[Alpha Biz= Paul Lee] Yuanta Securities said the sharp decline in NCSoft’s share price immediately after the launch of AION 2 was likely driven by the revenue characteristics of multi-platform games rather than weak fundamentals.
In a report released on the morning of November 20, analyst Chang-Young Lee noted that the initial sell-off appeared to be triggered by lower-than-expected early rankings in the Apple App Store. “Major blockbuster titles typically enter the top tier on launch day, but AION 2 stayed around No. 23 throughout the morning,” he said.
He added, however, that this ranking does not reflect actual revenue performance. “AION 2 generates a relatively large share of payments on PC. These PC payments are not counted in mobile app-store revenue rankings, so the market may have misread the early indicators,” he explained.
For comparison, Lineage M ranked No. 1 on the App Store on November 2, but after PC payments opened on November 12, its App Store ranking fell to No. 12 by November 19.
According to Lee, AION 2 currently ranks No. 5 in the App Store, and including PC payments, the game would likely place No. 1–2 in actual revenue. “While some influencers expressed concerns over aggressive monetization, user reviews suggest the gameplay itself is receiving more positive than negative feedback,” he added.
Lee acknowledged several issues raised on launch day—such as server access errors, heavy monetization, lack of auto-play in the mobile version, the MMORPG genre’s traditional simplicity, and the perception that it did not fully revive the spirit of the original AION.
He said most issues have since been addressed: “Server problems were resolved through emergency maintenance, problematic paid items were removed, and the mobile assist function was added. After maintenance, server traffic increased from ‘normal’ to ‘congested,’ indicating rising user activity.”
Despite concerns that aggressive monetization could reemerge and frustrate players, Lee noted that from an investor’s perspective, such features are “a driver of higher revenue and should not be viewed negatively.”
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
