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Something is going on at Nexon HQ from news
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Tencent for the past quarter has been seeking to diversify its assets globally and able to sign some big deals with Nintendo, NBA, and other companies around the world. But also as a result, there has been a decline in profit through these deals.
Despite that, I think Tencent will still go after and be the major competitor for Nexon but will maintain that they will not be willing to risk a high bid.
In other economic news, South Korea's economy contracted the first quarter, unexpectedly as projections had originally showed growth. Tech companies took the brunt of the hit led by LG which fell almost 4.5% as they plan to suspend production of cell phones in S Korea.
Other factors that led to the decline in the economy included the impact of the trade war between China and the US and other neighbors. Also, experts say that the government's stimulus plans in the 4th quarter were not strong enough to boost growth. Capital investment fell nearly 11%, and exports fell by 2.6%.
These drops eliminated the strengths and boosts from domestic consumption which saw increases in private consumption as Koreans bought more durable goods.
The 0.3& decline to GDP is worst since the Great Recession in 2008. Compared to the same quarter last year, it is 2% off, and very bad versus the last 2 quarters. The Korean economy grew by 2.8% in the summer and 3.1% in the autumn last year.
So what does this mean? despite domestic confidence and spending, the Korean economy shrank as companies appear to scramble how to deal with declining revenue overseas as the trade disputes with the US is impacting the entire region. If the S Korean government is unable to provide sufficient stimulus, contraction could further increase this year. Some economic analysts have already slashed growth expectations for the year due to this result. Kim may have a desire to try to try to complete the sale of Nexon more quickly before buyers have a chance to lose appetite. Foreign buyers may get more leverage to get a more favorable price to bid on.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/25/comcast-is-pondering-a-sale-of-its-minority-stake-in-hulu-to-disney.html
Disney looks like a popular choice the last few years to make asset sales to.
Popular, but never too entirely wise.
Buy too many companies in one year, and the monopoly police will have their eyes glued on you.
If Comcast loses Hulu, and Disney bounces out of Netflix partnerships, both streaming flagships will either burn or slowly drown.
It's not a very friendly look to shake hands for a few years, then suddenly go, "We're launching an app, we don't need you any more."
In all seriousness, Disney has no idea what they're getting into with Nexon.
The company is said to be in debt (as all companies are) and games like Mabinogi need serious cash money to revamp.
Disney has done enough buying for one year, it'd be stupid to buy Nexon without knowing how to turn a profit.
(*cough* EA and Star Wars Battlefront *cough*)
In all likelihood, Disney buys Nexon, Disney shuts down Mabinogi and other low earning games the moment Peria Chronicles reaches completion.
You tear down all of Nexon's currently established and poorly aged games after buying out, and the whole place goes down with a giant boom like Jenga blocks.
I say pray that Tencent wins, so they can incorporate their comics/videogames/ect and bolster the global media economy. (Even just a smidge.)
Adding more trade war mechanics to the trade war won't solve any political arguments, it only makes the civilians feel blockaded on all mediums. (But then again, China communism doesn't care. It's probably just normal to them at this point.)
If Tencent wins Nexon, Chinese and Korean artists will have more visibility on more than just Mabinogi.
They could probably have Nexon JP and Tencent team up with some company like Line Webtoon to deliver some of the webtoons Nexon KR has been spotlighting.
If we understand what the other communities like about Nexon and Mabinogi, then we're that much closer to understanding one another.
(Unless we remain at our current square of nothing happening between Nexon branches and global communities.)
Kim definitely shouldn't rush this sale.
You need to find some sort of global balance in this, and I don't think an instant sellout to favoritism is ever a good idea.
As the KR economy gets worse, the more pity party companies with visible political leaning will add more value to it.
Politics is the last thing a video game company needs to be involved with in the current year.
Also by his country's standards, the more the company value will decline if he doesn't do something.
The competition all have deep pockets, it's not an auction that should be rushed. Go for too long, and the outbids will slow down.
Yet the longer the bidding period and higher strain on the economy, the more likely the company value will explode with more high valued bidders entering the ring.
I agree that it's a tough choice for both him, and his country.
We as consumers come here for videogames, not the complications of politics and trade wars.
Disney can be good, but they don't always have control of their employees.
(Look no further than the complaints about the current starlet as Captain Marvel.)
Amazon is mysterious, but most well known for hosting a trade platform. They will always be making back any investment as a profit.
It all depends on which company outbids in the end, but I sincerely hope that Mabinogi remains standing after the crossfire.
It's indeed a unique game that deserves to be polished for generations to come.
Regretfully, everything depends on who ends up with Nexon in the end, and how they decide to handle it.
As for Nexon, not sure if they're in a ton of debt. They had losses in the previous quarter's report, haven't seen what their earnings are this quarter. Generally, they have positive earnings in a good number of their markets.
The worry with Tencent as is the worry with all big corp acquisitions is stability issue and autonomy to continue their current system of work. There is also the chance they might try to inject new blood and reform that would shake things up. Another fear, especially in the western world is Tencent's relationship with the Chinese government and with the uncertain controls of Chinese media what info may be compromised. Of course, that's the fears based off western ideology and propaganda. All countries have their way of restricting media and using it for their own political advantages.
Based on yesterday's and even other upcoming quarterly reports the next week, the impact on the sale is likely minimal, but it allows strategies to change.
On the other hand, China may take Korea's style of silent off hand management approach.
It seems to be the most common tactic to just not say anything that doesn't have to be said or confirmed to any of the communities that don't belong to them or their country.
The communities could still not be able to mingle, and the developers would still remain as silent as they are now.
I'm pretty sure the high valued businessmen of Tencent wouldn't actually want to bring in any political propaganda agendas.
(Disney's employees seem to be rather vocal though.)
Stuff like that tends to be seen as either shameful or unwanted when trying to sell a product (Nexon games) to "Rich Americans" or anyone else overseas.
They know politics don't sell, and they can see that comics are crying about being turned into the newspaper's unwanted mutant love child of a political cartoon. It's called observing a stock market for a reason.
They know how business works, and how to listen. It's probably even why China can turn a profit off literal dollar value products.
Most of the restricted content in Chinese video games tend to be things Japan is more comfortable looking at.
(The age old proper visible bare skin argument.)
When making something international, I would presume Tencent would let other branches censor or remove things as they see fit.
(It's not their servers if there's no global server merge.)
Since DevCat developed Mabinogi, Tencent might take a look at whatever is left to see what kind of art style and direction they should go into next. And then that's it.
These are Chinese developers, and we honestly have no idea what they might do, if anything but try and turn a profit.
As for the other side of the planet:
Where would it stream off to?
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/08/disney-earnings-q2-2019.html
A lot of spending and increased costs and waiting for that money to come back.
The Loot Box Bill has been introduced...
Articles:
One
Two
Hide your children from gachapons, it's an anti gambling bill! (Ten years in the making.)
Nexon better behave if this gets passed!
https://www.ign.com/videos/2019/05/08/us-legislation-could-limit-loot-box-sales-to-children-ign-now
Quarterly Earnings are coming.
Nexon bid is coming.
where would we be able to see it?
So here's where they left off.