KRAFTON announced its 2023 and 4Q’23 preliminary earnings on 26 January. KRAFTON posted 2023 sales of 1,910.6 billion South Korean Won, an operating profit of 768 billion KRW and net profit of 594.1 billion KRW according to the Korean International Financial Reporting Standards. Sales and operating profit climbed 3.1% Y-o-Y and 2.2% Y-o-Y, respectively, while net profit rose 18.8% Y-o-Y. 4Q’23 sales picked up 12.8% Y-o-Y to 534.6 billion KRW and operating profit firmed 30.3% Y-o-Y to 164.3 billion KRW.
Sales from PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS on PC and consoles increased 37% Y-o-Y, and the peak concurrent users (PCU) also spiked by 70% in December 2023 compared to the year’s lowest point. After resuming its services last year, BATTLEGROUNDS MOBILE INDIA has recovered both traffic and revenue, recording the largest monthly sales in December. KRAFTON revealed that the result shows the growth prospects for the PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS IP and demonstrates the expandability of KRAFTON’s business and game portfolio in the Indian market.
“Having achieved stable performance last year, mainly through the PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS IP, we were able to focus on securing multiple upcoming titles. We are now prepared to leap forward. This year will mark the beginning of reaping the rewards from these efforts, reaching a pivotal milestone for KRAFTON’s step-by-step growth,” Kim Changhan, CEO, KRAFTON Inc, said.
The company also unveiled its new titles and mid to long-term direction. Starting 2024, KRAFTON plans to release new games every year in the coming years in line with its ‘Scale-up the Creative’ strategy. It introduced key lineup titles, including Dark and Darker Mobile, inZOI, Dinkum Mobile, Project Black Budget, and Subnautica 2. The company also announced that it has invested in more than ten projects as a second-party publisher. For the mid to long-term direction, KRAFTON announced it was franchising the PUBG: BATTLEGROUNDS IP, expanding independent publishing and growth in the Indian market, and increasing research and development investments in artificial intelligence, specifically deep learning.