Netmarble Axes 'Monster Taming' and More in Profit-Driven Overhaul

This undated photo, provided by Netmarble shows its mobile game, ‘Monster Taming.’

SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Netmarble Corp. continues its “select and focus” program, actively discontinuing unprofitable existing game services.

The South Korean game developer and publisher officially announced through its online cafe on Thursday that it will pull the plug on its mobile game ‘Monster Taming’ on Nov. 30, initiating the process of blocking payments and facilitating refunds.

‘Monster Taming,’ originally released in the early days of the smartphone gaming industry around 2013, holds significant intellectual property (IP) value and played a vital role in Netmarble’s growth, alongside ‘Everyone’s Marvel.’

Despite once achieving top revenue rankings in the app market, ‘How to Train Your Monster’ has lost its appeal over the years due to technological advancements and the emergence of competitive titles.

This move is part of Netmarble’s ongoing strategy to retire unprofitable legacy games, a pattern we’ve seen earlier this year.

In June, Netmarble announced the discontinuation of ‘Marvel Future Revolution,’ a sequel to the company’s 2015 game ‘Marvel Future Fight.’

Unfortunately, ‘Marvel Future Revolution’ failed to match its predecessor’s success, as the initial user surge quickly declined.

In the same month, Netmarble also decided to sunset ‘Stone Age World,’ a mobile massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that had been in service for three years.

Prior to that, in April, Netmarble had announced the closure of ‘Knights Chronicle’ from 2013 and ‘Koongya Catch Mind’ from 2019, with services concluding in February.

This photo provided by Netmarble Corp. shows its headquarters in southern Seoul.

The consolidation of older games is largely attributed to Netmarble’s sustained financial losses.

In the second quarter of this year, the company reported an operating loss of 37.2 billion won (US$28.2 million), marking the sixth consecutive quarter of deficits.

This deficit has grown compared to the same quarter last year and the preceding quarter.

Conversely, Netmarble’s portfolio of new games for both domestic and international markets is expanding.

In the second half of this year alone, the company has released titles like “Seven Knights Idle Adventure,” “King Arthur: Legends Rise,” “Arthdal Chronicles,” and “Solo Leveling: ARISE,” with more promising releases on the horizon.

Additionally, three games are in the pipeline for entry into the Chinese market, having received licensing approval from the authorities.

Kevin Lee (kevinlee@koreabizwire.com)