Nexon Q2 net income jumps as MapleStory grows and Arc Raiders keeps selling

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Nexon beat its second-quarter expectations, with net income up 77% year over year to ¥29.6 billion, or about $185.9 million. Revenue rose 2% to ¥121.1 billion, while operating income fell 17% to ¥31.3 billion as the company pointed to higher costs tied to live-service operations, creator fees, user acquisition, cloud services, and software services.

The quarter was helped by MapleStory’s continued growth and another strong showing from Embark Studios’ Arc Raiders. According to Nexon’s earnings letter, Arc Raiders brought in ¥18.3 billion during the quarter and has now generated more than ¥88 billion since launch.

  • Revenue was ¥121.1 billion, up 2% year over year.
  • Operating income was ¥31.3 billion, down 17%.
  • Net income was ¥29.6 billion, up 77%.
  • Arc Raiders sold another 800,000 units in Q2, bringing total sales to 16.3 million.

Nexon says Arc Raiders is getting its biggest post-launch content update so far in October. The company referred to it as the Frozen Trail update, though it didn’t lay out the full contents in the results summary.

MapleStory was the other major bright spot. Revenue for the franchise rose 63% overall, while MapleStory Worlds grew 123% year over year after two new user-generated worlds launched in Korea and Taiwan in late April.

Not everything was up. Dungeon & Fighter revenue fell 44% year over year, which Nexon said was in line with expectations. The FC franchise also came in below the company’s outlook, with FC Online traffic and monetization softer than expected.

Nexon’s upcoming slate includes Arad: Idle RPG, the mobile version of Dave the Diver planned for late September, Azur Promilia, and Temppal: Overgeared. For Q3, the company expects revenue between ¥120.7 billion and ¥133.4 billion, with operating income forecast between ¥22.6 billion and ¥32.3 billion.