Seoul: Krafton Inc., a South Korean game publisher renowned for its popular title PUBG: Battlegrounds, announced on Tuesday a 6.6 percent increase in its first-quarter net profit. This growth was primarily driven by the success of its shooter game and the new life simulation game inZOI.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Krafton's net profit for the January-March period amounted to 371.5 billion won (US$258.4 million) on a consolidated basis, advancing from 348.6 billion won in the same period last year. The company's operating profit surged by 47.3 percent to 457.3 billion won, with sales escalating by 31.3 percent to 874.2 billion won.
The company's earnings surpassed market expectations, with the average net profit estimate by analysts at 329.1 billion won, as per a survey conducted by Yonhap Infomax, the financial division of Yonhap News Agency.
Breaking down the sales by platform, PC games generated 323.5 billion won, while mobile games brought in 532.4 billion won. On the PC front, PUBG maintained strong microtransaction sales from its live-service model, and inZOI, which was launched last month in early access, also contributed significantly to the robust quarterly performance.
In the mobile games segment, growth was fueled by premium item sales and collaborations, with Battlegrounds Mobile India particularly delivering strong results. The company is also gearing up to unveil new games within the PUBG universe, including the extraction shooter Project Black Budget and the tactical shooter PUBG: Blindspot.