In the second quarter of 2020, Pearl Abyss recorded stable results, but its mobile activities declined (in Asia) while those on PC and consoles increased (in the West) thanks to Black Desert Online and EVE Online.
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Each quarter, the South Korean studio Pearl Abyss publishes its accounts and those for the second quarter of 2020 reports stable results. In figures, the group claims a turnover of 131.7 billion won (93.2 million euros), in line with the result of the previous quarter (-1.1%). And operating income stood at 50.6 billion won (€ 35.8 million), up 9.5% in one quarter.
Perhaps more significantly, the group’s second quarter net income reached 23.6 billion won (€ 16.7 million), and marked a significant decrease of -51.1% in one quarter and -49.8% in one year (compared to the second quarter of 2019).
Pearl Abyss is not verbose as to the reasons for this drop in results, especially since the South Korean studio is also reducing its operating costs (the studio has separated from around forty employees and no longer has any than 1203 to date and has also reduced its advertising costs).
In the details of the accounts, however, there are changes in the breakdown. First, the license EVE Online (owned by Pearl Abyss since the acquisition of CCP Games) gain weight in the group’s overall turnover and now weighs 13.38 million euros – in particular thanks to better accessibility of the MMO and its (re) launch in China. It is certainly always much less than the license Black Desert (78.9 million euros), but this is more than in the previous quarter (10.12 million euros, an increase of 32%).
Then, we also see that the Western market is still growing in importance in Pearl Abyss activities: 48% of the group’s turnover is generated in the West (compared to 23% a year ago), compared to 22% in Korea and 30% in the rest of Asia.
Finally and this is significant: the mobile gaming is no longer the primary industry by Pearl Abyss. Mobile games now represent “only” 43% of the studio’s activities (the sector weighed 66% a year ago), against 44% for PC gaming (28% a year earlier) and 13% for gaming. on consoles (3% at the same time a year earlier). The operating profit of the PC and consoles branches increased by 25.3% and 11.5% respectively in one quarter.
It is understandable that as the studio expands its activities in the West, they are gaining weight in the PC gaming market – when its mobile activities are running out of steam in Asia.
We understand all the better the choices of Pearl Abyss to design his next titles on PC and consoles (starting with his next MMO, Crimson Desert, expected next year). And if the trend obviously still needs to be confirmed over the long term, it may already raise the question of the sustainability of the” title=”
MMORPG
Acronym of the English expression “Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games”, meaning “massively multiplayer online role-playing games”. MMORPGs follow the same principles as MMOGs (see this term), including a notion of “role playing”. In an MMORPG, the player is expected to play a character with a personality and take on the role of the character in the virtual world. See also: MMOG, MMOFPS, UMMORPG
“>MMORPG mobile and its ability to retain players over the long term in an increasingly crowded and competitive market.
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