have no idea how their national legislature is set up but it sounds a lot like having the pre weekly status meeting meeting to determine what will be discussed in the weekly status meeting which will have a post weekly status meeting meeting to discuss what was decided on the weekly status meeting.

I wonder if they'll ever have pre/post weekly meetings discussing how much money their pre/post weekly meetings waste and how they can increase the waste generated by useless meetings.

FatherXmas · « **Reply #2234 on:** February 13, 2014, 05:30:48 AM »

Well the 4Q and year end numbers are out.

Saddest quote; "Labor cost rose 10% QoQ due to one off year-end incentives, but decreased 4% YoY thanks to the impact from the downsizing in 2012."

Yeah, thanks.

Order in overall income
-------------------------------
Lineage 1 up 40.3% (now 38% of total income)
GW2 (NA/EU) down 25.2% but still 2nd in income to Lineage 1 (now 16.3%)
Aion down 32.2%
B&S (Korea) up 10.8%
Royalties up 2.9% (royalties up 328% from 3rd quarter due to B&S China starting)
Other up 13.8%
Lineage 2 down 12.2%

Total Income up 0.4%
Profit up 3.2%

To summarize, overall year sales was flat with profits up slightly. Costs were down due to 16.3% reduction in labor costs and a 30.5% reduction in marketing costs (big surprise there).

I see that the stock bounced since the start of February. Might mean the price drop in January was just profit taking.

FatherXmas · « **Reply #2235 on:** February 13, 2014, 05:45:26 AM »

Oh, and digging in a little further. B&S is officially coming off open beta and going live any day now and, sadly, there is going to be an anime show based on B&S aired in Tokyo on TBS this spring in hopes to prime that market next. Not surprisingly it's being animated by Gonzo.

US and EU versions are still in limbo.

Sajaana · « **Reply #2236 on:** May 07, 2014, 01:57:37 PM »

This just in, "Korean Stocks Fall in Longest Losing Streak Since November 2008":

https://finance.search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0LEV1fOOWpTAGsADKJXNyoA?p=ncsoft&fr=yfp-t-320&fr2=piv-web

"NCsoft, a developer of online games, sank 5.9 percent."

FatherXmas · « **Reply #2237 on:** May 09, 2014, 05:41:15 AM »

Yeah. May 2nd it closed at 202,500 KrW per share. Next trading day, May 7th, it closed at 191,000, a 5.68% drop. It's "ringing" now. Went up to 198,000 on May 8th and back down to 193,000 on May 9th.

Basically all the big Korean game companies are reporting declines in sales. The assumption is when NCSOFT announces their 1Q 2014 numbers, it too will be underwhelming. Of course they will play up the improved royalties for B&S in China, the B&S anime series (it's on Cruchyroll if anyone cares) in Japan to prime that market for the game there and GW2 is entering Open Beta/Soft opening at the end of May, mid May for those who bought one of the 500K (sold out) early access spots, in China.

No idea how well their new mobile gaming games are doing. This is important because in the eyes of some media, PCs are dead (again!).

FatherXmas · « **Reply #2238 on:** May 09, 2014, 09:37:13 PM »

Poking around some more I found potentially another reason for the industry wide downturn.

The Constitutional Court of Korea just ruled that the system, that had been in place since Nov 2011 that kicks minors (under 16) off online games between midnight to 6am is legal and more importantly that Internet gaming addiction is a real thing and therefore the system is justified.

This bolsters the support for expanding the kick off system to under 19 from 10pm to 7am, taxing game companies 1% to fund Internet Addiction prevention/treatment and a bill that classifies Internet gaming as an addiction along side drugs, alcohol and gambling and therefore a social ill that needs plenty of government intervention/supervision.

News article was dated May 7th, same day as the big dip.

JanessaVR · « **Reply #2239 on:** May 11, 2014, 01:31:41 AM »

Couldn't happen to nicer people!

News:

Author Topic: NCSoft Stockwatch (Read 719473 times)