Nike Shifts China Online Sales Strategy to Boost Brand and Fight Local Rivals 
Samsung Eyes Up to $1.14 Billion Investment in AI Startup Mistral 
Nasdaq Drops as AI Earnings, Oil Surge and Middle East Tensions Weigh on Wall Street 
Trump Set to Unveil New Tariffs on Dozens of Countries as Global 10% Duty Nears Expiration 
Alaska Air Q3 Outlook Misses Estimates as Higher Fuel Costs Weigh on Profit Forecast 
US-Iran Conflict Escalates as Gulf Attacks Threaten Global Oil Supply 
India FMCG Q1 Earnings Preview: Higher Input Costs Likely to Weigh on Profit Margins 
US Dollar Holds Near One-Week High as Middle East Tensions and Oil Prices Drive Market Sentiment 
Australia Jobs Surge in June Strengthens Case for More RBA Rate Hikes 
Elon Musk Fuels SpaceX-Tesla Merger Speculation After Earnings Call 
Alphabet Q2 Earnings Beat Estimates as AI Spending, Google Cloud Growth Fuel Outlook 
US Stock Exchanges Face Earnings Test as Trading Boom Meets Crypto Competition 
ASEAN Ministers Warn Middle East Conflict Threatens Regional Stability and Energy Security 
Wistron Opens $700M Texas AI Factory to Build Nvidia Superchips in U.S. 
Chalco Shares Jump as Chinalco Plans Up to $300 Million Stake Increase 
Gold Climbs Above $4,000 as Middle East Tensions and Fed Outlook Drive Safe-Haven Demand 
NCSoft recently released its new game called “Blade & Soul 2,” a sequel to the game of the same title. The company executives have high hopes in its launch and made gamers excited through teasers and promises of a new gaming experience.
However, it seems that NCSoft was not able to live up to what it promised as the game encountered issues after it was released. The Korea Herald reported that just a day after “Blade & Soul 2” was launched, the Korea-based game publisher and developer was already apologizing for “causing concern.”
Apparently, fans were disappointed for some reason, and this has impacted the company’s stock price. On the stock market, NCSoft instantly lost ₩3.9 trillion or about $3.36 billion from its valuation due to disappointments and other factors, possibly related to the game release.
It was reported that the firm’s stock price dropped to a 52-week low of ₩650,000 in mid-trading last Friday and closed at ₩659,000, scrapping ₩178,000 per share from Aug. 25’s close of ₩837,000, a day prior to the release of “Blade & Soul 2.” As a result, NCSoft’s market cap plummeted from ₩18.3 trillion on that day to ₩14.4 trillion on Friday.
Analysts said that gamers might have been disappointed because there was nothing new in the game sequel despite the company’s promise of a “completely new experience.” They said that it presented the same pay-to-win system of “Lineage,” another game series from NCSoft. With that, some players shared that they felt deceived by the company’s chief executive officer, Kim Taek Jin, as they did not deliver what he himself was boasting to the media earlier this year.
“Users expected a less aggressive pay-to-win system in Blade & Soul 2, but there wasn’t much difference with that of Lineage Series. Also, both games share the same business model, which is random loot boxes,” Ahn Jae Min, NH Investment & Securities analyst, said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Market Watch reported that Samsung Securities stated that markets expected NCSoft to make up to ₩6 billion per day in profits, but apparently, the launch did not go well and did poorly in the market. The financial services company cut the gaming company’s daily revenue forecast to just ₩2.7 billion, which effectively dims its earnings outlook.
