Krafton reports record revenue of nearly $500 million for Q1, plans to accelerate AI adoption

Krafton has released its financial report for the first quarter of 2024. The South Korean company posted strong revenue and profit growth, also outlining steps to become the number one game publisher in India.

PUBG: Battlegrounds

Financial highlights

• According to its earnings results, Krafton reached ₩665.9 billion ($488 million) in Q1, up 23.6% year-over-year. These are record-high quarterly sales for the company.
• Operating profit grew 9.7% year-over-year to ₩310.5 billion ($227.5 million), and net profit increased by 30.5% to ₩348.6 billion ($255 million).
• Mobile was the number one platform by revenue, accounting for 60.4% of the total. The segment’s sales grew 15.5% to ₩402.3 billion ($295 million).
• It is followed by PC (36.6% of the total) and console (1.72%). Combined revenue of these segments increased by 38.3% year-over-year to ₩255.2 billion ($187 million).

Games, more investment, and plans for AI

• The PC and console versions of PUBG: Battlegrounds saw its MAU and revenue reached the highest figures since the free-to-play transition in 2022.
• Thanks to the stable popularity of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), Krafton aims to become the number one game publisher in India. The company plans to publish over six titles in the country in 2024, including Bullet Echo India and CookieRun.
• It will also continue to invest in the Indian games market and find talented local developers through its Krafton India Gaming Incubator and other initiatives.
• In addition, Krafton wants to strengthen its position in the global games market. In Q1 alone, it invested in C77 Entertainment and UK studio Red Rover. Overall, it plans to complete nine deals in the first half of 2024.

• In April, Krafton carried out the first beta test for Dark and Darker Mobile in South Korea. It attracted over 50k participants, and the publisher plans to launch the game later this year.

• The company also outlined the areas where it plans to use AI to “increase efficiency in development” and “discover new gameplay.” Among them are bots for QA and game design, as well as generation of dialogue, voice, and assets.
• In June, Krafton’s subsidiary ReLu Games will launch Uncover the Smoking Gun, a detective adventure game with “AI-based chat feature with NPCs using LLM.”