NCsoft Profits Drop, New Marketing VP Named

NCsoft announced today that Dirk Metzger is taking over as the new vice president of marketing in North America. The new VP will have to tackle an increasingly tough market and declining profits which fell by 50 percent in NCsoft's third quarter report.

Gamasutra reported today on NCsoft's quarterly profits, pointing out that Tabula Rasa's lukewarm reception by the gaming community was a major factor:

In the three months ending September 30th, the South Korean company's profit was down from 10 billion won ($7.2m) in 2007 to just 5 billion ($3.6m) in this year's third quarter.

Overall revenue was down by only 2 percent on the same period last year, though, falling from 81.2 billion won ($59.6m) to 78.3 billion won ($57.6m) for the quarter.

Despite the lowered profits, NCsoft is still going strong thanks to its Lineage II, City of Heroes/Villains and Guild Wars franchises, and the future prospects of its next-gen MMO Aion.

NCsoft's official press release below:

SEATTLE, Nov. 13, 2008-NCsoft®, the world's premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, has announced that Dirk Metzger is taking the role of vice president of marketing at NCsoft West and will oversee marketing efforts in North America.

Metzger has held marketing roles in the music, new media, games and entertainment industries for nearly a decade. Before joining NCsoft West, Metzger was the worldwide marketing director for Brash Entertainment where he was responsible for the company's global games licenses and initiatives.

Prior to Brash, Metzger was marketing director for NCsoft Europe Ltd. in Brighton, UK, where he helped establish the European marketing team and managed NCsoft corporate and product brands across the European continent. Before joining the NCsoft team in Europe Metzger spent time at AKQA where he worked on the Xbox account, Cake Marketing in London and Babel Media.

"We're excited to have Dirk back in the NCsoft family," said David Reid, president of publishing for NCsoft West. "Dirk brings a wealth of experience to the job and his track record of success wherever he's been is unquestioned. He already knows the intricacies of the MMO business in our primary western markets, so the addition of Dirk to our publishing team at NCsoft West is a big win."

"When it comes to the business of creating quality MMO games, NCsoft is second to none," said Metzger. "I'm thrilled that I can be a part of the NCsoft success story once again. The future is incredibly bright with several triple-A products in development and a leadership team in place that's ready to take the company to the next level."

Permalink

Just have to point out that Dirk Metzger sounds like the name of a fantasy character or something.

I was that close from mentioning this fact in the report above. =P

Uh-oh. Hope they don't cut either Aion or Blade and Soul

I'm fairly confident that NCsoft is putting high stakes on Aion. Not sure about Blade & Soul, seems like it's pitched towards the Asian market.

Man why do all the games I seem to like are always "pitched towards the Asian market" =(

Born on the wrong side of the hemisphere?

Yes, maybe I should emigrate to Japan. Every "western otaku"'s wet dream.

I had a college friend who did just that. He's thriving there: met his future wife, found a well-paying job teaching English, and most importantly, loving every minute of it there.