Publisher Krafton announces massive sales numbers for 2022
The publisher behind the likes of PUBG and The Callisto Protocol, Krafton has just announced some staggering sales figures for 2022, and get your Dr Evil gifs at the ready, because we’re talking “trillions”, here. Specifically, 1.854 trillion Korean wons, which translates to $1.47 billion US Dollars, all of which is from sales inn 2022.
Profit wise, as you’d imagine, the figures are slightly lower, with 751.6 billion KRW ($596 billion), which is a grand total of a 15.5% increase year on year, meaning there’s an operating profit margin of 41%, and this is despite sales being down by 1.7%, presumably due to the fact PUBG is now free to play, and everyone already owns it.
The January 2022 free-to-play transition of PUBG: Battlegrounds added 45 million new users throughout 2022, driving 465 billion KRW ($368.7 million USD) in PC sales, up 17% YoY. On consoles, PUBG: Battlegrounds secured 104.1 billion KRW ($82.5 million USD) in sales, up 430% YoY. Overall, PUBG: Battlegrounds accounted for 31% of overall 2022 KRAFTON sales. In addition to strong PUBG: Battlegrounds sales, Krafton’s strong Q4 2022 YoY performance can also be attributed to the release of The Callisto Protocol in December 2022.
Annual sales for PUBG: MOBILE reached 1.252 trillion KRW ($993.5 million USD), which helped defend its top spot among mobile battle royale games by attracting more paying users through new mode updates, new small maps and more collaborations. Despite a 12% YoY decrease in PUBG: MOBILE sales, Krafton has further solidified its position as a global gaming company with 94% of its total annual sales coming from outside South Korea.
There’s no specific sales numbers listed for The Callisto Protocol, though it has been widely reported that initial sales estimates were quickly slashed due to actual numbers sold upon launch, so it’s fair to say that PUBG is doing some of the heavy lifting, profits wise.
Along with these stats, Krafton has also announced an “extraction shooter” currently codenamed “Project BlackBudget”, and the next game in the Subnautica series is also Krafton published, and is in development as “Project GoldRush”. The Bird That Drinks Tears (the game based on the Korean fantasy novels) is also in development, and has just got Patrik Méthé (Far Cry series, Rainbow Six series) on board to lead the studio, and project.
Lastly of note, the publisher is looking to invest in new gameplay experiences based on technology involving “deep learning”, and 2023 will be when we see “Virtual Game Friend” revealed, which is a virtual platform with a “create to earn” ecosystem.
