Nexon (3659): Two management indicators and the targets printed for them

１【経営方針、経営環境及び対処すべき課題等】, the item on management policy, environment and issues to be addressed in the annual securities report of NEXON Co., Ltd. for its 24th fiscal year, January 1 to December 31, 2025, filed on EDINET on March 24, 2026, runs from page 18 to page 20 of 204. It is the first item of 第２ 事業の状況 and has four numbered parts: (1) 会社の経営の基本方針, the basic management policy; (2) 目標とする経営指標, the management indicators aimed at; (3) 経営環境, the business environment; and (4) 中長期的な会社の経営戦略及び対処すべき課題, the medium- to long-term strategy and the issues to be addressed. This piece reads part (2), follows the two measures it names to the pages where the report puts figures on them, and sets the whole item beside the same item on pages 18 and 19 of 200 in the 23rd-term report filed March 27, 2025.

Part (2) is two sentences. 当社グループが重視している経営指標は、売上収益及び営業利益であります。売上収益及び営業利益を継続的に成長させることにより、企業価値の向上を実現してまいります — the management indicators the group attaches importance to are revenue and operating profit; by growing revenue and operating profit continuously, the group will realise an increase in corporate value. The two sentences are the same, character for character, as part (2) on page 18 of the 23rd-term report. They name the measures and the direction; the figures the report attaches to the same two measures are printed elsewhere, on pages 35 and 38 under the management analysis and on page 94 under officers' remuneration, and those pages are read below.

Part (1) is also two sentences. 当社グループは世界最高のゲーム会社を目指しています — the group aims to be the world's best game company — and, for new titles, to offer enjoyable, original, high-quality games unlike others, and, for existing titles, to have users keep enjoying play over a long period through attractive content updates and operation that satisfies them. Part (3), eight sentences, describes the group as a グローバルリーダー in multiplayer online games with a portfolio of titles as a firm and stable earnings base, and then the environment: the centre of entertainment moving from the real world to the virtual and from passive to participatory experience, and mobile technology allowing the group's multiplayer online games to be offered on mobile devices as well as high-performance PCs and consoles, so that 当社の潜在的市場規模は高性能PCを保有するゲームプレイヤー数億人から、モバイル端末を保有する世界数十億人規模にまで拡大いたしました — the potential market has expanded from the several hundred million players who own high-performance PCs to the several billion people worldwide who own mobile devices. Both parts read the same in the 23rd-term report.

Part (4) opens with three sentences that tie the strategy back to the two indicators: このような経営環境の中、売上収益と営業利益を持続的に成長させていくため、当社IPを軸とした未来成長戦略を策定しました — in this environment, to grow revenue and operating profit sustainably, the group has formulated a future growth strategy centred on its own IP. The strategy has two axes, 垂直方向への成長, vertical growth that makes mega-hit IP grow further, and 水平方向の成長, horizontal growth that nurtures the next generation of mega-hit IP, pursued together so that the group becomes a company with multiple mega-hit IPs. The issues to be addressed then follow under three numbered headings in the 24th-term report: ① 当社IPを垂直方向及び水平方向へ成長させ、自社IPを拡張する, growing the group's IP vertically and horizontally and extending its own IP; ② 『MapleStory: Idle RPG』におけるプログラミングの不具合、プレイヤーへの対応、及び再発防止策の策定, the programming defect in MapleStory: Idle RPG, the response to players and the measures to prevent recurrence; and ③ サステナビリティに関する取組, sustainability. The 23rd-term report had two headings, ① and ②, the second being sustainability; the Idle RPG heading is new.

① names the IP the strategy rests on. The group holds several game IPs with hundreds of millions of fans worldwide, on a scale that stands beside or exceeds global hit film and game series, and in particular 『アラド戦記』(Dungeon&Fighter)、『メイプルストーリー』(MapleStory)、『EA SPORTS FC™』の三大フランチャイズ, the three major franchises Dungeon&Fighter, MapleStory and EA SPORTS FC; by growing them, the stable earnings base is to be strengthened further, and the revenue and cash flow they generate are to be invested in creating the next mega-hit IP. イ. 大ヒットIPの活用による垂直方向の成長 defines vertical growth as making the three franchises bigger and longer-lived, and lists four concrete measures by which these IPs are to grow 雪だるま式に, like a snowball: (a) 既存IPを基にした新規タイトルの展開, new titles built on existing IP; (b) プラットフォームの拡大, expansion of platforms; (c) 新しい市場への進出, entry into new markets; and (d) ハイパー・ローカライゼーション戦略, a hyper-localisation strategy.

ロ. 次世代の大ヒットIPの育成による水平方向の成長 is one sentence. With the revenue and cash flow from the three franchises invested in creating the next mega-hit IP, 『マビノギ』(Mabinogi)や『ブルーアーカイブ』(Blue Archive)、『ARC Raiders』など、当社グループのその他のゲームフランチャイズや、現在開発中の新規IPを、三大IPに続く四つ目、五つ目の柱となるよう育成する — the group's other game franchises, such as Mabinogi, Blue Archive and ARC Raiders, and new IP now in development are to be nurtured into a fourth and fifth pillar after the three major IPs. The 23rd-term report's version of the sentence placed ARC Raiders differently: there it was the example of 現在開発中の新規IP, new IP in development, while Mabinogi and Blue Archive were the examples of other franchises. In the 24th-term report ARC Raiders has moved into the list of franchises; page 38 records its global release on October 30, 2025.

② is the heading that did not exist a year earlier. It states that during the fiscal year, in MapleStory: Idle RPG, operated by a subsidiary, 特定の有料アイテムに関し、表示されていた確率・数値と、実際にプログラム上で適用されていた確率・数値との間に差異が生じていた事実が判明いたしました — it came to light that for certain paid items there had been a discrepancy between the probabilities and figures displayed and those actually applied in the program — and that when the defect was corrected, players were not given a sufficient explanation; the matter became clear in the course of an investigation prompted by players' reports. Under イ. プレイヤーへの対応, the response to players, the report prints one sentence: for all charges from November 6, 2025, when the title's service began, to January 28, 2026, when the response was announced, players could choose either ① in-game compensation or ② a full refund.

ロ. 再発防止策 lists three measures the group says it is implementing: strengthening the structure for checking that the design, the program implementation and the displayed content of paid items and probability-based features agree; clarifying confirmation procedures and ensuring checks by more than one person at major specification changes and feature revisions; and putting in order the internal procedures for notices and explanations to players. ハ. 経営責任の明確化, clarifying management responsibility, states that those involved were disciplined and 代表取締役社長の業績連動報酬の減額を行っております, the performance-linked remuneration of the representative director and president has been reduced, with a cross-reference to (4) 役員の報酬等. That item, on page 90, prints the detail in note 4: the president, 李政憲, 業績連動賞与の50％削減を自ら申し出ており、取締役会において承認されております — himself offered a 50 percent reduction of his performance-linked bonus, which the board approved — and the bonus amounts shown in the disclosure are the amounts before the reduction. The balance-sheet trace is in note 21 その他の負債 on page 153, where a row 返金負債, refund liability, prints − for December 31, 2024 and 12,930百万円 (US$78.9 million) for December 31, 2025, with a note that the refund is being made in response to the Idle RPG matter and that the amount was estimated on the basis of refund take-up rates in past similar cases.

③ サステナビリティに関する取組 restates the basic policy of part (1), treats sustainability issues as one of the important management issues for sustained growth and medium- to long-term corporate value, and describes a サステナビリティ委員会 set up as an advisory body to the board, which monitors and manages risks and opportunities, formulates strategy and decides measures, and reports to the board regularly under its supervision. The committee's review, weighing financial effect on the group, the group's effect on environment and society and likelihood, identified three material issues: 気候変動、人的資本、知的財産権(IP), climate change, human capital and intellectual property. The text is the same as the 23rd-term report's ②, down to the cross-reference to ２ サステナビリティに関する考え方及び取組, apart from the numeral and the final verb ending.

The two indicators of part (2) get their figures on pages 35 and 38. Page 35, under (1) 経営成績等の状況の概要, prints 当連結会計年度の売上収益は475,102百万円(前期比6.5％増)、営業利益は124,012百万円(同0.1％減) — revenue of 475,102 million yen (US$2,900.5 million), up 6.5 percent on the year before, and operating profit of 124,012 million yen (US$757.1 million), down 0.1 percent — followed by profit before tax of 140,451 million yen (US$857.5 million), down 28.3 percent, and profit attributable to owners of the parent of 92,052 million yen (US$562.0 million), down 31.7 percent. Page 38, under (2) 経営者の視点による経営成績等の状況に関する分析・検討内容, repeats the same four figures for 2025年12月期. The 23rd-term report's pages 33 and 36 print, for 2024, revenue of 446,211 million yen (US$2,724.1 million), up 5.4 percent, and operating profit of 124,176 million yen (US$758.1 million), down 7.8 percent. The five-year table on page 2, １ 主要な経営指標等の推移, carries the revenue series as 274,462 / 353,714 / 423,356 / 446,211 / 475,102 for the 20th to 24th terms (US$1,675.6 million, US$2,159.4 million, US$2,584.6 million, US$2,724.1 million, US$2,900.5 million); the rows printed beneath it are 税引前当期利益, 親会社の所有者に帰属する当期利益 and 当期包括利益 before the equity, per-share and cash-flow rows, and the operating-profit figure for the year is the one printed on pages 35 and 38.

Page 38 also says where the revenue came from, title by title. The year's increase is attributed to the reactivation of the PC versions of Dungeon&Fighter and MapleStory, the contribution of 『マビノギモバイル』(MABINOGI MOBILE), ARC Raiders and MapleStory: Idle RPG, all launched during the year, and the wider service area of 『MapleStory Worlds』, so that 過去最高の通期売上収益を達成いたしました, the highest full-year revenue on record was achieved. By franchise: Dungeon&Fighter franchise revenue fell on the year as 『アラド戦記モバイル』(Dungeon&Fighter Mobile) declined while the PC version grew, with China's PC version regaining player engagement through several updates and Korea reaching record full-year revenue; MapleStory franchise revenue rose on Korea's recovery, the hyper-localisation strategy, regional expansion and new titles, with MapleStory Worlds extended in April to Asian regions other than China and Japan and MapleStory: Idle RPG, released in November, reaching the top ranks of mobile app stores in several countries; and the FC franchise was およそ横ばい, roughly flat, although there was no major professional football event in 2025. Among other titles, Mabinogi Mobile, released in Korea on March 27, and ARC Raiders, released globally on October 30 and past 1,000万本, ten million copies sold, in under two months, are both described as contributing greatly to results.

The place where the report prints a target number for the two indicators is (4) 役員の報酬等, on page 94, under ② 年次業績賞与, the annual performance bonus. The rate of achievement of performance targets is assessed on 客観性、透明性のある指標である当社グループの連結売上収益と連結営業利益, consolidated revenue and consolidated operating profit as objective and transparent indicators, each at a predetermined weight, and the bonus varies from 0 to 150 percent of its base amount according to achievement against 期初に設定する内部目標数値, internal target figures set at the start of the period, with 100 percent paid at 100 percent achievement. The sentence before the table states how the actual values are arrived at: 当該事業年度中において生じるM&Aやのれんの減損による一時的な影響を排除します, temporary effects of M&A and goodwill impairment arising during the year are excluded. The table then prints two rows under 業績評価指標 / 評価割合 / 評価係数変動幅 / 目標 / 実績 / 評価係数: 連結売上収益, 50％, 0％〜150％, 484,503百万円 (US$2,957.9 million), 475,102百万円 (US$2,900.5 million), 98.1％; and 連結営業利益, 50％, 0％〜150％, 121,700百万円 (US$743.0 million), 116,643百万円 (US$712.1 million), 95.8％. The revenue figure in the 実績 column is the figure printed on pages 35 and 38; the operating-profit figure in the 実績 column, 116,643 million yen (US$712.1 million), is a different printed figure from the 124,012 million yen (US$757.1 million) on those pages, and the sentence on exclusions is what the report prints beside the table about how the 実績 column is calculated.

The 23rd-term report's table, on page 87, prints for 2024: 連結売上収益, 50％, 0％〜150％, 473,809百万円 (US$2,892.6 million), 445,694百万円 (US$2,721.0 million), 94.1％; and 連結営業利益, 50％, 0％〜150％, 144,935百万円 (US$884.8 million), 134,469百万円 (US$820.9 million), 92.8％. There, both 実績 figures differ from the 446,211 million yen (US$2,724.1 million) and 124,176 million yen (US$758.1 million) on pages 33 and 36, and the same sentence on excluding temporary effects of M&A and goodwill impairment precedes the table. One phrase in the rule changed between the two years: the 23rd-term report says the two indicators are assessed 50％ずつのウエイトで, at a weight of 50 percent each, and the 24th-term report says 予め定められたウエイトで, at a predetermined weight, while the 評価割合 column prints 50％ for each indicator in both years. Read together, the two tables are where the report attaches a number to each of the two measures of part (2): 484,503 million yen (US$2,957.9 million) and 121,700 million yen (US$743.0 million) for 2025, and 473,809 million yen (US$2,892.6 million) and 144,935 million yen (US$884.8 million) for 2024, each described as an internal target set at the start of the period for the purpose of the annual bonus.

The half-year report for the 25th term, January 1 to June 30, 2026, filed on August 14, 2026, 40 pages, carries the two measures forward. Page 4 prints 当中間連結会計期間の売上収益は273,310百万円(前年同期比17.4％増)、営業利益は89,447百万円(同12.8％増) — interim revenue of 273,310 million yen (US$1,668.6 million), up 17.4 percent on the same period a year earlier, and operating profit of 89,447 million yen (US$546.1 million), up 12.8 percent. The same page records a change in the reportable segments: 従来「その他」に含まれておりました「欧州」については、重要性が増したことから、当中間連結会計期間より報告セグメントとして記載する方法に変更しております — Europe, previously included in その他, is reported as a segment from this interim period because its importance has grown — and prints the Europe segment at revenue of 60,535 million yen (US$369.6 million), up 2,033.3 percent on the same period a year earlier, and segment profit of 31,069 million yen (US$189.7 million) against a loss of 3,537 million yen (US$21.6 million) a year earlier. Page 3 says ARC Raiders, released the previous October, continued to contribute greatly, with about 80万本, 800 thousand copies, added in the second quarter and cumulative sales past 1,630万本, 16.3 million copies, and that Mabinogi Mobile's revenue fell against the high level of the same period a year earlier. Page 3 also states, under １ 事業等のリスク, that there were no new risks and no material change to the risks described in the annual securities report.

Set beside the 23rd-term report, the item as a whole changes in four ways, found by comparing the extracted text of the two sections character by character after removing whitespace. First, the heading ② on the Idle RPG matter, with its sub-headings イ, ロ and ハ, is inserted on page 19, and the sustainability heading moves from ② to ③. Second, ARC Raiders moves within ロ from the example of new IP in development to the list of other franchises beside Mabinogi and Blue Archive. Third, the fourth measure under イ gains a middle dot: ハイパーローカライゼーション戦略 becomes ハイパー・ローカライゼーション戦略, the form the analysis on page 35 also uses. Fourth, two sentence endings change from であります to です, at 以下のとおりです before the four measures and at 記載のとおりです at the end of the sustainability heading. Parts (1), (2) and (3), the three opening sentences of part (4), heading ① with its イ and ロ, and the sustainability text otherwise read the same in both years.

The item and the pages it points to can be read in three layers. Part (2) names two measures, 売上収益 and 営業利益, and one direction, 継続的に成長させる, continuous growth, in two sentences unchanged from the year before. Part (4) ties the IP strategy to the same two measures and, this year, adds a heading on the Idle RPG defect whose consequences are printed on page 90, as a 50 percent reduction in the president's performance-linked bonus, and on page 153, as a refund liability of 12,930 million yen (US$78.9 million). The numbers sit on pages 35 and 38, where 2025 revenue of 475,102 million yen (US$2,900.5 million) is up 6.5 percent and operating profit of 124,012 million yen (US$757.1 million) is down 0.1 percent, and on page 94, where the report prints target figures for the two measures in the bonus table, 484,503 million yen (US$2,957.9 million) and 121,700 million yen (US$743.0 million), with 評価係数 printed at 98.1 percent and 95.8 percent. The half-year report for 2026 then prints 273,310 million yen (US$1,668.6 million) and 89,447 million yen (US$546.1 million) for the first six months, up 17.4 and 12.8 percent, with Europe as a new reportable segment.