Posted by If you’re a fan of Cabal Online, you may have heard about the struggles of its developer, ESTGames, in recent years. ESTGames is a subsidiary of ESTSoft, and according to financial reports, the company’s sales have decreased significantly in the past few years. This is partly due to the fact that ESTGames has not released any new games for a while.
According to DealSite.co.kr, the sales situation is being bad in comparison with last few years, and also due to lack of new releases for last few years. The good news is that ESTGames is working on a new mobile game based on the Cabal IP called Cabal Red, which could help boost sales. Let’s take a closer look at the situation.
ESTSoft’s Deteriorating Performance
ESTSoft achieved sales of 18.9 billion won in the Internet game business on a consolidated basis in 2022, according to a financial report published on April 28, 2023. This sales figure is down more than 20% compared to 24 billion won (KRW) in 2020 and 24.1 billion won in 2021. The share of games in ESTSoft’s total sales also fell to 21.3%, similar to 21.5% in 2018. This reflects the deteriorating performance of ESTGames, which achieved sales of 12 billion won (KRW) and net profit of 300 million won (KRW) in 2022. Compared to sales of 15.7 billion won (KRW) and net profit of 4.9 billion won in 2021, sales decreased by 23.6% and net profit by 93.8%, respectively.
The Impact of Existing Games
ESTGames operates several games based on the Cabal IP, including Cabal Online, Cabal 2, Cabal Mobile, Cat Cafe, and Cat Cafe 2 Forest. Cabal Online is a PC online game that was released in October 2005, and Cabal 2 was released in November 2012. Both games have been around for a while, and while they have a loyal player base, it’s difficult for them to generate a lot of sales.
Beside that, Cabal Mobile, which was released in 2019, gained popularity in Southeast Asia and other regions, but its sales are now stabilizing downward.
Cabal Red: A New Hope?
In 2021, ESTGames announced that it was developing a new mobile game called Cabal Red, based on the Cabal IP. However, there hasn’t been much news about the game since a cinematic trailer was released. Fans of the Cabal series are eagerly waiting for more information about Cabal Red, which could be the boost that ESTGames needs to improve its sales.
Cat Cafe 2 Forest: A New Game
In March 2023, ESTGames released a new game called Cat Cafe 2 Forest. However, this is an SNG (social network game), and it’s not easy to induce a rapid increase in sales in this genre. According to the mobile index, an app statistics analysis platform, Cat Cafe 2 Forest is ranked outside the 100th place in the sales rankings of the two major app markets as of April 27, 2023.
The Future of ESTGames
It’s clear that ESTGames needs to release new games to improve its sales. Cabal Red could be the game that fans of the series have been waiting for, and it’s exciting to think about the possibilities for the game. If ESTGames can deliver a high-quality mobile game that captures the essence of the Cabal series, it could help the company turn things around.
In the meantime, fans of the Cabal series can continue to enjoy Cabal Online, Cabal 2, Cabal Mobile, and the other games based on the Cabal IP. While these games may not be generating as much revenue as they used to, they still have a loyal player base that enjoys playing them.\
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Mr. Wormy 