NCSoft Corp. shares declined Friday morning amid profit-taking after a 30-percent jump in the previous session, buoyed by the buzz of a new release that will employ non-fungible token (NFT) technology despite unsatisfactory earnings in the third quarter.

Shares of the top-tier video game developer soared to the daily ceiling of 29.92 percent to finish Thursday at 786,000 won. The rally fizzled out in Friday’s early morning trade. The stock price sank 8.91 percent to trade at 716,000 won as of 10:14 a.m.

NCSoft shares tanked below 600,000 won during a session on Thursday after the company reported worse-than-expected earnings results.

NCSoft said its operating profit shriveled 56 percent on year and revenue 14.5 percent due to tepid market responses to its new title “Blade & Soul 2” and the excessive pay-to-win billing model in its flagship series Lineage which has chased away gamers in droves.

The company is expecting a rebound in performance in the coming quarters as it is readying to launch new NFT-based, play-to-earn titles next year, its chief financial officer Hong Won-jun announced on Thursday.

Hong said the company has already completed technology reviews on the creation of its own cryptocurrency for its NFT-powered massively multiplayer online role-playing games.

Industry watchers predict that the new titles will be marketed abroad as play-to-earn models are banned at home for being speculative.

NCSoft expects the new NFT-based games and its latest title “Lineage W” raking in record-breaking sales will provide a new driver for its business.

By Jin Young-tae, Hwang Soon-min and Lee Soo-min

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