Mobile role-playing game Lineage 2: Revolution launched last month by Netmarble Games Corp. wowed the market with its better-than-expected first-month revenue of 206.5 billion won ($176.6 million).

According to Netmarble Games on Wednesday, the game has generated 206.5 billion won in its first-month sales, higher than the market expectation of 100 billion won.

The game also broke the record of Pokemon GO’s global sales which topped $ 100 million in 20 days after its launch. According to the game developer, Lineage 2: Revolution has raked in 100 billion won and about 120 billion won, which is $102.9 million based on Wednesday’s exchange rate, in sales in 14 days and 18 days after the launch, respectively.

What’s more encouraging is that Pokemon GO’s record was from sales in the global market, while Lineage 2: Revolution has been distributed only in Korea.

The company also said the game’s revenue on the first day of its launch was 7.9 billion won with the largest daily sales record of 11.6 billion won. The cumulative number of subscribers of the game reached 5 million, daily log-ins 2.15 million players, and a record high of simultaneous log-ins 740,000 players, according to the company.

The success of the much-hyped Korean game is attributed to high demand from gamers in their 30s and 40s who account for more than 60 percent of the total players. They were used to enjoy Lineage 2, which was first launched by Korean online game giant NCsoft Corp. in 2003. Lineage 2: Revolution is a mobile role-playing game developed based on intellectual property of Lineage series held by NCsoft.

Netmarble’s Board Chairman Bang Jun-hyuk said the Korean game developer will strive to set positive recognition on games as a new future growth engine in Korea. He also expected the launch of a series of roll-playing games by Korean game companies would dominate the global game market in 2017.

The company has begun the process to go public on the country’s main stock bourse Kospi at the first half of this year.

By Shin Hyun-kyu

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]