Kakao Games’ operating profit jumps 58.8% in 2022

Kakao Games headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province [Courtesy of Kakao Games]

Kakao Games Corp., the gaming unit of South Korea’s tech giant Kakao Corp., said Wednesday its operating profit jumped 58.8 percent to 177.7 billion won ($141 million) last year but it logged a net loss of 164.2 billion won.

Sales grew 13.4 percent to a record 1.14 trillion won, but the company swung to the red due to increased spending associated with its investment in game developer Lionheart Studio Corp. Kakao Games is the largest shareholder with a 55 percent stake.

Kakao Games’ operating profit for the fourth quarter was 10.8 billion won, down 76.2 percent from a year earlier. Sales and net loss for the same quarter were 235.7 billion won and 267.7 billion won, respectively.

Mobile games accounted for the largest portion of total sales at 738.9 billion won, followed by other service sales at 355.1 billion won and PC game sales at 53.7 billion won.

Operating expenses recorded 970 billion won, up 7.7 percent from the previous year.