NCSoft has announced its annual financial results for 2025. While the company achieved growth in operating and net profits, revenue saw a decline despite the launch of Aion 2.

NCSoft reported an annual operating profit of 16.1 billion KRW, marking a return to the black. Net profit rose 269% year-on-year to 347.4 billion KRW, largely due to the reflection of proceeds from the sale of NC Tower 1. Conversely, annual revenue stood at 1.5069 trillion KRW, a 5% decrease compared to the previous year. Q4 revenue, which significantly reflected the performance of Aion 2, also saw a 1% decline year-on-year.

The revenue decline is attributed to the sluggish performance of the mobile game sector. PC online game revenue reached 430.9 billion KRW, a 23% increase year-on-year, driven by the launch of Aion 2 on November 19 last year. However, mobile revenue fell 14% to 794.4 billion KRW. Given that mobile games account for a much larger share of revenue (53%) compared to PC online games (29%), Aion 2 was insufficient to offset the significant revenue gap in the mobile division.

In fact, indicators outside of Aion 2 are flashing warning signs. Q4 mobile game revenue dropped 17% year-on-year to 178 billion KRW. With the traditional mobile cash cows faltering and legacy PC games stagnating, the company's fate now depends entirely on the retention of Aion 2.

NCSoft is aiming for a rebound this year with the global launch of Aion 2 and new titles, but the situation remains challenging. In particular, the currency duplication and item abuse incident in Lineage Classic on the 10th has significantly damaged trust in the company's operational capabilities. It remains to be seen whether NCSoft can recover this lost trust and achieve meaningful results.