According to regulatory filings, the online game developer earned an operating profit of 119.6 billion won ($89.5 million) in the July to September quarter, compared with an operating loss of 7.5 billion won a year earlier.
Its operating margin was 17.4 percent, against minus 2.1 percent a year earlier.
Revenue rose 90.7 percent from a year earlier to 686.5 billion won. Net profit fell 94.2 percent to 20 billion won. The company blamed lower foreign currency-related gains caused by exchange-rate swings.
A year earlier, net profit was inflated by a one-off gain from the sale of its NC Tower 1 building.
Revenue from PC games more than tripled from a year earlier to 289.4 billion won. Lineage Classic, a remake of NC's flagship role-playing game, brought in 158.7 billion won in the quarter and 427.8 billion won in roughly eight months since its launch.
Mobile game revenue fell 17.7 percent to 162.2 billion won. Mobile casual games brought in 171.9 billion won, or about a quarter of total revenue.
Overseas markets accounted for 54 percent of revenue. Korea made up 46 percent, North America and Europe 34 percent, and the rest of Asia 20 percent. The overseas share has risen for five straight quarters.
"Aion 2," which launched globally on Oct. 5, drew as many as 410,000 players at once. It generated 110.3 billion won in sales from its Sept. 30 early access through Nov. 10. NC said Aion 2's global sales will show up mainly in fourth-quarter results.
NC raised its 2026 revenue target to 2.8 trillion won and forecast 3.2 trillion to 3.4 trillion won for 2027. It said in a statement that it plans to release 10 new titles worldwide by 2027, in genres including subculture games, MMORPGs and shooters.
Shares of NC traded at 208,500 won per stock as of 3:17 p.m., 2.34 percent lower than the day before.
AJP Takeaways
- NC posted Q3 2026 operating profit of 119.6 billion won, after a loss of 7.5 billion won a year earlier. Revenue rose 90.7 percent to 686.5 billion won.
- Net profit fell 94.2 percent to 20 billion won. Lower foreign currency-related gains and a high year-earlier base from a building sale explain the drop.
- NC raised its 2026 revenue target to 2.8 trillion won after January-September revenue reached 2.01 trillion won.
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