Good morning. I'm Jesse Zhang of Netmarble's IR team. I would like to sincerely thank investors and analysts for joining Netmarble's 2022 Q4 and full year earnings release conference call despite your busy schedules. Today we have CEO Young-sik Kwon, CEO Gi- Wook Do, President of Global Headquarters, Seu ngwon Lee, other members here to answer your questions after the earnings release presentation. Please note that contents we will be presenting to you have been prepared before the completion of the external audit. Thus, some contents may change subject to the audit outcome. Now, CEO Gi-W ook Do will deliver the earnings release presentation.
Good morning. This is Gi- Wook Do. Let me begin the presentation with the 2022 full year earnings summary. Please refer to page three. 2022 annual revenue was KRW 2,673.4 billion, a growth of 6.6% YoY. For the 2022 revenue breakdown, overseas revenue share was 84% and Korea 16%. EBITDA was KRW 127.8 billion, a decline of 57.6% YoY due to the increase in operating expenses from the full quarter recognition of earnings from SpinX and Ludia. Next page shows operating profit and net profit. In the fourth quarter, operating loss was KRW 19.8 billion. Net loss was KRW 456.6 billion, and net loss controlling basis was KRW 410.4 billion. Non-operating income decreased by KRW 160.3 billion QoQ. The main reason for the decline was the recognition of intangible asset impairment.
Next page shows the revenue breakdown by region. In Q4, overseas revenue was KRW 581 billion. The share of overseas revenue grew by 2 percentage points QoQ to 85%. By region, North America was 51%, Korea 15%, Europe 12%, Southeast Asia 8%, Japan 7%, and other 7%. The share of North America's revenue grew by 3 percentage points QoQ due to Marvel Contest of Champions event and et cetera. Next page shows the revenue breakdown by genre. In Q4, casual games was 48%, RPG 27%, MMORPG 16%, and others 9%. We continue to maintain a well-diversified portfolio. The share of RPG's revenue grew by 3 percentage points QoQ from Marvel Contest of Champions event and the update of the Seven Deadly Sins Grand Cross.
4분기 말 기준 주요 게임별 매출 비중은 Marvel Contest of Champions 3%, Jackpot World 9%, 캐시 프렌즈 8%, 라타 슬롯 8%, The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross 7%, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds 5% 등으로 다변화된 포트폴리오가 지속되고 있습니다.
Next page shows our game portfolio. As of the end of the fourth quarter, revenue share of key titles Marvel Contest of Champions was 13%, Jackpot World 9%, Cash Frenzy 8%, Lotsa Slots 8%, The Seven Deadly Sins: Grand Cross 7%, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds 5%, and et cetera. Also, our game portfolio continues to be well diversified.
다음은 비용 구조에 대한 내용입니다. Q4 영업비용은 KRW 7,067억 원으로 전분기 대비 3.5% 감소, 전년 동기 대비 1.2% 증가했습니다. 지급 수수료는 KRW 2,714억 원으로 매출이 감소하며 전분기 대비 2.5% 감소, 전년 동기 대비 4.1% 감소하였습니다. 인건비는 KRW 1,998억 원으로 인력 감소에 따라서 전분기 대비 1.6% 감소, 전년 동기 대비 2.2% 증가하였습니다. 마케팅비는 KRW 1,222억 원으로 Q4 대형 신작 부재로 인해 전분기 대비 15.7% 감소, 전년 동기 대비 0.5% 증가하였습니다.
Next page shows the major cost structure. In Q4, operating cost was KRW 706.7 billion, a fall of 3.5% QoQ, but an increase of 1.2% YoY. Commission was KRW 271.4 billion, a fall of 2.5% QoQ and a fall of 4.1% YoY from the decline in revenue. Labor was KRW 199.8 billion, with a smaller size of labor, and this represents a fall of 1.6% QoQ, but an increase of 1.2% YoY. Marketing was KRW 122.2 billion, a fall of 15.7% QoQ, but an increase of 0.5% YoY from the absence of new blockbuster titles.
다음으로 신작 라인업에 대해 말씀드리겠습니다. 2023년 상반기에는 부동산 NFT를 접목한 모두의마블 투 메타월드, 차세대 전략 시뮬레이션 그랜드크로스 더블유, 고퀄리티 3D 카툰형 RPG 신의 탑: 새로운 세계 출시를 준비 중에 있습니다.
Next, new lineups. In the first half of 2023, we are preparing the releases of Meta World: My City, which uses real estate NFT, GRAND CROSS W, the next generation strategy simulation, and Tower of God: NEW WORLD, a high quality three-D cartoon type RPG.
2023년 하반기에는 seamless open-world MMORPG Arthdal Chronicles, 글로벌 인기 웹툰 IP 기반의 Solo Leveling: ARISE, 아서왕 이야기를 담은 전략 MMORPG 원탁의 기사, 그리고 Seven Knights의 세계관을 계승한 세븐나이츠 핑거 출시가 계획되어 있습니다.
In the second half of 2023, we are planning the releases of Arthdal Chronicles, a seamless open world MMORPG, Solo Leveling: ARISE, based on a globally popular webtoon IP, Project Knights, a strategy MMORPG based on the story of King Arthur, and Seven Knights Idle Adventure, a successor of Seven Knights 1's universe.
이 게임들 이외에도 2023년에, 3인칭 슈팅과 MOBA 장르가 혼합된 PARAGON: THE OVERPRIME과 실시간 배틀로얄 장르의 HypeSquad 신작 출시를 준비 중에 있습니다.
Other than the games that I have just mentioned, in 2023, we are also preparing to release new titles such as Paragon: The Overprime, which combines third-party shooting and MOBA genre, and HypeSquad, a real-time battle royale genre.
네, 더불어서 2023년에는 중국 판호를 발급받은 4종의 게임들 또한 런칭을 준비 중입니다. A3: Still Alive에 이어 샤프 타이탄, 제2의 나라: Cross Worlds, 그리고 스톤에이지 IP를 활용한 신석기 시대가 중국 출시를 앞두고 있으며, 이 중에서 제2의 나라: 크로스 월드는 Tencent를 통해 서비스될 예정입니다. 기다리던 중국 서비스를 준비하고 있는 만큼 유의미한 성과를 낼 수 있도록 최선을 다해 준비하고 있으니 많은 관심 부탁드립니다.
In 2023, we are also preparing the launch of four games that have been issued publishing licenses in China, starting with A3: Still Alive. We plan to roll out also Shop Titans, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, and Stone Age. Stone Age leverages the Stone Age IP. Out of these games, Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds is planned to be serviced through Tencent. As we are preparing for the service launch in China that we have waited a long time for, we are exerting our best efforts to create meaningful performance, and we ask for your great interest in the developments.
작년 한 해는 다수의 신작 흥행 실패에 따라 실적 부진을 했고, 시장 기대치에 많이 미치지 못했던 게 사실입니다. 다만 올해는 선택과 집중 및 철저한 비용 관리를 통해서 체질 개선을 통한 경영 위기를 극복하고자 합니다.
It is true that in 2022, we were unable to meet market expectations due to the lackluster earnings performance by multiple new titles. In 2023, we want to overcome the management crisis through improving our fundamentals by prioritizing our plans to be more selective and focused, as well as through strong and thorough cost controls. For this end, we are planning to release not only Solo Leveling: ARISE that received favorable reviews at the G-STAR 2022, but also well-made high quality new titles representing diverse genre in multi-platform. We have a total of four titles to be released in China, including Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, to be published by Tencent.
Thorough preparations are being made for all the games that are scheduled to be released this year to ensure that our various trials, challenges, and efforts that we have made in up to now have not been made in vain. We'll exert our best efforts to showcase mega new titles that will offer new experiences and entertainment. I ask for your continued interest and encouragement. Thank you. This concludes the earnings presentation. We will now begin the Q&A session. Thank you.
Q&A session will begin. Please press star one, that is star and one, if you have any questions. Questions will be taken according to the order UFOs to star and number one. For cancellation, please press star two, that is star and two, on your phone. The first question will be presented by Ui-Hoon Jung from Eugene Investment & Securities. Please go ahead with your question.
I have two questions. The first question is related to the net loss that you have experienced in the fourth quarter of 2022. It has declined significantly on a QoQ basis. Could the company please tell us the main reasons behind it? My second question is related to the overall outlook for the revenue and profitability for the company for not just the first quarter, but full year 2023. I would also like to understand better if the company will continue to make efforts to make its cost structure more efficient so that it also improves its financial structure.
Now with the SpinX, in terms of the overall performance, it has not actually met the expectation that we had at the time of acquiring SpinX.
This is mainly because of the external market situation that we were not able to capitalize on the performance of SpinX as we had intended. It is not a situation that is only confined to SpinX. It is really the market, specifically the social casino sector is going through a overall restructuring. We believe that the situation is more one-off and short-term temporary basis. Moving on to your next question related to the outlook for 2023, and earlier during the presentation, we shared with you our new lineup that we are planning for this year. If I just focus on the first half, our lineup, these new titles will be focused and be launched and released in the second quarter.
We don't actually have a new title release schedule for the first quarter, which means that in the first quarter we're not going to be able to see meaningful improvement in our earnings performance. As we move to the second quarter of this year, we'll start to see improvement and really turnaround to really pick up speed starting from the second half of 2023. Lastly, you also talked about the company and tuning its efforts to improve its cost structure. As you have seen in the actual performance that we showed in the fourth quarter cost structure, whether you're looking at the marketing numbers or the labor numbers, you can see that on a Q o Q basis that these costs have not actually increased compared to the third quarter of 2022.
What we actually delivered in fourth quarter is not just a one-off temporary performance, but it's something that you can expect throughout 2023. The focus for the company for this year, 2023, is to continue to focus on tight cost management. I believe that if you actually look at our cost side, we're not going to see any significant increase compared to what we just shared with you for the fourth quarter, and that volatility will be extremely low for the cost side.
The next question will be presented by Seung-h oon Lee from IBK Investment and Securities. Please go ahead with your question.
I have two questions. The first question is related to your overall new title release schedule. I would like to understand specific release timetable for not only Meta World: My City, but also for other new titles that you are planning to release. At the same time, I move on to my second question, and this is specifically for China. As you are planning to release titles such as Ni no Kuni, I would like to better understand all the games that you'll be releasing in China. What is the release schedule and who are the publishers?
This is Young-sik Kwon. Good morning. Let me just speak about the more detailed schedule related to the lineups that we have prepared for 2023.
If I were to speak on a quarterly basis, if we look at what's going to happen for the first half of the year, we have three titles that we're scheduling to launch in the second quarter. Specifically, I'm talking about Meta World: My City, GRAND CROSS W, and the Tower of God: NEW WORLD, which has already been communicated to you during the earnings release presentation. We also have four titles to be released in the second half of 2023, namely, Arthdal Chronicles, Solo Leveling: ARISE, Project Knights, and Seven Knights as well. We have these titles that we will be launching in the first half and second half of 2023. Moving to Paragon: The Overprime, we actually started the early access in December 2022.
If you understand same service, in terms of what we do is that we do early access and we continue to monitor the metrics and performance of the game. Then once we actually see a positive sign, then we actually decide the actual timeline in terms of the official launch. At present, for the Paragon: The Overprime, we're working very hard to make sure that we are seeing good performance even at the early access stage. Of course, this process also applies to what we also have lined up for the new title, which is HypeSquad as well. We also plan to launch HypeSquad this year as well, and it will be also the same approach with the early access and seeing positive numbers growing. Moving to your question on the China side.
As you are well aware, our company has received publishing license for four titles. For these four titles, we actually have different publishers. Other than the publisher Tencent that we had mentioned, I'm not actually at liberty to mention the other three publishers because we have not actually completed our discussions whether or not we're going to make a public announcement related to this. Please understand that I'm not able to share the names of the other three publishers. In respect to what we have been able to agree upon and discuss so far, we are scheduling to launch three titles, A3: Still Alive, Shop Titans and, you know, Stone Age, sometime between the second quarter and third quarter of this year in China.
In the fourth quarter, we believe that we'll be able to release Stone Age. Sorry. Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds.
The next question will be presented by Jingu Kim from Kiwoom Securities. Please go ahead with your question.
I have two questions. My first question is a follow-up to the publishing license that you have been issued by China for the four titles. Can you also share your localization plans for these games? Moving to my second question, I would like to understand from the company on a consolidated basis what was your overall size of labor for 2022? I'm just wondering in terms of headcount, whether or not there has been any change on a QoQ basis. For your outlook for 2023, can we expect some changes in the overall headcount for this year as well?
Localization plan for China. I'll actually make this a very brief answer. In respect to A3: Still Alive, this is the title where we have secured the agreement, we have requested the Chinese authority to issue a publishing license long ahead of time. We actually did start the localization efforts way earlier. While we were actually trying to finalize and during the last stage of the localization development, there was a postponement of the publishing license issuance, and that's why the work had been actually temporarily put on hold. We just need to pick up on the last part to complete the localization process for A3: Still Alive game. For A3: Still Alive, this is a game where it is fiercely competitive in terms of game ability, and this is something that we're looking forward to.
Moving to the next title, which is the Stone Age, where we actually own the proprietary IP, but we actually have a Chinese developer working on the development. In terms of what we need to do for localization, because the Chinese developer is doing this, we don't really have to actually do much for this end. Moving to the third game, which is Shop Titans, and this is a title, a game that we were able to test before the publishing license actually came. When we actually tested this in the Chinese market, we actually had positive reviews. We were just waiting for the license to be issued. In terms of Shop Titans, we're also very much ready to be able to support the local market.
Moving to the Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, this is a title that we will not undertake direct development. The development will be done by Tencent. Once again, on the Netmarble side, there is no need for us to do the localization. Moving to your question related to the labor of the company. Now, the main two reasons for the decline in the headcount for 42 of 2022 is, one, related to the business divestiture of Jam City to our 2P business. We also undertook some restructuring of our labor force as well. In respect to our labor management plan for 2023, the focus is to really once again have tight control on the labor side as well.
Without actually having additional increase or hires in terms of increasing our labor side, when we also factor in the natural attrition, we believe that there is very little possibility that there could be an increase in terms of the overall headcount compared to the numbers that you have seen in the fourth quarter of 2022.
The next question will be presented by John Yu from Citi Securities. Please go ahead with your question.
Thank you for the opportunity. I have two questions, and my first question is related to the statement that you have made, where Tencent will actually be the joint developer for the Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds. I'd like to better understand your business model structure, in respect to this, business, not only for the Ni no Kuni: Cross Worlds, but I guess, overall, what is your business model for the Chinese marketplace? Is it correct that, for example, for Ni no Kuni, you would be receiving commission from Tencent, but I would like the company, because I understand that Netmarble is not really the owner of the IP. If you can actually share with us your thinking related to the business model for China, that would be very helpful.
Moving to the second question, this is really related to your overall marketing expenses. In Q3 earnings release conference call, you also mentioned that you're going to actually be more of less ambitious in terms of trying to do marketing globally, but to be more selective and focused, and really focus your marketing efforts in areas where that makes most sense. If I look at the explanation related to the overall new titles pipeline, I just believe that in terms of your marketing side, you need to actually undertake global marketing because these will be launched on a global basis. If the company can share some numbers related to the marketing, for example, your overall marketing percentage, compared to the total revenue of 2023, that would be helpful.
If you can't actually speak about percentage, at least I would like to get a better understanding of how you're going to be changing your overall marketing spend, because Netmarble still remains relatively higher in terms of the marketing spend compared to your peers. In the short term, how are you planning to make this marketing spend more efficient? Moving to your first question related to our business model for China and the games that we'll be releasing in the market. In terms of actually the actual and the detail of royalty rates that are being set, I hope that you can understand that I am not able to actually give you more specific details about how the royalty and the commission structure is actually made up.
For example, when it comes to Ni no Kuni: Crossworld, because Netmarble will be supplying considerable resources for the developer to be able to service this game, that I can say that the royalty is set and is very, on a very favorable structure. This also includes the commission related to the proprietary IP as well. As we actually work with the Chinese developers in being able to publish these titles in China, we have the royalties discussions and structure in place, and they have been set on a favorable basis. At around or slightly similar to what we actually recently experienced. We don't really anticipate that the marketing cost compared to the revenue will see an increase.
Of course, if you actually look at it in a closer detail, the situation actually varies by company. When it comes to SpinX and Jam City, these two companies actually have a very stable or fixed marketing cost structure, and we actually see very little fluctuation. It does change depending on market situation, moreover, they actually have a very constant budget for our marketing side. When we actually take a look at Netmarble HQ, we do have strategic focus and there will be some specific countries that we want to focus on. In terms of the past, where we said that we are doing a global business, global marketing, that we actually did more weight, we actually put more weight in terms of the marketing on the developed countries.
For now, we'll be very much focused, and we have specific countries or regions in mind to actually put our marketing efforts in full force. For example, on the RPG side, the focus will be for Korea. When it comes to casual games, it will also include Western developed countries as well. What I can say to you is on the marketing side, we will have strategic countries that we'll be focusing on, and there will be tight controls in place to, in order to make sure that we are efficient in carrying out marketing expenses.
Currently, there are no participants with questions. Please press star one, star and one to give your question.
On this note, we will conclude Netmarble's 2022 fourth quarter and full year earnings release conference call. Please contact the IR team if you have any questions. Thank you once again for your participation.