Nexon CEO blasts crunch and the ‘charade of launch timing’

It’s Friday, which suggests it’s time to play one in all my favourite weekend video games: Take a look at what a top-tier gaming govt is saying in regards to the trade. As we speak’s topic is Nexon CEO Owen Mahoney. Readers will recall that Nexon posted its second quarter earnings earlier this week, admitting that it had carried out poorly due to a nasty funding into bitcoin in addition to unrest over lockbox transparency in MapleStory Korea.

Naturally, analysts grilled the corporate about this in addition to its refusal to speak about launch dates for upcoming video games. Mahoney turned the tables on them shortly, arguing that crunching to make arbitrary dates was a self-destructive sham.

“Crunch mode is likely one of the most pernicious issues in our trade. The charade of launch timing serves little goal besides this dance with fairness analysts. […] As an alternative, the best factor to focus and push for is a recreation that blows folks’s minds. If we obtain that, the sport will final a few years, and the revenues will dwarf what we might have made by launching 1 / 4 or two earlier. […] I’m sorry no one in my trade has defined this to you earlier than. Throughout the trade, everyone knows it’s true, and but few speak about it brazenly. Everybody ought to. So slightly than providing you with a date, this staff goes to offer to our prospects and workers a dedication to make the very best recreation we are able to, as quickly as we are able to.”

As VentureBeat notes, it’s not the primary time Mahoney has delivered a truth-bomb – and Nexon’s inventory rallied in response.

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