Netmarble’s sales top 1 trillion won thanks to ‘Lineage 2’

Netmarble Games, Korea’s No. 1 mobile game developer and publisher, said Friday its sales for the first half of this year topped 1 trillion won ($980 million) on the back of the global popularity of its latest game “Lineage 2 Revolution.”

Sales for the January-June period came to 1.22 trillion won, up from 1.05 trillion won a year earlier, the company said

The on-year sales growth came heavily from overseas, the company said.

Revenue from overseas markets accounted for 52 percent of its total sales during the second quarter of this year, it said.

The second-quarter earnings were the first quarterly earnings announced since the company successfully debuted on Seoul’s bourse in May.

The mobile role-playing game - which has gained huge popularity after its release in 11 Asian countries earlier this month - will be available to Japanese users Aug. 23. The game will further be launched in the United States during the fourth quarter and in China before the end of the year, the company said.

Shares of Netmarble closed at 127,500, down 2.3 percent, on the main bourse Friday. The second-quarter report was announced after the market closed. YONHAP