Nexon reported record quarterly revenue of ¥152.2 billion (approximately $953 million) on Wednesday, May 14, after its extraction shooter ARC Raiders sold an additional 4.6 million units in the first three months of 2026 — lifting cumulative sales past 16 million — and drove North American and European revenue up 310% year-over-year, the Tokyo-based games company said in its Q1 2026 earnings release.
The earnings came the same day developer Embark Studios announced it is slowing ARC Raiders content to two major updates per year, with the next large drop — dubbed Frozen Trail — scheduled for October 2026. Embark cited the need to deliver "more transformative" changes after the game's breakout launch on October 30, 2025 overwhelmed the studio's original monthly update cadence.
ARC Raiders Becomes Nexon's Most Successful New Launch in Company History
ARC Raiders, a third-person extraction shooter developed by Stockholm-based Embark Studios and released on October 30, 2025 at $40 per copy, sold 4.6 million additional units in Q1 2026 alone, bringing its cumulative total to more than 16 million. Nexon called it the most successful new product release in company history, noting that total player time across all platforms has exceeded 1.5 billion hours. The game took home the Best Multiplayer award at the 2026 BAFTA Games Awards, and had previously won Best Multiplayer Game at The Game Awards 2025.
PC and console revenue reached ¥117.5 billion in Q1, a 52% increase year-over-year, while mobile revenue slipped 5%. Those two lines now represent 77% and 23% of total revenue respectively — a reversal of the mobile-first weighting Nexon carried through much of the previous decade.
MapleStory Franchise Grows 42% Despite Idle RPG Refund That Cost $42 Million in Revenue
The MapleStory franchise posted 42% year-over-year revenue growth in Q1, boosted by strong performance in MapleStory Worlds, which grew 79% following Lunar New Year updates in Taiwan, and by the core Western-market MapleStory PC title, which grew 8%.
That growth came despite a costly scandal. Earlier this year, Nexon discovered that MapleStory: Idle RPG had shipped with undisclosed changes to paid item probabilities — a so-called "stealth patch" — and failed to publicly disclose the odds on a paid item called the Quick Hunt Ticket. Nexon issued full refunds for all payments made between the game's November 2025 launch and January 28, 2026, a move the company described as unprecedented in Korean gaming industry history. The refunds reduced Q1 revenue by ¥6.7 billion (approximately $42 million) and cut operating income by ¥3.5 billion.
Co-CEOs Kang Dae-hyun and Kim Jeong-uk issued formal public apologies, and MapleStory Division Head Kang Won-gi departed the company on March 24, 2026 following a period of advisory duties after being removed from operational responsibilities. CEO Lee Jung-hun halved his 2025 performance bonus as a gesture of personal accountability.
North America and Europe Now Represent Nexon's Fastest-Growing Region, Up 310% Year-Over-Year
The North American and European segment generated ¥38.4 billion in Q1 2026, up from ¥10.8 billion in Q1 2025 — a 310% increase driven almost entirely by ARC Raiders. East Asia (South Korea, China, and Japan) remains the company's largest region at 61% of total revenue, but the Western market's share of the business has expanded sharply in a single year.
Total overseas revenue rose 59% year-over-year, setting a new company record. "These results confirm our unmatched ability to build large-scale global IPs in Western markets," said Junghun Lee, President and CEO of Nexon. "We will continue to expand our global community through systematic cost management and improved profitability."
Operating Profit Climbs 40% to $364 Million; Net Income More Than Doubles on FX Gain
Operating profit reached ¥58.2 billion (approximately $364 million), up 40% year-over-year, on revenue of ¥152.2 billion. Net income of ¥57.2 billion more than doubled (+118%) compared to Q1 2025, though Nexon noted that a ¥14.5 billion foreign exchange gain — compared to a ¥4.2 billion FX loss the prior year — significantly inflated the net income figure. Stripping FX effects, operating performance was the primary driver of profitability improvement, with basic earnings per share rising to ¥72.33.
Q2 Forecast Softens as World Cup Restraint, Dungeon&Fighter Weakness, and Launch Lull Weigh on Growth
Nexon issued a cautious Q2 2026 outlook, guiding for first-half revenue of ¥259.2 billion to ¥271.9 billion. Three factors are expected to pressure the quarter: a tougher year-over-year comparison created by the launch of Mabinogi Mobile, a deliberate decision to limit monetization on FC Online during the FIFA World Cup period to protect player goodwill, and a softer period for the Dungeon&Fighter IP following a strong prior year.
The company has more than 15 new projects in development for the second half of the year. Confirmed 2026 releases include Mabinogi Mobile (Taiwan and Japan), Overwatch on PC via a publishing agreement with Blizzard Entertainment for the Korean market, and Dungeon&Fighter: Idle RPG. Embark Studios, separately, disclosed it has two new games in early-stage development, with no titles announced.
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