NCSOFT Corp., a major South Korean online and mobile game developer, said Tuesday its net profit decreased 32.5 percent in 2021 due to increased costs.

Net profit stood at 395.7 billion won ($329.8 million) last year, compared with 586.6 billion won a year earlier, NCSOFT said in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit came to 375.2 billion won, down 55 percent on-year from 824.8 billion. Annual sales fell 4.4 percent over the same period to 2.3 trillion won.

Its increased spending on marketing and personnel expenses dragged down the bottom line for the cited period, according to NCSOFT.

NCSOFT said it spent 282.6 billion won for marketing and 849.5 billion won for personal expenses last year.

The company's mobile game sales came to 1.61 trillion won last year. Sales from Lineage 2M reached 652.6 billion won in 2021, taking up a large portion of its total mobile game sales.

By region, NCSOFT's sales amounted to 1.57 trillion won in South Korea in 2021 and 447 billion won in Asia. Sales in North America and Europe stood at a total of 114.3 billion won.

Shares in NCSOFT inched up 0.59 percent to 513,000 won on Tuesday, outperforming the broader Kospi's 1.03 percent loss. The company reported its 2021 earnings after the session's close. (Yonhap)