Netmarble Outlines 13-Game Plan as Q3 Profit Drops 44.6%

Netmarble will launch at least 13 new games in 2027 as it works to recover from a weak third quarter. The publisher reported Q3 2026 revenue of KRW 634.7 billion, down 8.8 percent from a year earlier, with operating profit down 44.6 percent to KRW 50.4 billion. CEO Kim Byung-gyu laid out the plan during the November 5 earnings conference call.

Quick Facts

• Q3 2026 revenue: KRW 634.7 billion, down 8.8 percent year over year
• Q3 2026 operating profit: KRW 50.4 billion, down 44.6 percent year over year
• Q3 2026 net profit: KRW 22.2 billion
• Planned launches: at least 13 new titles in 2027, with ten self-published and three handled by overseas subsidiaries
• Zero new releases are scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026

Q3 results reflect delayed launches

Netmarble attributed the quarterly decline mainly to launch delays, with no new titles arriving to offset softer sales from existing games. Revenue also fell 15.3 percent from the previous quarter, while operating profit dropped 37.1 percent quarter over quarter, according to the Seoul Economic Daily report on the results. Net profit of KRW 22.2 billion reflected the base effect of a one-time gain from the G-Tower disposal recorded in the prior quarter.

The quarter's top revenue generators were SOL: enchant, MARVEL Contest of Champions, and Lotsa Slots, each accounting for about 8 percent of sales, per InvenGlobal's breakdown of the earnings. For the remaining fourth quarter, the company said it will focus on updates to major live titles and tight cost control while preparing the 2027 lineup.

The 13 game lineup mixes known titles and new reveals

Six of the planned launches were already announced. The confirmed names are Shangri-La Frontier: Seven Splintering, Solo Leveling: Karma, WB All-Star Raising (Project Aegis), Guardian Tales: Dig Dot (Project Octopus), Pearl in Blue, and Evilbane.

Seven more projects were newly unveiled on the call: Babel Protocol, Dark Priest, Project C, Project D, Project M, Project X, and one additional new title. Separately, Netmarble plans to expand two existing hits into mainland China, with local launches set for Solo Leveling: Arise and The King of Fighters Allstar.

Ten titles will be self-published

Addressing questions about whether 13 launches in one year is realistic, Kim said ten of the titles will be published directly by Netmarble while the remaining three will go through overseas subsidiaries, including the China releases. He added that the company has spent recent years building AI-native workflows across development, launch operations, and live service management, and that this structure gives Netmarble the capacity to ship more than ten games in a year on its own.

What to watch next

The key test is execution. With nothing new scheduled for Q4, near-term performance rests on updates to current hits and cost discipline. Investors will watch for firm release dates, platform confirmations, and pre-registration numbers as the 2027 slate firms up, plus any news on the China launches of Arise and KOF Allstar. If the pipeline holds, 2027 would rank among the busiest release years in the publisher's history.

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