South Korean gaming giant NCSoft Corp. posted a 25.3 percent on-year jump in its fourth-quarter operating profit, riding on the success of its new mobile MMORPG title Lineage 2M.

Operating profit for the quarter ended December came to 141.2 billion won ($119.7 million), up 25.3 percent on year and 9.50 percent from the previous three months, the company said in its regulatory filing Wednesday.

Revenue surged 33.6 percent on year and 34.2 percent on quarter to 533.8 billion won.

Mobile game sales shot up 62.8 percent on year to 362.9 billion won, as the new mobile version of its flagship game Lineage turned out to be another smash hit.

Lineage 2M, the second mobile series to come out in two years, quickly topped the charts on Google Play and Apple Store since its release last November. As of Jan. 31, the game is estimated to have raked in sales of 274 billion won, with daily revenue averaging 4.1 billion won, according to mobile app marketing firm IGAWorks.

Shares of NCSoft have surged more than 40 percent since the Lineage 2M launch. They closed Wednesday 0.78 percent higher from the previous session at 649,000 won.

Due to a change in revenue recognition standards, Lineage 2M carried over one-fifth of its sales to the first quarter of this year, but still contributed greatly to the latest results, the company said.

The PC versions of Lineage 1 and 2 also saw sales rise 32 percent and 34 percent on year to 51.4 billion won and 27.8 billion won, respectively.

For the full year, NCSoft’s operating profit dipped 22.1 percent to 479 billion won. Sales also edged down 0.8 percent to 1.7 trillion won.

Mobile game sales rose 9 percent to 998.8 billion won, making up nearly 60 percent of total sales.

Lineage 1 sales climbed 16 percent to 174.1 billion won, and Lineage 2 up 46 percent at 93.6 billion won.

The company generated 1.32 trillion won in sales from South Korea, 92.6 billion won from North America and Europe, 56.6 billion won from Japan and 35.1 billion won from Taiwan. Royalty fees reached 197.5 billion won.

Annual operating costs rose 11 percent to 1.22 trillion won in 2019, as the company handed out special bonuses for the successful launch of Lineage 2M and bumped up marketing costs.

By Kim Hyo-jin

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