Netmarble Games was ranked number one at the same time on Apple App Stores in South Korea and the U.S. through ‘Tera M’ and ‘Marble COC’. This is the first time when a South Korean game company was ranked number one at the same time on app sores in South Korea and the U.S.
‘Tera M’, which was released on the 28th, was ranked number one in sales on Apple App Store in South Korea in just six hours removed from its release. ‘Tera M’ received expectations even from its development stage as Netmarble Games and Bluehole, which have global publishing capabilities, combined IPs (Intellectual Property) of online MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) ‘Tera’.
After it was riding an upward trend with over 2 million reservations, it has been ranked number one in sales on Apple App Store in South Korea since the 29th.
‘Marble COC (Contest of Champions)’ was ranked number one in sales on Apple App Store in the U.S. Marble COC was developed by a North American game company called Kabam, which was acquired by Netmarble Games in last February.
By the end of the 29th, ‘Marble COC’ was ranked number one in sales on Apple App Stores in nine different countries such as Canada, Singapore, Germany, Mexico, France, Turkey, India, and Netherland. Although its ranking went down to number two on Apple App Store in the U.S. on the 30th, it is expected that its ranking will rise again due to opening of ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ and updates of new characters.
By the end of third quarter of this year, sales from ‘Marble COC’ were responsible for 12% of Netmarble Games’ entire sales. This is second highest out of Netmarble Games’ games followed by ‘Lineage 2 Revolution’.
‘Tera M’ and ‘Marble COC’ are examples of successful outside game publishing and M&A of a global company. This indicates that Netmarble Games, which had grown its business based on its own games, is having a smooth transition of expanding its business.
Netmarble Games is starting to pioneer foreign markets starting from second half of this year. After being released in 54 countries in North America, Europe, and others on the 15th, ‘Lineage 2 Revolution’ has maintained top 20 in sales on Apple App Store in North America and settled into early phase of markets.
Netmarble Games made about $1.38 billion (1.5 trillion KRW) in sales last year. It already broke last year’s record by already making $1.66 billion (1.8 trillion KRW) by the end of third quarter. It is currently competing with Nexon for the title of a South Korean game company with most sales in 2017.
“We are building up our global competitiveness by continuing to challenge foreign markets with new goals.” said a representative for Netmarble Games. “Our goal is to have global users to enjoy our games for a long period of time.”
Staff Reporter Kim, Siso | siso@etnews.com