Growth across all business areas driven by stable growth of PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS IP

Dark and Darker Mobile has a successful first beta test, initiating full-scale optimization for the global launch in the second half of 2024

SEOUL, South Korea, May 15, 2024--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KRAFTON Inc. (CEO CH Kim, KRX: 259960) announced its 1Q24 preliminary earnings on May 8.

KRAFTON recorded its 1Q24 sales of 665.9B South Korean Won, Operating Profit (OP) of 310.5B KRW, and Net Profit (NP) of 348.6B KRW following the Korean International Financial Reporting Standards (K-IFRS). Consolidated sales climbed 24.6% QoQ, setting a record-high quarterly sales. The OP spiked 89.0% QoQ.

Sales by business division are as follows: PC/Console 255.2B KRW, Mobile 402.3B KRW and Others 8.4B KRW. Through various live services using PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS IP, there has been high growth in all areas, including sales and traffic. To continue with this trend, KRAFTON focuses on securing stable traffic and enhancing monetization models, and actively pushing forward with investment and development for IP franchises.

PC/Console of PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS saw its monthly active users (MAU) and sales reach the highest figures since the F2P (Free-to-play) transition in 2022, thanks to the popularity of the Rondo map update released in the fourth quarter of last year and the progressive weapon skin launched in the first quarter of this year. The mobile business also showed a steady increase in traffic due to the 6th-anniversary theme mode and the HomeGround content.

BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA (BGMI) increased the interests of users with content tailored to local Indian festivals and co-marketing with Bollywood movies, opening a UniPin web store for a third-party payment platform to improve profitability. In addition to BGMI’s stable service this year, KRAFTON plans to concentrate on diverse publishing experiences and game-centric investments to be the leading publisher in the Indian market.

KRAFTON also expanded investments in developers to secure future growth engines. Aligned with the ‘Scale-up the Creative’ strategy announced in 2023, KRAFTON is acquiring promising global IPs through equity investments in developers and second-party publishing. Last year saw a total of 10 investments and this year’s pace has already accelerated with nine investments carried out in the first half of 2024.

Additionally, the company conducted a beta test of its major 2024 title ‘Dark and Darker Mobile’. The first beta test was carried out exclusively in Korea for five days in April, which attracted over 50,000 participants. KRAFTON plans to improve the quality of the game through user feedback obtained during the beta test period, while focusing on the global launch through phased marketing expansion in the second half of this year.