14 DAY TRIAL // MMORPGs haven't really dared come out on the market very much this year. There is something about World of Warcraft that saps the courage from publishers and developers. But one company that was brave enough to make a stand did so with surprising results. NCsoft's Aion: Tower of Eternity has managed to rake in 400,000 preorders so far in North America, being awarded the title of "biggest MMO release of the year." With not a lot of competition this year, it may seem like a small feat to some, but number one is never something to ignore.
In the report over its third-quarter earnings, NCsoft announced that Aion topped the 500,000 mark for copies sold in America and managed to deliver another 470,000 copies to Europe. The game did some really heavy lifting for the company as far as the sales revenue was concerned, and, as such, the company saw a 112-percent increase, up to KRW166 billion or $142 million. In the July-September period, the company's net profit skyrocketed to KRW46.9 billion or $40 million, an 836-percent boost compared with the previous year.
Even with the number it managed to pull in America and Europe, the money still came mostly from the internal market. 48 Percent of NCsoft's revenues originated in Korean sales, followed by North American, Japanese, European, and Taiwanese ones. Overall, Aion secured 52 percent of the sales, with Lineage II placing second, at 24 percent. The original Lineage game came third, with 16 percent of the sales supplied, while City of Heroes/Villains and Guild Wars collected what was left and took the forth and fifth places with four and three percent, respectively.
The company managed quite an astonishing feat with its Aion, and, even though it doesn't match other giant companies as far as revenues go, a July-September profit of $40 million is nothing to be shy about. The beginning of the year saw a general decline in profit and revenues for industries overall, but things seem to be mending at a fast pace.