Krafton Inc

KRX:259960

Earnings Call Analysis

KRAFTON Reports Record Q1 2024 Earnings Driven by PUBG Growth

In Q1 2024, KRAFTON achieved record revenue of KRW 665.9 billion, bolstered by strong engagement with PUBG, which saw a 46% increase in PC revenue and a 17% rise in mobile revenue. Operating profit surged 89% quarter-on-quarter to KRW 310.5 billion, with net profit reaching KRW 348.6 billion, up 31% year-on-year. The company plans more aggressive marketing for new titles, including Dark and Darker Mobile, targeting a global release in Q4. Additionally, KRAFTON is enhancing its Indian operations and has initiated partnerships for second-party publishing, aiming to publish six new titles this year.

Strong Performance Amidst Maturity

KRAFTON commenced its 2024 fiscal year with robust earnings, reporting a record-high revenue of KRW 665.9 billion for the first quarter. This impressive performance is supported by the enduring popularity of its flagship IP, PUBG, which has significantly bolstered the company's financial metrics post its transition to a free-to-play model in 2022. Notably, KRAFTON achieved an operating profit of KRW 310.5 billion, reflecting a remarkable 89% increase quarter-on-quarter and a 10% year-on-year growth. The increase in profitability can largely be attributed to higher player traffic and improved revenue efficiency from both PC and mobile platforms.

Growth Drivers: Traffic and Efficiency

KRAFTON's strategy since adopting the free-to-play model involved enhancing user engagement and optimizing monetization techniques. In Q1, the Average Monthly Users (MAU) and revenue from PUBG on PC and console reached record levels following the successful rollout of new content, including seasonal weapon skin upgrades. Mobile revenues also performed well, driven by the return of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) and special in-game events tailored to local tastes, such as collaborations with Bollywood films. The sustained growth in traffic—especially in mobile gaming—is pivotal for KRAFTON's strategic outlook.

Cost Management and Operating Metrics

Despite an increase in operational costs due to wage hikes for developers, KRAFTON managed to stabilize its labor costs at KRW 121.4 billion in Q1. Marketing expenses fluctuated based on specific events, showing a decrease of KRW 21.8 billion quarter-on-quarter, yet increased by KRW 7.3 billion year-on-year. Stock-based compensation rose significantly, reflecting the company’s strong stock performance. KRAFTON's adjusted EBITDA after accounting for this compensation rose 72% from the previous quarter, underscoring efficient cost control amidst aggressive investment in growth.

Future Strategies: Investment in New Titles

Looking forward, KRAFTON is setting its sights on expanding its game portfolio and enhancing user experiences. Plans are underway to invest heavily in second-party publishing, with a target of releasing six new titles in 2024. Notably, 'Dark and Darker Mobile,' which has completed its beta testing, is poised for a global rollout later this year. This expansion aligns with KRAFTON's ongoing commitment to innovation and responsiveness to market trends, as evidenced by their focus on localized content for specific markets such as India.

Localized Content and Market Expansion

KRAFTON is leveraging localized content to sculpt a more engaging experience tailored for diverse markets, particularly in India. The company is actively developing character voice packs featuring popular Indian celebrities, thus enhancing the cultural relevance of its games. As part of its growth strategy, KRAFTON aims not only to strengthen its footprint in existing markets but also to capture emerging opportunities in India, where it sees substantial growth potential.

Optimizing Monetization with New Payment Platforms

The introduction of UniPin, a third-party payment platform in India, is expected to enhance monetization capabilities by allowing more users to access purchasing options without requiring digital payment methods. This move is anticipated to significantly improve paying user metrics while keeping transaction costs lower compared to conventional methods. KRAFTON is optimistic that this strategy will bolster overall profitability and build a broader user base.

Anticipation for Q2 and Beyond

As KRAFTON embarks into Q2, the company acknowledges the typical seasonal effects on gaming but is hopeful for sustained traffic based on favorable metrics from Q1. The management is preparing for increased marketing expenditure to support upcoming title releases, aiming to maintain user engagement levels. Expectations are set for a rise in both traffic and revenue, driven by localized content initiatives and new game rollouts, including ongoing efforts to enhance the PUBG narrative and gameplay experience.

Earnings Call Transcript 2024-Q1

[Operator]

[Interpreted] Good morning, and good evening. Thank you all for joining the conference call for the earnings results of KRAFTON. [Operator Instructions] Now we will begin the presentation on KRAFTON's first quarter earnings results of the fiscal year 2024.

[Unknown Executive]

[Interpreted] Good afternoon. I'm [ Sophie Lee ] from KRAFTON's IR team. I would like to extend my appreciation to everyone, including analysts and investors for joining the company's first quarter 2024 earnings release. Please note that today's earnings presentation is based on K-IFRS consolidated estimates which are subject to change upon the independent auditor's review. We will first have our CFO, Dong-geun Bae, to present on the business and financial highlights.

[Dong-geun Bae, executive]

[Interpreted] In Q1 of 2024 KRAFTON reached record-high quarterly sales backed by the strong IP power of PUBG and have geared up investments to drive outcome from our Scale-up the Creative strategy. As we tried different forms of live servicing with the PUBG IP, traffic and revenue from PC, console and mobile continued their uptrend, which gave us the confidence that we can bring solid growth this year as well. I believe this is a result of the decision to transition to free-to-play and how it aligned with the experience and different tries we've consistently made for PUBG over the many years of servicing the game.In 2023, we decided to expand into second-party publishing, a strategy that is a combination of minority equity investment and publishing so as to place momentum behind Scale-up the Creative implementation. We have made a total of 10 investments in 2023 and 9 investments during the first half of this year, accelerating discovery of creatives with scale up potentials. In the long run, I believe such efforts will become growth engine for KRAFTON.Next I will run through an update on business performance, new titles and our mid- to longer-term growth strategy. Across all of the platforms, PC, console and mobile, PUBG IP saw growth in traffic and revenue continue as it solidified its standing as a global IP. First quarter PUBG PC, console, MAU and revenue hit record-high level since the transition to F2P back in January of 2022. And following the Rondo map update in Q4, traffic uptrend is continuing and weapons scheme upgrade system, which was sold during the seasonal event during Q1 made a big contribution to the top line. PUBG Mobile traffic continued with its uptrend since early last year thanks to the 6-year anniversary theme mode and home ground content, which are used to decorate players' own personal space.Also, sales from BGMI skin was a big contributing factor behind this quarter's revenue. We were also able to engage users of Battleground Mobile India through comarketing done with Bollywood movies and bespoke content during the local Indian festivities. And to broaden the ping user base and strengthen monetization, we opened UniPin web store, which is a third party payment platform. Fortunately, the PUBG IP continues to grow, but live service games inherently carry high operational complexity close to releasing a new game every day. To ensure continued growth of the PUG IP, we will focus on securing traffic and enhancing monetization models and at the same time drive investment and development for the overall PUBG IP franchise.Out of the key strategic lineup for '24 is Dark and Darker Mobile, which completed its first beta test last month and will be the first title to be released this year. From April 25th to the 28th, we conducted a CBT in Korea for a total of 5 days, focusing on build stability and operational processes and more than 50,000 testers participated in the CBT. Until the OBT, we plan to concentrate on refining the game control difficulty levels and further developing content to enhance the overall quality of the game. The extraction RPG genre itself is yet to be proven as a genre that can win users over extended period of time. Therefore, Dark and Darker Mobile faces the challenging task of appealing to many users through the intrinsic fun one experiences during the in-game sessions and its harmonization with the out-game features.Considering the fast-paced environment of mobile gaming, garnering significant interest and affection from a vast number of users would be very challenging. We are nevertheless committed to doing our best until the launch to achieve meaningful results.We at KRAFTON are speeding up second party publishing and equity investments to explore new global creatives. In the first quarter we have secured a total of 3 creatives so far and will onboard 6 more creatives before the end of the first half of the year as we continue to expand KRAFTON's mid- to longer-term pipeline of titles. Particularly noteworthy is that in Q1 we invested into a studio set up by seasoned developers, Red Rover Interactive, and they are currently developing PVP Survival game, working with a concept that is similar to that of Snowpiercer. Also C77 Entertainment is a studio known for making multiplayer shooter games in the West. Through our investment, we gained new IPs and acquired development capacity. The project that is under development now is a multiplayer first person shooter game delivering distinct fun and entertainment through casual and fast motion and action.Next is an update on KRAFTON's major strategies for mid- to longer-term growth. First in India, we are focused on stable servicing of BGMI and on publishing various different games and making game-centric investments. Our goal is to publish 6 new titles this year in India and including Bullet Echo India, which rolled out on April the 15th. We have released a total of 2 games so far. Through this we will be able to test demand for games and growth potential of the Indian market while building up experience through trials of localized content.We have also explored various new businesses and strategic partnerships, and we plan to focus more on game-centric investments for live servicing and new game publishing in 2024. Upon this basis, we are endeavoring to become not only the #1 publisher in India, but also contribute to the development of the overall game ecosystem and grow together within the Indian market.Second, to leverage AI technology to discover new gameplay and maximize game production efficiency as we continue to broaden our deep learning R&D capabilities, we newly set up the AI Strategy team under the CEO back in March so as to accelerate the use of AI technology across the company. In terms of game production, we are experiencing an innovative way in making games powered by AI, moving away from the traditional approach. We've built a system whereby we use reinforced learning to design games and measure difficulty levels and to build bots automatically. We also use our own technology to adopt LLM capabilities in generating unlimited conversation to enable rich conversation with NPCs. TTS technology generates voice recordings that best fit the characteristics of the game without having voice actors do a voiceover which helps save development time and cost. By using our own generative AI tools we can incorporate deliverables unencumbered by copyright directly into game production.We're also actively exploring new gameplay powered by AI. Our plan is to release more than 4 AI game titles in '24 including Uncovered the Smoking Gun, which is an AI-based chatting game developed by ReLU games which is a studio we spun off last year.Last but not least, in May we plan to solidify KRAFTON's standing as a listed public company by establishing ESG committee under the Board of Directors. ESG committee will review and oversee the company's direction forward regarding environmental social and the governance domain and embed sustainability in the decision-making process so that we may further enhance shareholder value.Next is on KRAFTON's financial performance. In Q1, revenue posted a quarterly record high of KRW 665.9 billion. And on the back of robust revenue growth from PUBG IP and stabilized cost trend, operating profit came in at KRW 310.5 billion.Looking at the breakdown, first quarter PC revenue was KRW 243.7 billion, up 46% Q-over-Q and 37% year-over-year. Since the F2P transition, PUBG PC and console achieved record-high quality revenue. And journey to the West-themed weapons skin upgrade system received raving feedback from the player base. Mobile revenue in Q1 was KRW 402.3 billion, posting a growth of 17% Q-on-Q and 16% Y-o-Y. With the release of Bentley skin and top notch level of firearms that won great user response and with the unbanning of BGMI services, we saw a strong momentum behind mobile revenue.Q1 revenue for console was KRW 11.5 billion, down 34% Q-on-Q but up 59% year-over-year. All in all, Q1 revenue hit record-high quarterly levels with the share of PC and console games against the total base expanding to 38%.Next is on operating expense and operating profit. Labor cost was up on the back of incremental wage increases for developers working on new titles and the PUBG IP franchise. However, compared to last quarter and the base effect from bonus payment, labor cost was flat Q-over-Q at KRW 121.4 billion. Platform fees and cost of revenue stayed flat Q-over-Q but recorded KRW 85.9 billion, which is an increase of KRW 39.1 billion on the back of resumption of BGMI services and higher PUBG PC revenue.Commissions paid was flat versus both previous quarter and year, keeping in line with stabilized spending trend. Due to the high base effect following last quarter's new map Rondo release and focused marketing for BGMI, marketing expense was down KRW 21.8 billion Q-on-Q. But on a Y-o-Y basis, due to BGMI service resumption and marketing spend that followed, it was up KRW 7.3 billion, reporting KRW 12.4 billion. Stock-based compensation increased KRW 13.8 billion Q-over-Q, reaching KRW 42.1 billion, driven by share price increases. On a year-over-year basis, the increase was KRW 32.1 billion. All in all, operating profit in Q1 was up 89% Q-on-Q and 10% year-on-year, reporting KRW 310.5 billion. Q1 adjusted EBITDA after stock-based compensation was up 72% Q-over-Q and 19% Y-o-Y, reaching KRW 378.5 billion.For nonoperating accounts, due to last quarter's impairment of intangible asset and its base effect as well as FX-related gains from strong dollar, Q1 nonoperating profit came in at KRW 154.8 billion. Q1 net profit reported KRW 348.6 billion, growing 31% versus last year.

[Unknown Executive]

[Interpreted] This ends the presentation of the earnings of the first quarter of 2024. We will now entertain your questions.

[Operator]

[Interpreted] [Operator Instructions] The first question will be provided by Eric Cha from Goldman Sachs.

[Minuh Cha, analyst]

[Interpreted] First of all, congratulations on your good earnings. I would like to ask you 2 questions. I would like to understand -- and first of all, it's quite encouraging to see that there is this level of growth even at this cycle since it's been about 8 years since the first rollout of PUBG IP. So we'd like to gain some insight as to how this is possible. Is this driven by traffic? Or is it driven by increase in wallet share? What is the key driver? If you cannot mention any specific numbers, I would like to at least gain some insight in terms of the qualitative drivers. Second is, in your presentation you briefly mentioned UniPin, the payment platform of India. Can you provide us as to what direction or what impact it's going to have in terms of improving your margins?

[Dong-geun Bae, executive]

[Interpreted] I think you actually answered the question in your question. The reason why we were able to drive such good earnings performance despite the fact that it's now in the seventh year of servicing is, yes, driven by the traffic as well as revenue efficiency. And this is not just an outcome of a good performance from one specific quarter. As I've mentioned in my opening presentation, after transitioning to free-to-play in 2022, we've actually established a strategy, a long-term strategy for PUBG. And what we did was we faithfully implemented that strategy that we've set up. And I believe that, that was the key driver behind the good results that we are currently seeing. Although I wont be able to share with you any specific numbers per se, as you know, when we shifted to free-to-play from selling a package-based gain, there were changes, of course, in the MAU number. And when a game transitions to F2P, there is initial hype. And then afterwards there's a gradual attrition of players. But through various different initiatives, especially if you look at second half of last year, we were able to maintain the traffic level that we've seen immediately after the transition to F2P, free-to-play. And also in terms of the game items, despite the fact that this game has been servicing over many years, we made sure that we did not engage in reckless monetization that undermines the intrinsic gameplay of this game title, and we wanted to make sure that we do not place any negative impact on the users' gameplay. So we stayed away from those approaches. Responding to your second question on UniPin, with the partnering up or tying up with UniPin, we are able to utilize millions of our flying post, sales post. Basically this will enable people who do not have digital payment method to use their cash to make a settlement and purchase certain items. And that will of course contribute to increasing the number of our paying users. And the commissions that we pay for the third-party payment platform compared to the typical marketplace commission is much lower. Hence, with the increases in the paying user base, we believe that we will be able to also improve on the profitability. And looking back in our past case for BGMI when we had a similar type of a third-party payment or the settlement platform that we used, if we look back on that experience, we believe that we will be able to increase the share of revenue that we gained through this third-party payment platform. And also, yes, naturally there will be a better margin that we will be able to enjoy.

[Unknown Executive]

[Interpreted] Next question, please.

[Operator]

[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Oh, Dong Hwan from Samsung Securities.

[Donghwan Oh, analyst]

[Interpreted] I have 2 questions. You've conducted and completed the first closed beta test for Dark and Darker Mobile. What is the outcome of the results from the CBT? And also, can you provide some color as to when you will be able to launch this game title? Second question is in terms of your overall marketing spend, despite the fact that you've ran some promotions in Q1, there hasn't been that significant increase in marketing expense. But what about second quarter? Would you be more aggressive with your marketing expenditure?

[Dong-geun Bae, executive]

[Interpreted] You asked about the first wave of closed beta test results for Dark and Darker Mobile. As mentioned, 50,000 people have actually preregistered and have downloaded and participated in the CBT. And we were able to test whether the game players are able to play the game in a stable and steady manner. So we tested on the servicing aspect of this game. We're, at this point, monitoring many different types of indicators and measures. And if you think about it, even if these people download the game and participate and join in on the closed beta test, if they think that the game is not fun, they will of course obviously not play the game. So if you look at the actual number of sessions or the frequency of play in game as well as the total time spent at the outgame session, through that we were able to verify that there is positive response by the user base. And we are building up anticipation for the launch of this game. You also asked about the timing of the launch. In June there will be another round of CBT in Korea and also we will run an open OBT, open beta test, in the third quarter in Korea. And based upon the outcome of these releases in Korea, we will also further refine and fine-tune the game titles and gradually take this game to other markets with a target of a global release in Q4. On the second question on marketing, as you've mentioned, our percent of marketing spend against revenue was quite low or muted. And if you look at our past marketing spend-related behavior, you would know that we actually stayed away from excessive marketing spend just for the purpose of boosting the game itself. We are more focused in strengthening the core gameplay as well as acquiring user traffic that was where our core marketing objective had always been. Having said that, in the second quarter, as we gear up for the release of Dark and Darker Mobile, there will be more marketing activities that will follow. So marketing spend will naturally increase. But on a per annum basis, in terms of the percent against the revenue, the marketing spend will stay more or less flat.

[Unknown Executive]

[Interpreted] Next question, please.

[Operator]

[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Yu, Incheol from Citi Securities.

[Incheol Yu, analyst]

[Interpreted] First, congratulations on good results. I have 2 questions as well. First is on seasonality. You mentioned traffic and profitability being driven by PUBG IP. But what about second quarter? Because typically second quarter is a slow season, and I understand PUBG PC and mobile is also subject to that seasonality. Are you, at this point, seeing positive traffic trend? Second question is on BGMI content. You briefly mentioned localized content for the Indian market. I would like to get some color as to what the second quarter and the full year outlook is regarding these localized contents in India.

[Dong-geun Bae, executive]

[Interpreted] On your question regarding seasonality, yes, in the past there was clearly seasonality, more salient for PUBG PC, but PUBG Mobile relatively had seen weakened seasonality impact. What's important at this point is that we've closed March end account. And if you look at both PC and mobile, traffic numbers are quite good and maybe not to the extent that we have completely gotten rid of seasonality impact, but I believe we are starting the second quarter with a very sound traffic metrics. Now for Mobile, we since last year have seen a continuous uptrend in traffic, and we are continuously scaling up the model as well. And in Q2, we are preparing for different collaborations whose impact has been already proven, and we believe that we will be able to maintain the level of interest from our user base. On your second question on BGMI and relating to the localized content, when we say localized content, we're talking about, for instance, voice packs, using the voices of very popular cricket players or Bollywood stars or influencers in India and other collaboration items. And in Q4, I guess Q4 of last year there was explosive amounts of traffic and revenue and that level has softened since the resumption of the BGMI, but we have been able to provide servicing quite steadily. And so we are looking forward to good results to come through in the second quarter as well.

[Unknown Executive]

[Interpreted] Next question, please.

[Operator]

[Interpreted] The following question will be presented by Lim, Hee-Seok from Mirae Asset Securities.

[Hee-Seok Lim, analyst]

[Interpreted] Just 2 questions. First is, what is the initial results that you are seeing from Bullet Echo India? And also including Cookie Run, what are some of the lineup of titles that you would publish in the Indian market? Next question is, we've seen a slight inching up of labor cost in Q1. Can you provide some color as to the speed of new hires going forward and what the labor cost trajectory is going to look like as we go into the future? And at the same time, can you share with us your second quarter expense guidance?

[Dong-geun Bae, executive]

[Interpreted] So your question relating to Bullet Echo India, we rolled it out in April 15. So it's been less than a month, but there's been about 1 million downloads so far. We think that the indicators and metrics are quite meaningful. So we're going to really focus on -- we're going to focus on localizing for the Indian market, which means that we will separate the Indian server from the global server and really focus on localizing the characters that especially befit the requirements or the taste of the Indian market and develop and run content to the likes of what is preferred by India. So there are multiple number of games. But yes, Cookie Run is one of the highly anticipated game from the company's perspective. I say that because Cookie Run is a game that is not too difficult, it is rather intuitive. And basically -- so to date, we have been receiving very positive feedback from the user base. And if you look at global mobile game market, of course, there are common denominators but depending on which region you're talking about, there are different preferences in terms of the gameplay that they like and the genre and the type of game titles that people tend to appeal to. So at this point we are in the stage of testing different things, finding out what really works for the Indian market in terms of the game content, the gameplay as well as monetization models. But you are right, Cookie Run is one of the games that we have high hopes for. On labor costs, during the first quarter we focused on new hires, focusing on acquiring talent for new title development under the PUBG IP franchise. And in Q1 we have used about 25% of annual targets in terms of the labor cost. So I think in Q2 you can expect about the same level as you've seen for the first quarter. Regarding second quarter guidance for the company's expenses, you know that we do not give out specific numbers. But as I've alluded to in my previous presentation and answers, if you look at the cost items in terms of marketing, marketing expense is going to be higher for Q2 compared to what we've seen in first quarter and also for the commissions paid as well as outsourcing development expenses and expenses for PUBG e-sporting event, we expect such expenses to be more elevated as we go into second, third and fourth quarter compared to the first quarter. So expense overall is going to be more elevated as we go into these later quarters compared to Q1.

[Unknown Executive]

[Interpreted] Well, this ends the earnings presentation of KRAFTON for the first quarter of 2024. Once again, I sincerely extend my gratitude to everyone for your interest and for your support. Thank you.[Portions of this transcript that are marked [Interpreted] were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]