NCsoft profits decline, limited marketing blamed

lineage 2 is a Korean grindfest. i was hooked on it for about 4 years. you just kill mobs for hours hours a day and mass pvp such as clan wars, alliance wars, wars for epic raids and just plain old gang-paty fun ( usually 1 grinding unlucky sod vs full Buffed party ) never gotten in to aion and wow i don't like quests.

If anything I would blame the marketing. In the case of Aion at least, the marketing would have lead you to believe you can spend all day flying if you want to starting at Lv. 10; yet once you get the ability which is the biggest selling point for that game you are lucky if you can stay in the air more than 30 seconds.

Not to mention the whole thing was a grind/gankfest.

Not really a surprise.. where's guild wars 2? :)

at least they are blaming the suits and not the devs. not that i have any idea who is responsible here.

Weird, this story seems to conflict with the one posted on Massively.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/17/ncsoft-increases-profits-maintains-revenues/

I really wanted to like AION and from a art standpoint I did. Along with the small tweaks. However I agree that the flying wasn't leveraged enough in combat area's, it was way too limited, and after getting to level 20 something..it was just a grind fest.

Oddly enough, I have been playing RIFT and though most of it does subscribe to the WoW theory....the small differences are enough to draw you in. That is if you like MMO's.

Once Guild Wars 2 comes out I'm sure they'll be making some more money.

They should market Aion. 2.5 is being released in a week and the updates they did to the graphic engine looks amazing. I think the game looks better than the star wars mom and it came out so long ago. Cry engine ftw.

Guild wars 2 has been in development for how long now?

Or as I like to call them, "The one with all the bots" and "the one with all the bots."
Who'd have thought letting the majority of your p(l)aying customers get away with botting would be bad for your sales?

there's just something about real, pure, korean grinding that i love. iono, it's kinda relaxing to me.

If your games stand on their own merit, then a limited marketing budget doesn't really factor it.

Almost everyone I know Is decently invested in various MMOs and not a single person has come to me and said "ZOMG you need to play Lineage" or "ZOMGWTFBBQ why aren't you playing Aion?"

Where as Minecraft with from what I can tell, an advertizing budget of essentially $0 has spread through the internet like the plague. MC isn't really an MMO so its sorta like comparing guavas to cumquats... but still proof that marketing budget isn't the end all do all.

Heck I seem to recall Aion having a huge public open beta, what is better advertising then "come play our game FOR FREE". Seriously if that doesn't help then the marketing department spending millions to proverbially tie a pork chop around its neck so gamers will play with it. Isn't going to pan out with a decent ROI.

Isn't the point to... expand the market? Not just absorb the market that's there, but appeal to new people? Seems kind of silly to just be passive and expect to NOT decline while you aren't trying to seduce new players to the experience.

will SOMEONE who works here please address this conflicting with http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/17/ncsoft-increases-profits-maintains-revenues/

and clear the issue up.

This article show much about the credibility of "realiable and expierenced sources". This article just happend to nitpick some biased comparisons that have hardly any eligibility in the broader picture.
I didnt see any news of this kind when the oh so big Blizzards WoW revenues dropped noticeably last year.

Reality :
NCSoft revenues steady all over the last year until now with very slight drop, because NCSoft didnt release any new major gametitle, but just keept investing into alternative games like Blade and Soul and Guild Wars 2.
Investment keep increasing over whole 2010. NC Soft builds a new RnD center, start a PR campaign for L1, one short for L2 and invested into the new online and phyisical NC Shop promoted by Korean Popstars, to tap on the new generation gamer into these older title and establish NC as a brand. NCSoft even invest into their own baseball team. At end of 2010 most investment campaigns are finished and their costs with them.
All investments drag down profits until end of 2010, at start of 2011 they rebound closer to normal levels.

Hater A in Q1 2011:
Look revenues dropped and profits plummeled all over the last year! The company is failing and suffering! Doom is near!

Hater B in Q1 2011:
Looks revenus remained the same and profits have greatly risen over the last months! They must have made cuts into their company. Doom is near! The bubble is soon bursting!

ignorance is bliss they say...