Krafton's 200 billion-paid new game sluggish...securities companies lowering target stock prices

Game / 연합뉴스 / 2023-01-13 10:29:05
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▲ This image, provided by Steam, shows 'Callisto Protocol.' (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) 

 

▲ This photo, provided by Krafton, shows the booth of Krafton at G-STAR 2022. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) 

 

▲ This image, provided by Steam, shows the content update roadmap for Callisto Protocol. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) 

 

 

SEOUL, Jan. 13 (Yonhap) - Krafton [259960]'s new "Callisto Protocol," which was released last month at a cost of about 200 billion won over three years, is observed to badly influence its future performance due to sales shortage.

 

Daishin Securities, Samsung Securities, Shinhan Securities, KIWOOM Securities, Korea Investment & Securities, and Hyundai Motor Securities have lowered their target stock prices of Krafton from last month to early this month, according to securities industry on Friday.

 

As the main reason, securities companies have stated the failure of the Callisto Protocol, which was launched on December 2 last year.

 

Samsung Securities [016360] predicted in a stock report earlier this month, "The company expected cumulative sales of 5 million copies, but considering the current sales ranking, cumulative sales of 2 million copies will not be easy until this year."


Korea Investment & Securities also lowered its cumulative sales estimate of the Callisto Protocol from 4 million to 2.1 million on the previous day, and lowered its operating profit estimate for this year from 813 billion won to 629.3 billion won.

 

Gamers' reviews are also negative. Although graphics and sound technology are excellent, the length of the game is too short to be cleared in about seven to eight hours, and the stage formation is also simple.

 

Callisto Protocol is receiving a “Mixed” (61% positive evaluation) evaluation from users on the global PC game platform “Steam,” as of the previous day.

 

This is an improved figure compared to last month, and at the beginning of the release, when the problem of insufficient optimization of the PC version was raised, only 20% of the positive evaluation was made.

 

The global comprehensive game rating site “Metacritic” also has a low rating of 70 points for Xbox version, 69 points for PlayStation version, and 68 points for PC version.

 

The problem is that Krafton spent a significant amount of money on the production of the Callisto protocol.

 

According to Krafton's business report and quarterly report, the company paid about 196 billion won, including 5.4 billion won in 2020, 77 billion won in 2021, and 113.6 billion won from January to September last year, to the US-based subsidiary 'Striking Distance Studio' (SDS), a developer of Callisto Protocol.

 

SDS was established in 2019 and acquired by Krafton in 2020. Callisto Protocol is the only game SDS released so far. It is estimated that most of the money paid by Krafton was also used to produce the Callisto protocol.

 

In addition, including the marketing costs conducted at Krafton's headquarters, the cost from game production to release is expected to be greater.

 

Krafton plans to seek a rebound with follow-up support for the Callisto Protocol.

 

Game producers has announced plans to update new game modes and character costumes in the game on the 7th of next month and release paid DLC, which is a downloadable content, with additional stories this summer.

 

However, gamers are generally skeptical, as it is rare that single-play-only games, which received negative reviews in the early stages, have rebounded with additional content or DLC releases.

 

Callisto Protocol's sales performance is expected to be specifically mentioned in Krafton's fourth-quarter earnings announcement to be announced next month.

 

 

 

(This article is translated from Korean to English by Yunhee Cho.)

 

(END)

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