On a consolidated basis, sales totaled $84.3 million, while operating income hit mmoabc8.9 million and net profit $7.7 million. Operating profit showed improvements quarter-over-quarter (63 percent) and year-over-year (16 percent).

NCsoft attributed these results to the continued popularity of the Lineage series in Asia, sustained sales of Guild Wars and City of Heroes in North America and Europe, and a decrease in expenses such as advertising and other variable sales costs.

During Q1 2008 the publisher decided to take a one time write-off expense for the advanced development costs associated with its Spacetime Studios project, after determining the project did not fit into its core development plan. That decision resulted in a net profit decrease of 22 percent quarter-over-quarter and 43 percent year-over-year.

The MMO specialist also gave a breakdown of quarterly sales figures by region and title:

South Korea: $47.7 million (57% of total sales)
North America: mmoabc0.4 million (12%)
Japan: US $9.2 million (11%)
Europe: US $8.5 million (10%)
Taiwan: US $2.7 million (3%)
Royalty income: $5.7 million (7%)

Lineage II: $34.1 million (43% of game sales)
Lineage: $27.8 million (35%)
Guild Wars: $9.1 million (12%)
City of Heroes/City of Villains: $5.2 million (7%)

“As proven once again in the Q1 financial results, we strongly believe our key franchise products, such as Lineage and Guild Wars, will meet our sales target with a strong customer base and continued content updates going forward,” said NCsoft CFO Jaeho Lee.

“We plan to ensure the smooth launch of many new products in the next two to three years, which will strengthen our position as a global leader in online games,” he added.

This summer NCsoft plans to launch its third closed beta test of MMORPG Aion (pictured), before releasing the title later in the year. Casual online games such as Point Blank, Punch Monster, Dragonica and Love Beat are also scheduled for launch later in 2008.