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NHN headquarters. (Photo courtesy of NHN) |
[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] NHN’s revenue composition by region has changed markedly over the past decade, with domestic sales now accounting for a significantly larger share as the company’s once core game business has rapidly contracted.
According to filings with Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system on the 13th, NHN’s cumulative domestic revenue share for the first to third quarters (on a consolidated basis) has shown a steady upward trend, except for 2022. In 2025, the domestic portion surpassed 80% for the first time.
The key driver behind this shift is NHN’s long-running push to diversify its business portfolio. The contribution of its game business to total revenue declined sharply, from 70.18% in the first three quarters of 2015 to just 19.46% in 2025.
NHN’s cumulative domestic revenue share for the first to third quarters rose from 56.6% in 2015 and continued to increase each year thereafter. It reached 68.38% in 2018 and 70.97% in 2019, before breaking the 80% threshold at 82.15% in 2025. Compared with 2015, the domestic share has expanded by more than 25 percentage points, implying a corresponding decline in overseas revenue contribution.
By comparison, major Korean game developers recorded significantly higher overseas revenue shares in the first to third quarters of last year: Shift Up at 99.6%, Krafton at 91.9%, Pearl Abyss at 81.4%, Netmarble at 71.4%, Com2uS at 57.9%, and NCSoft at 37%. None of these companies posted a lower overseas revenue ratio than NHN, whose overseas share stood at 17.85%.
However, this trend should not be viewed simply as a shift toward domestic dependence. Rather, it reflects a structural change in NHN’s business mix. While game-centric operations typically generate a large proportion of overseas revenue, domestically focused service businesses naturally record a higher share of sales within Korea, reshaping the company’s regional revenue profile.
Alphabiz Reporter Paul Lee(hoondork1977@alphabiz.co.kr)
