À̹ÌÁö È®´ë [Photo by Han Joo-hyung]
South Korean game publishers are kicking out remote and flexible work hours of the pandemic heyday as their income decreases amid return to normalcy and delays in new labels.
Gaming giants Nexon and NCSoft recently ordered their employees to return to the office full-time starting June 2, effectively ending their ¡°three days in the office and two at home¡± hybrid work schedule.
Another major game developer Netmarble, where employees are also going to the office three days a week and working from home for two days, is also considering a full-time return to the office.
Flextime of pandemic period is lost along with the game heyday that ended with the return to normalcy.
Game companies big and small suffered significant deterioration in their bottom line in the first quarter in an absence of megahit new games despite the spike in labor cost. They also have been shunned on the stock market due to lack of upside news.
Kiwoom Securities revised down its target stock price for NCSoft from 650,000 won ($510.44) to 530,000 won due to dried new games, although the company reported record quarterly revenue during the first quarter.
NCSoft explained updates were needed to be made in response to growing uncertainties in the blockchain and NFT markets. Remote working also has been blamed.
Game development typically requires hundreds of developers to work together night and day but with most developers working from home, it has been hard to attain agility and efficiency in game development.
NCSoft¡¯s flagship domestic intellectual property (IP) Lineage W¡¯s NFT grafted European and North American version has been delayed.
Netmarble is yet to release ¡°Seven Knights Revolution¡± and ¡°Cross Worlds¡± after tantalizing since late last year. The company thinks the release could happen in the second half.
The releases of Pearly Abyss¡¯s ¡°Black Desert¡± and ¡°Goblin¡± are also being delayed.
Industry insiders expect a series of new releases would hit the market in the second half, but hyped marketing spending could weigh over earnings.
Shares of Nexon were down 0.66 percent at 30,015 won while NCSoft were down 0.34 percent at 434,000 won in morning trade on Thursday.
By Jin Young-tae, Hwang Soon-min and Susan Lee
[¨Ï Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]