Krafton's Quarterly Revenue Nearly Doubles on PUBG, Subnautica 2 Growth
Krafton's (KRX:259960) blockbuster game franchises delivered another quarter of strong operating growth, although higher non-operating expenses pushed the company into a net loss.The company posted an attributable net loss of 29.9 billion won for the second quarter, compared with an attributable net profit of 15.5 billion won a year earlier, according to a Wednesday earnings release.Revenue nearly doubled year over year to 1.29 trillion won from 662 billion won, driven by continued growth in the PUBG franchise and the successful early access launch of Subnautica 2.For the first half, revenue climbed 73% to a record 2.66 trillion won, while operating profit increased 38% to 972.5 billion won.Subnautica 2 surpassed 5 million cumulative sales just 22 days after its Early Access launch. Revenue from the Subnautica franchise, including Subnautica 2 and earlier titles, reached 232.5 billion won in the first half.The PUBG franchise is evolving into a content platform through new gameplay modes, global intellectual property collaborations and an expanding user-generated content ecosystem, according to the press release."On mobile, the already established user-generated content ecosystem will be further expanded," the statement said."Since the launch of World of Wonder in 2023, PUBG Mobile has been expanding its UGC ecosystem through a steady increase in creative maps and player participation," it added.Looking ahead, Krafton plans to expand the PUBG ecosystem with additional game modes, user-generated content and collaborations with global intellectual properties, including Naruto, Spider-Man and Ferrari.Krafton plans to repurchase an additional 100 billion won of shares in the third quarter and cancel the entire amount as part of its shareholder return program.