NCsoft's Western sales decline in Q1

Korean massively multiplayer game specialist NCsoft has announced financial results for the first quarter of FY 2006, revealing that while its sales in Asia continue to rise, its European and North American operations saw declining revenues.

The firm's overall revenues stood at KRW 78 billion (66 million Euro), of which sales in South Korea made up the lion's share - up marginally year on year at KRW 54.8 billion (46.4 million Euro) - while Japanese sales grew by over 40 per cent to KRW 11.3 billion (9.6 million Euro).

That puts Japan level with the United States, where sales declined by almost 57 per cent - and well ahead of Europe, which was down over 50 per cent to KRW 3.8 billion (3.2 million Euro).

However, NCsoft remains bullish on its growth prospects - claiming in a statement that the overseas decline is "generally in line with forecasts made at the beginning of the year" and anticipating that the second quarter will show a return to growth.

The firm is suffering because of a gradual slow-down in western revenues from some of its older products as the market prepares for new titles - with City of Heroes and its follow-up, City of Villains, showing a drop of 58 per cent in sales as the game continues to age.

Guild Wars sales are also slowing, with a 57 per cent fall in sales, but in the case of this product it's expected that it will regain its former position in the firm's sales figures with the launch of Guild Wars Factions late last month.

NCsoft is also expecting to see a major boost to this quarter in its western markets from the launch of Auto Assault, the first vehicular combat massively multiplayer game to hit the market, which launched on April 13th.