Hello everyone and welcome to Nexon's online earnings presentation. Thank you for joining us today. With me are Junghun Lee, President and CEO of Nexon; Shiro Uemura, CFO; and Patrick Söderlund, CEO of Embark Studios and Nexon's Board of Directors. Today's presentation will contain forward-looking statements, including statements about our results of operations and financial condition, such as revenues attributable to our key titles, growth prospects, including with respect to the online games industry, our ability to compete effectively, adapt to new technologies and address new technical challenges, our use of intellectual property, and other statements that are not historical facts. These statements represent our predictions, projections, and expectations about future events, which we believe are reasonable or based on reasonable assumptions. However, numerous risks and uncertainties could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements.
Information on some of these risks and uncertainties can be found in our earnings-related IR documents. We assume no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements. Please note, net income refers to net income attributable to owners of the parent, as stated in Nexon's consolidated financial results. Furthermore, this presentation is intended to provide investors and analysts with financial and operational information about Nexon, not to solicit or recommend any sale or purchase of stock or other securities of Nexon. A recording of this presentation will be available on our investor relations website following this presentation. Unauthorized recording of this presentation is not permitted. Now, I'll pass to Junghun.
Thank you, Kawai-san, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining our call. Earlier today, Nexon posted a letter, slide deck, and press release detailing our Q3 performance and Q4 outlook. On today's call, I will begin with some context, including some insights on the highly successful launch of ARC Raiders on October 30. Then, Uemura -san will follow with detailed financial highlights. In Q3, we delivered revenue of JPY 118.7 billion and operating income of JPY 37.5 billion, both within our expected range. Our Q3 results and Q4 outlook demonstrate how the IP growth initiative we introduced a year ago is driving sustainable long-term growth. Our MapleStory Franchise example piles how each element of the strategy delivers growth. A strong recovery in Korea driven by new content, hyperlocalization in Global MapleStory, and regional expansion on our UGC platform, MapleStory Worlds.
Also, last week's release of MapleStory: Idle RPG is expected to further expand the player base with a relaxing casual experience. In total, MapleStory is tracking to grow annual revenue by 40% in 2025, resulting in the highest annual revenue in the 22-year history of the franchise. As a clear sign of global progress, approximately 40% of total franchise revenue is coming from outside of MapleStory's primary market, Korea. The rapid progress we have made in diversifying the content and globalizing the appeal of our MapleStory Franchise can be applied to much of Nexon's IP portfolio. This includes the Mabinogi Franchise, which is now in development for mobile release in Japan next year, and for Dungeon& Fighter, which this year released the first of three new games designed to introduce the franchise to large new audiences in the West. Another strategic front in our global expansion plan is partnership.
In 2024, our publishing agreement with Tencent delivered strong returns with the release of Dungeon& Fighter Mobile in China. On November 18th, Tencent will host an open beta on a version of THEFINALS , specially adapted for Chinese players. Looking further ahead, we are also working with Tencent on Chinese adaptations of ARC Raiders and The First Descendant. Among our plans for expanding Nexon's global footprint, a big driver is ARC Raiders, which launched globally on October 30th and established itself as number one on Steam's list of top-selling games. With ARC Raiders concluding its second week in the market, we feel confident in saying it is off to a particularly strong start. With us today is the founder and leader of Embark Studios and a member of our Board of Directors, Patrick Söderlund.
We've asked Patrick to provide some color on the launch and the strategy to sustain purchase and engagement in ARC Raiders.
Thank you, Junghun. The response ARC Raiders has received from players worldwide is particularly gratifying for the small team at Embark that created the game. As gamers ourselves, we believed we had created something meaningful, but the immediate and overwhelmingly positive response from players is truly humbling. We have watched engagement numbers climb higher and higher toward 700,000 peak concurrent players this weekend, exceeding our initial targets. The game received widespread acclaim from both players and critics, earning a very positive rating on Steam and ranking among the highest-rated titles of the year on various sites. ARC Raiders is a labor of love that came with a few twists and turns. More than once, we decided the game was good, but not good enough to match our vision. We stopped and started over, decisions that took guts by the creative leadership and patience by Nexon.
The result is a game that is highly differentiated from anything else in the market. The tech test we ran in May and the service slam we hosted in October sent a message to players that ARC Raiders is not the same shooter you've been playing year- after- year. Today, more than 4 million players agreed and bought the game, an auspicious start for a newcomer in the market packed with established players. Looking ahead, we are committed to sustaining the excitement with promotions and content updates that expand the player experience and grow the game through 2025 and into the new year.
Later this month, we will introduce a fifth map, followed by updates that include new arc machines that require adaptation and tactical planning, new weapons and gadgets, and new quests, all of it supported by world-class live operations for matching, balancing, cheat detection, and what we call quality-of-life features that constantly strive to improve the experience. In summary, we are deeply humbled and inspired by the passion global players have shown for our game, and deeply committed to sustaining that passion.
Thank you, Patrick, and congratulations to you and your team on delivering an outstanding game. ARC Raiders has sold over 4 million units to date across all platforms and promises to engage the core and attract new players with a content plan that extends through 2026. We believe that with Embark's commitment to live operations, ARC Raiders can grow to become an enduring contributor to Nexon's portfolio of blockbuster global franchises. With that, I will turn the call over to Uemura -san for a detailed review of our Q3 results and Q4 outlook.
[Foreign language]
Thank you, Jun. Q3 revenue and operating income both came within the expected range at JPY 118.7 billion and JPY 37.5 billion, respectively, driven by solid performances from our three largest franchises. Year-over-year revenue and operating income declined by 12% and 27%, respectively, due to last year's launches of Dungeon& Fighter Mobile in China and The First Descendant. Net income exceeded our outlook at JPY 38.2 billion year-over-year. It was up 41%, primarily due to a JPY 9.2 billion FX gain in Q3 compared to a JPY 19.6 billion FX loss in the year-ago quarter. Turning to the franchise review, the collective revenue from our three major franchises declined 11% year-over-year due to a revenue decrease in Dungeon& Fighter Mobile. PC Dungeon & Fighter achieved 72% year-over-year revenue growth, driven by positive player reception to a series of content updates.
On the other hand, total franchise revenue declined by 45% year-over-year due to the mobile launch in 2024. In Korea, Dungeon & Fighter delivered 145% year-over-year revenue growth. In China, Q3 revenue exceeded our expectations and marked double-digit growth year-over-year, driven by the successful summer and National Day updates. As for KPIs, MAUs, BUs, and RPU were all up year-over-year. For Dungeon& Fighter Mobile, revenue came at the high end of our outlook. Multiple updates, including a level cap release, plus new dungeons and raid content, drove quarter-over-quarter revenue growth. The first co-developed content with Tencent was released in late September, which helped maintain key metrics, including retention rate. The MapleStory Franchise sustained its momentum from the previous quarter, with 61% year-over-year revenue growth in Q3. In Korea, MAUs, BUs, and RPU were all up year-over-year, reflecting strong momentum from the summer updates.
As a result, Korea MapleStory increased its revenue approximately 3x year-over-year. Conversely, global MapleStory declined year-over-year. MapleStory Worlds delivered a year-over-year growth of over 8x . FC ONLINE revenue increased year-over-year in Q3, exceeding our expectations, driven by the successful Team of the Season update. MABINOGI Mobile again made a strong contribution this quarter, while Q3 revenue was somewhat below expectations. Moving on to our fourth quarter outlook, we anticipate double-digit growth year-over-year in MapleStory and FC franchises, as well as PC Dungeon& Fighter. Also, we expect to benefit from contributions from MABINOGI Mobile and new titles launching in Q4, including ARC Raiders, MapleStory: Idle RPG, and the China series of THE FINALS.
Consequently, Q4 revenue is expected to be in the range of JPY 115.8 billion-JPY 129.3 billion, representing a 45%-62% increase on an as-reported basis, or 43%-59% increase on a constant currency basis year-over-year. We expect the Dungeon& Fighter Franchise revenue to decline roughly 10% year-over-year. For PC Dungeon& Fighter, we anticipate continued year-over-year growth in both Korea and China. For Dungeon& Fighter Mobile, we expect revenue to be roughly flat sequentially, driven by multiple updates despite a typical week's seasonality. The next release of co-developed content with Tencent is scheduled for next year. Moving to MapleStory, we expect the franchise to grow approximately 40% year-over-year, driven by a strong performance in Korea, a revenue increase from MapleStory Worlds, and a contribution from a new title, MapleStory: Idle RPG.
We expect the PC version of MapleStory in Korea to support its strong player engagement with the release of the winter update. For Global MapleStory, we expect a slight year-over-year revenue decline. We also expect revenue from MapleStory Worlds to grow year-over-year in Q4. In addition, we will benefit from a contribution from MapleStory: Idle RPG, which launched on November 6. For the FC Franchise, we anticipate year-over-year growth to continue in Q4. Despite the absence of major professional Osaka events in 2025, we expect the franchise to finish the year with revenue roughly flat compared to the strong performance in 2024.
[Foreign language]
Overall, we expect Q4 revenues from the three largest franchises to increase by approximately 15% year-over-year. For MABINOGI Mobile in Q4, in which we anticipate a sequential moderation in revenue, we also expect to sustain players with exciting collaborations and new content updates. Since its launch on October 30th, ARC Raiders has already sold 4 million copies. We plan to sustain player engagement and drive additional purchases through a high cadence of events and new content drops. THE FINALS is set to start the open beta in China on November 18 and will modestly contribute to our Q4 performance. Moving on to the operating income outlook, we expect Q4 operating income to be in the range of JPY 21.7 billion-JPY 31.9 billion. Year-over-year, we anticipate increased variable costs associated with contributions from new titles launching in Q4, including ARC Raiders and MABINOGI Mobile.
Also, we expect increased marketing expenses primarily associated with promotions for new titles launching in Q4, such as ARC Raiders and MapleStory: Idle RPG. In addition, we expect increased cloud service costs and fees to creators in MapleStory Worlds. On the other hand, we expect another gain of approximately JPY 5 billion associated with the liquidation of our subsidiary funds. Despite the year-over-year operating income increase, we anticipate net income to be in the range of JPY 22.2 billion-JPY 30.6 billion, representing a 31%-4% decrease on an as-reported basis, or a 38%-14% decrease on a constant currency basis year-over-year. This is due to the comparison against the JPY 31.7 billion FX gain on cash deposits in Q4 2024. Finally, I will provide an update on our shareholder return initiative.
Nexon has been steadily executing our IP growth initiatives to enhance shareholder value over the medium to long term. With significant and stable cash flows and a robust balance sheet already in place, we are well-positioned to continue driving substantial growth while enhancing shareholder returns. To that end, Nexon's Board of Directors today approved a doubling of the year-end dividend, up from the initially planned JPY 15 to JPY 30 per share, reflecting our firm confidence in continued stable growth and cash flow generation from our core franchises and new titles in development. Accordingly, our FY25 annual dividend forecast will be JPY 45 per share, and the FY26 annual dividend forecast will be JPY 60.
Additionally, under the one-year JPY 100 billion share buyback policy outlined in February, we completed a JPY 25 billion buyback on October 24th, and in total, we have completed a JPY 75 billion buyback to date. Also, today, our board approved the execution of the repurchase for the remaining JPY 25 billion worth of shares, scheduled from November 12th to January 26th, 2026. We will continue our fundamental policy of returning more than 33% of the previous year's operating income to shareholders while promoting proactive shareholder returns through both stable dividend payments and flexible share repurchases. At the same time, we will maintain a robust balance sheet that supports growth investment and strategic capital allocation while remaining committed to enhancing capital efficiency. With that, I will turn the call back to Junghun.
Thank you, Uemura-san . As we near the close of another exciting year, Nexon's management team measures our progress in 2025 with a humble sense of accomplishment. Nexon is delivering on the goals outlined in our 2024 IP growth strategy. We've validated our game plan for generating vertical growth in our large established franchises with new content and globalization. We are creating sustainable horizontal growth with the launch of new games like ARC Raiders, which has set a record as the largest and most successful global launch in Nexon history. At the same time, we are actively pursuing strategic partnerships and investments that will accelerate our growth in high-potential markets for long-term value creation.
Backed by the strengths of our business, a robust balance sheet, and strong cash generations, we have doubled our dividend in conjunction with the execution of JPY 25 billion share buyback to provide greater value for shareholders. This concludes our summary. Operator, we are ready to take questions.
If you wish to ask a question, please press the raise hand button on the screen. When the hand icon is displayed on your screen, that means you have raised your hand. When it comes to your turn, you will receive an unmute notification on your screen. Please unmute yourself and proceed with your question. This earnings presentation is conducted with consecutive interpretation between Japanese, English, and Korean. Even if the translation for your selected language has finished, the translation on the other language channel may be continuing. Please wait until the permission is displayed on the screen when you ask a question. We will begin taking your questions shortly. Please hold on for a moment.
[Foreign language]
The first question is from Mr. Seyon Park from Morgan Stanley. Please.
Yeah, so I have two questions. The first is relating to ARC Raiders. Congratulations to Embark and the team for a very strong start. I know having gone through the cycles, it's been a long process, but it's great to see that the game has come out in such great quality. Can I ask, just given the current trends, whether you have an estimate of roughly how many units you expect to sell by maybe the end of the year, and also what that revenue mix is between the actual sale of the game, and then if there are any microtransactions within the title, and is it fair to assume that as time passes, that revenue mix would be more towards in-game item sales going forward? That's my first question. My second question is relating to Dungeon & Fighter Mobile and the hyperlocalization that Tencent and Nexon is doing together.
Can you maybe provide a little bit more detail about what that's been able to accomplish? As we have more titles or more updates that come out in the future, can we maybe expect a recovery for the D&F Mobile revenues in China going into 2026? Thank you.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
Thank you very much, Seyon, for your question. I believe you had two pieces of questions, second of which will be directly answered from my end on Dungeon & Fighter Mobile in China. For the first one on ARC Raiders, Patrick will be able to provide his view directly.
[Foreign language]
Right now, Junghun mentioned that regarding the response to ARC Raiders-related questions, Patrick will be responding to that. Since the questions pertain to quantitative points, I, CFO Uemura, would like to respond to those questions.
[Foreign language]
First of all, thank you very much for your warm comments regarding ARC Raiders, and we are very happy to see a very robust start of this game. As to your question about what is forecast for the sales for Q4, we believe that it will be somewhere around 5 million units, and the best maybe it might be 5.5 million units altogether.
[Foreign language]
So far, we have sold 4 million units, even given the very short period of time since its launch. We are encountering Christmas season, and the competitive environment will be severe. We started very strong, and we believe that we might moderate at one point in time, but we plan to sell the number of units that I have told you already.
[Foreign language]
About your question regarding the revenue mix, it is basically a package game, and so most of the revenue is from the sales of the package and not DLC. Going forward, there will be more DLC drops, and there will be some changes in the revenue mix, but all in all, I think it will follow the trajectory of conventional package games.
I can add to that. This is Patrick. There are obviously today, like Uemura said, predominantly package goods sales. We have an in-game store where we allow for microtransactions, cosmetics, and other aspects that players are enjoying. We will, of course, increase the availability of content in the store as we go along. Like we've said publicly, we aim to support this game for a long time and to have frequent content drops, both free and paid, going forward.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
All right, so I'll be able to provide my answers to the question on Dungeon& Fighter Mobile. As mentioned in our previous earnings calls, as well as I have done recently, we are right now making a long-term effort to bring in recovery to Dungeon& Fighter Mobile and improve the game. This is just like how in PC Dungeon & Fighter in China, we are addressing and resolving the problems that we had in 2024 and 2025.
[Foreign language]
In regards to our co-development efforts with Tencent, of course we are expecting, and hopefully we are expecting an increase in traffic and revenue. Adding on to the content that will be produced in Korea with this development effort with Tencent, we will be able to provide more locally tailored content as well as more timely events in a more ample manner. With that, I believe we will be able to expect some traffic and revenue increase.
[Foreign language]
Our first co-developed content with Tencent was released in-game on September 24th, and from the player retention perspective, it was received very well.
[Foreign language]
As I believe many of you will be already expecting, for both PC and Mobile Dungeon & Fighter, we are now finalizing our New Year's plan for next year as well as the development roadmap for the year of 2026.
[Foreign language]
For Dungeon& Fighter Mobile's 2026 plan, we do have plans to add not only the Korea-developed content but the co-developed content with Tencent in a quite ample manner. For 2026, we are confident that we will be able to see some stronger performance there.
[Foreign language]
That concludes my answer. Thank you.
Thank you very much.
[Foreign language]
Next, we will take a question from EJ Jai of UBS Securities. Please go ahead.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
I have three questions. My first question is related to ARC Raiders. You commented that there will be in-game charges, and I would like to confirm about that. You also commented that the trend of the sale of this game will be quite similar to regular or ordinary console-based games. I would like to confirm that you mean that the in-game charge will not contribute to the next fiscal year's performance. That is my first point that I would like to confirm, and also any deferral related to the in-game charge, and also any performance-based bonus in the fourth quarter.
[Foreign language]
The comment I just made is on the sales. Revenue mix currently. Current revenue is mostly made up of the package sale. Also, Patrick added his comment saying that we will be focusing on adding in-game content in the future. That will be the focus going forward. Towards next fiscal year, we will be focusing on DLC. Your question on deferral, whether we defer the booking of the sale of such item, will vary depending on the item, so there will be a variety of items sold in-game. Partly, there would be deferrals, but that amount will not be large, relatively small.
[Foreign language]
Can you also comment on the bonus related to the performance?
[Foreign language]
My apology for missing that question. With regards to the performance-linked bonus, that will be calculated within the compensation structure that the company has. Our company's policy is to provide bonus for the performance generated. Basically, that is how we handle our human capital, and that is something that we are supposed to do. It's possible that in the future we will be paying a performance-based bonus.
[Foreign language]
My second question is related to Dungeon& Fighter Mobile in China. By the end of September already, jointly developed contents have been released, and partially that is reflected in the KPIs such as MAU. Do you expect this momentum to continue in the future? What is the level you are targeting? At what point did you achieve a certain level, and then you plan to bring it back to that level? Shall we assume that the status quo will be maintained and then it will bottom out?
[Foreign language]
Obviously, our goal is to increase the numbers.
[Foreign language]
As mentioned earlier briefly, our top priority right now is how we can bring efficiency and how we can execute this entire development process in a more smooth manner with this content supply procedure with Tencent's co-development initiative in place. That is something that I've been looking into thoroughly for the past half of the year, earlier half of the year. After the update in September, we believe it has been kind of settled down in enough pace and efficiency.
[Foreign language]
Speaking from our decades of experience in providing live service for our players, I do not think it is truly a healthy thing to basically see a temporary large boost in terms of traffic and revenue with a single large-scale update. That would not be healthy in terms of the long-term health of the game. As mentioned briefly earlier, for our development roadmap for 2026, we are taking this long-term approach so that the game can be sustained in the longer term, and we plan to improve and address problems in a gradual and step-by-step manner.
[Foreign language]
I think our franchises of Dungeo & Fighter and MapleStory have already proven such results for the past 20 years. I would like to ask for your continued interest and support for Dungeon& Fighter Mobile going forward in 2026 as well. With that, we will be able to provide and do our best to deliver results. Thank you.
[Foreign language]
The third question is on the MapleStory: Idle RPG. We understand that the initial strength or momentum has been very strong, and I think this is a good example for your horizontal deployment of IPs. If possible, can you share the regional breakdown of the global release? How did it fare in each region? Also, the breakdown between new players and existing players? Also, whether we need to be concerned about cannibalization with the existing titles. This has been ranked number one, and I also would like to know how sustainable this position is.
[Foreign language]
MapleStory: Idle RPG was launched on November 6 on selected countries globally, excluding some countries around the world. It is still less than a week since launch, so it is pretty early. I would like to ask for your understanding for my answer into this question.
[Foreign language]
This game has a clear distinction in terms of its genre when compared to other games within the franchise, or the existing games within the franchise. We have not seen any cannibalization happening, and we do not foresee to see any going forward either.
[Foreign language]
To share some details here for Korea, Taiwan, and North American regions, the performances are very strong. The revenue numbers as well as the early retentions are quite strong.
[Foreign language]
Basically, we chose this genre, and this was quite a strategic decision for us, but we thought the genre would help us generate a new group of MapleStory fan base within the franchise. Idol games typically do not boast too much of a long-term sustainability when compared to other genres. However, we will put long-term effort so that the game can remain sustainable and our users can circulate within the franchise of MapleStory at large.
[Foreign language]
That concludes my answer. Thank you.
[Foreign language]
Understood. Thank you very much.
[Foreign language]
The next question is from Robin Zhu from Sanford C. Bernstein Limited. Please.
Thanks, management. Congrats on the operator's success. I guess first question, just curious on, you said there will be a cadence of updates from here. Curious how much developer resource you're putting towards the operations of the game versus, say, the original development team, and should we expect gameplay updates that add more game modes in addition to just kind of more weapons and more missions and more of the same effectively? Second question, Embark has been pretty transparent about the use of generative AI in the development of the game. Be curious if you could give some highlights on where you think AI has been most impactful in development to date or in the live ops that you anticipate. Further, how management or the company plans to address some of the online controversy that's appeared as a result of the AI use? Thank you.
[Foreign language]
I'll start. Patrick here from Embark. In regards to how we make sure that the engagement stays strong, I think there's a couple of things that we look at. The first one is how the game is retaining players. And we have been quite surprised at how well the game is retaining players. Our retention numbers are, I would say, very strong in the first couple of weeks. I think that's evident by an increasing CCU population. The fact that we had our peak so far CCU on Sunday, yeah, 10 days after launch, tells us that players obviously have purchased the game, but they're also playing the game a lot and they're staying inside the game. Those are all good signs.
What I would then say is, in order for us to ensure that people stay engaged, you pointed out that not only do we plan on updating with content, meaning weapons, new ARC enemies, maps for that matter, but also quests, like you said. Larger changes to the game are obviously conceptualized, but not yet communicated. I think it's going to be a discussion with the community, what people are doing, what do we see them doing. We won't be afraid to add to the game in a way that makes people stay and play the game.
[Foreign language]
When it comes to our development team sites, we will continue with the same team that built the game to support the game. We will not shrink the team. We may probably add to the team rather than shrinking it in order to ensure more frequent updates. I think you have seen us do two or three patches already, and in the coming week, there will be more meaningful updates. We are starting that journey now. The final thing you asked was in relation to Embark's utilization of artificial intelligence and reinforcement learning and machine learning in our development. You also pointed out that there is some controversy around that subject, which I think is fair. What I would like to say is, I think there is a misconception that Embark is automated development. That is not how we do it. We do not automate development.
We use AI and other means of efficiencies to unleash the creativity in the company. We do not use AI to lower costs. We do not use AI to replace a certain work field. We use it so that we can focus on the things that matter and the things that we would like to spend less time on that can be automated. We automate. I know that there is some controversy around audio. Our creators, for the most part, are utilizing recorded voice because we believe that that has a higher quality. Yes, there are instances of automated voices, but that is because we want players to get frequent updates quickly. It is an efficiency and something that we do to be able to get players a better experience very quickly. It has nothing to do with our goal, or we have a ton of voice actors.
We love them, and we will continue using them. I just want to make sure that that is clear in regards to how Embark treats automation and AI.
Thanks very much.
[Foreign language]
Next, we will take question from Yamamura-san of JP Morgan Securities. Please go ahead.
[Foreign language]
Thank you for the presentation, and also thank you for allowing me to ask a question. I'm Yamamura from JP Morgan Securities. I have two questions. My first question is related to the company strategy. My second question is more of a confirmation of technical matter. My first question on the ARC Raiders, to what extent do you expect that this momentum of sales will continue? For the home game type of product, there are two ways to sustain the revenue in general. First is to reduce the price continuously so that there will be repeat customers in the long term. The second way is to build up revenue through in-game charging. Listening to your response to the questions, I believe your company's strategy is the latter, which is to add revenue through in-game charging. I wanted to confirm whether my understanding is correct.
Speaking of the repeat purchase or repeat sale, in the case of ARC Raiders, the initial price point is set at a relatively low level. Therefore, I think there is a smaller room for further price reduction. I understand that your focus will be more on DLC, paid DLC. I understand that this is, in a way, the first title that you achieved a major hit for the package games. That is why I wanted to ask you on the strategy.
Patrick here. I'll answer that as well. When it comes to price reductions and what business model we use in the game, I think that they're pretty standard. As with any packaged goods game, which my previous career, Electronic Arts and other places, I spent 15 years in the packaged goods space, you will price promote when the time is right. That's any business, any company that deals with packaged goods, whether it's digital or in the past in-store, will use that methodology. We will do the same when the time is right. For the time being, we are doing well. We're selling well. We don't have any price promotions planned in the immediate future. We'll obviously assess the sales situation and make those decisions along the way.
When it comes to this is a packaged goods game, which means that the development team and Embark and Nexon need to make sure that the people who have purchased the game are well treated and that get previous free content drops and things so that they continue playing the game. We will obviously, like already in the game today, there will be a store where we will have offers to players where they can purchase things if they choose to. We will not have, it will be of cosmetic nature, and there will be things so that players can express themselves, business models that are very successful in many other games today in the West and in Asia. There is no real difference there. We will obviously evolve and make that component of the game larger as the time goes by.
That is the only way for us to sustain this game over a very long period of time, which is our absolute ambition.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
My second question is just to reconfirm. When I look at the Chinese business revenue, the revenue forecast is a decline on a QoQ basis. Given that the Mobile business forecast is flat, it hints that the PC will go down by roughly JPY 10 billion QoQ. Is it within the regular seasonality range, or is there an impact on the strike of Neople or any general environment in the South Korean market?
[Foreign language]
Firstly, on strike, currently all the employees are coming to office and working, so there is no impact.
[Foreign language]
As analyzed by Yamamura-san, in China, in the Dungeon & Fighter Franchise for PC, we have seen a major recovery in Q2 and Q3, and we believe that Q1 of the next year would be extremely important. In Q4, we will focus on the maintenance, meaning that we will implement measures to enhance user engagement. It's not that there is some major slowdown of the game, but rather strategically in Q4, we will focus on the strengthening of user engagement. That is the reason for the QoQ revenue decline.
[Foreign language]
Understood clearly. Thank you very much.
[Foreign language]
Next question is from Bank of America Securities. Masuda-san, please.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
Okay. I also have a question related to the sustainability of ARC Raiders' momentum. As you know, Escape from Tarkov, which is another extraction shooter game, is scheduled to be released on November 15th. I want to know what kind of impact do you assume?
Patrick here. Escape from Tarkov is a game that, yes, it's finally releasing, but it's been in an alpha and beta mode for several years. Although it's an official launch, and it's a game that many people have played for many years, that I think is important. It's actually a game that served, to some extent, as the inspiration to ARC Raiders. The goal with ARC Raiders was always to, or the hypothesis with ARC Raiders rather, and the concept of ARC Raiders was that we believe that the extraction genre, which is seen as very difficult and what gamers would describe as a hardcore genre, could be done more accessible, more easier to play so that we could get it to become a more mainstream product. That was the goal. Tarkov and other successful extraction shooters was something that we looked at quite a lot.
While I do believe that they will do well, it's a new game, but it's not necessarily a new game.
[Foreign language]
[Foreign language]
Understood. Thank you very much.
[Foreign language]
Next, we would like to take a question from Atul Goyal of Jefferies Singapore Limited.
Hi, thank you for the presentation, and thank you for giving me a chance to ask this question. This is for Patrick. Looking at Embark's two recent launches, THE FINALS , which had a strong start but faced challenges to sustain momentum, and then ARC Raiders, which has launched to significant fanfare and apparent success, what are the key learnings from these contrasting outcomes? How have these experiences shaped your thinking around game development, live ops, or community engagement going forward?
[Foreign language]
I think it's a fair question that I'll try and respond to fairly. THE FINALS , like you said, came out, and we, I think, managed to build an IP that had a lot of attraction. Players wanted to try the game, and we had shown the world that we can build a game that, on the surface, or it was actually, had a lot of innovation in it and brought something new to the genre of the FPS. As I said, we had over 20 million downloads just in the first month. The game did, and we did also monetize quite well for being a free-to-play game. What we did not account for was the fact that there wasn't enough for players to do to stay engaged over time.
The retention, both day one, day seven, day 14, and we measured retention on certain cohorts and depending on how many days people have played. Also, even after a month, the retention numbers were not where they needed to be. These are KPIs that are standardized today in our industry and numbers that Nexon are well aware of. Embark, at the time of the release of THE FINALS , knew of the numbers, but we did not know how to get the right numbers in full transparency. What the team then did with THE FINALS , if we can stay on that for a second, was something that is difficult to do.
They managed to, through listening to the community, working with Nexon, working with the development team, of course, they managed to increase the retention metrics, both the short and long-term, medium and long-term retention, which then made players stay in the game. That is why we have seen THE FINALS make a comeback. We have seen an increase in players. We are seeing an increase in both players and revenue every season now that we are launching. Even though the numbers are not as big as something like ARC Raiders, they are meaningful to us and a game that is absolutely worth continuing supporting for us. The learnings that we had from THE FINALS , I think, paved the way for the success of ARC Raiders.
Like I said, as far as I know, ARC Raiders' retention numbers are among the highest that Nexon has ever seen for any game that's been developed in the history of Nexon. That is a testament to the hard work on making sure that we have features that are aligned to support retention. Retention, and obviously your daily active users and your CCU curves, are very important blueprints to look at as you determine how well a game is doing long-term. So far, so good, I would say. We're very happy with where we are now. However, I say but, we will keep obviously monitoring the situation and what's going on. In case where we see a decline, we will do our utmost to cure that decline by being methodical and swift like we have been on THE FINALS .
Thank you very much.
[Foreign language] Please conclude the question and answer session. Mr. Kawai, I'd like to hand over to you for any additional or closing remarks.
Thank you. If there are no further questions, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your participation in this call. Please feel free to contact the Nexon Investor Relations at investors@nexon.co.jp should you have any further questions. We appreciate your interest in Nexon and look forward to meeting with you, whether it is here in Tokyo or in your corner of the world.