Jerry Ding, November 28, 2020
Nexon has been in a unique position of holding a wide range of classic intellectual property, in an era of constant new video game developments and an ever-changing gaming landscape. Yet, it has managed to build for itself a tremendous and stable recurring revenue from some of its largest and most long-lasting franchises. 2019 has marked a hugely successful year with the extension of many of its NexonIP to the mobile platform, and it looks to continue this trend well into 2021. With a few hotly anticipated new games and a loyal fanbase built over the decades, the writing is hardly on the wall for traditional behemoths like Nexon.
____________________Nexon is a South Korean-Japanese video game publisher with over 80 titles in online PC and mobile games.
Founded: 1994
CEO: Owen Mahoney, CFO: Shiro Uemura, HQ: Tokyo, Japan
Intellectual Property
Nexon holds amongst the gaming industry one of the largest and most durable IP portfolio with major legacy franchises generating substantial recurring revenue leveraging a highly unique position against its competitors today. High focus in player retention and on re-engaging legacy playerbase in games. Acquisition of new IP follows its tested philosophy of investing in few quality IP with a strong focus on long-term expansion and development. Nexon holds a substantial portfolio in immersive, fully-online MMO games and will continue to maintain into the future.
PC-to-mobile
Strong focus on pushing established PC games to mobile platform aligns with dominant industry and market trends, including huge successes of MapleStory M (2016), FIFA Mobile (2016). Successful launch of KartRider Rush+ (mobile), FIFA Mobile (South Korea), Kingdom of the Winds: Yeon (mobile) in 2020 with over millions of pre-orders and downloads respectively. Upcoming launch of Dungeon & Fighter Mobile (China) in August 2020 with over 60 million pre-registrations currently; Mabinogi Mobile announced in development. Nexon’s Total Addressable Market is projected to increase by minimally 10x.
Project Pipeline
Joint Venture with Wonder Holdings to develop KartRider: Drift and Mabinogi
Mobile Acquisitions
Acquisition of majority stake Embark Studios in 2019 with 5 year plan to full acquisition. Embark Studios is a game studio start-up founded in 2018, with an anticipated multiplayer co-operative action game. Acquisition represents Nexon’s latest selective investment into new IP.
