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Photo courtesy of Yonhap News |
[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] New title gap weighs on earnings despite strong performance of live-service titles
Nexon Games reported both a decline in revenue and a return to losses in 2025, as the absence of new game launches and continued investment in development personnel pressured profitability.
The company announced on Feb. 12 that consolidated revenue for last year totaled KRW 179.3 billion, down 30% year-on-year. It posted an operating loss of KRW 60.2 billion and a net loss of KRW 61.8 billion, reversing from profit in the previous year.
The downturn was attributed to stabilizing revenue from existing titles amid a lack of new releases, while labor and other operating costs continued to rise due to ongoing game development.
Nexon Games expanded its investment in development during 2025, reflecting its role as a development subsidiary of Nexon. As of the end of 2025, the company employed 1,714 staff, up 255 from 1,459 a year earlier.
Despite the overall decline, the company highlighted meaningful performance from its live-service titles. “Blue Archive,” one of its flagship games, topped Japan’s App Store revenue rankings following a major fifth-anniversary update in January, boosting sales.
“Sudden Attack,” which marked its 20th anniversary of service, maintained solid revenue growth year-on-year through large-scale updates and major collaborations, including with “Squid Game.” “The First Descendant” also showed upward momentum following the update introducing the new Descendant character “Dia.”
The key question remains how quickly upcoming new titles can fill the earnings gap. Nexon Games is continuing development of several projects, including “Dungeon & Fighter: Arad,” “Project DX,” “Project RX,” “Woochi the Wayfarer,” as well as a global service expansion for “Sudden Attack.”
Industry analysts note that prolonged gaps between major releases typically lead to revenue stagnation and rising cost burdens for game developers. As a result, the timing of new title launches after this year is expected to be critical in determining the company’s earnings rebound.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
