Netmarble announced on the 11th that its operating loss in the second quarter of this year was 34.7 billion won on a consolidated basis, turning into a deficit compared to the same period last year (16.2 billion won).

Sales rose 14.4% year-on-year to 660.6 billion won. The net loss reached 120.5 billion won, turning into a deficit.

Regional sales were 558.5 billion won in overseas sales and 102.1 billion won in domestic sales. North America accounted for the largest portion with 49%, followed by South Korea with 15%, Europe with 12%, Southeast Asia with 11%, and Japan with 8%.

Sales by genre were 47% for casual games, 22% for role-playing games (RPG) and multi-access role-playing games (MMORPG), and 9% for other games.

The sales of each game were 10% by “The Second Country: Cross World” and “Marvel Contest of Champions,” with 8% by social casino games such as CashFriends, Jackpot World, and Ratcher Slot, 7% by “Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross,” and 4% by “Lineage 2 Revolution.”

Operating expenses increased 23.9% year-on-year to KRW 695.3 billion and increased 8.1% compared to the previous quarter.

Of the operating expenses, commissions were 260.8 billion won, accounting for 39.5 percent, followed by 189.7 billion won (28.7 percent) in labor costs, 144.4 billion won (21.9 percent) in marketing costs, and 100.4 billion won (15.2 percent) in other expenses.

Among them, labor costs increased 22.7 percent year-on-year, while marketing costs increased 43.8 percent and payment fees increased 7.1 percent during the same period.

Netmarble explained that payment fees increased due to increased sales, and labor and marketing costs increased due to the recruitment of new development personnel and the launch of a number of new products.

The amount of short-term loans increased significantly from 290 billion won in the second quarter of last year to 1.8591 trillion won in the second quarter of this year.

Netmarble announced that it will release a total of six new works, including blockchain-applied games such as “Everyone’s Marble: MetaWorld,” “Monster Arena Ultimate Battle,” and “King of Fighters: Arena,” as well as “Overprime,” “BTS Dream: Tainitan House” and “Charlotte’s Table.”

In the Q&A session of the performance announcement, questions related to future Netmarble performance trends, including rising costs, were asked.

Kwon Young-sik, CEO of Netmarble, said, “It cost a lot to launch ‘The Second Country’ and pre-marketing of Seven Knights Revolution,” adding, “We expect that there will be less marketing for new releases in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, and sales will increase slightly.”