By Kwanwoo Jun

NCsoft Corp.'s shares extended losses sharply as its new game, "Blade & Soul 2," performed poorly upon its release in South Korea on Thursday.

Shares of the South Korean online game developer fell by as much as 8.3% to KRW650,000 ($555) on Friday after plunging 15% on Thursday. The stock last traded 6.9% lower at KRW660,000, paring some of its earlier losses but still underperforming the benchmark Kospi's 0.1% gain.

Samsung Securities said markets had expected the multiplayer online role-playing game to produce up to KRW6 billion a day in revenue, but the launch fell behind street views on weak gamer traffic. The brokerage slashed its daily-revenue forecast for the game to KRW2.7 billion, which it said dims NCsoft's earnings outlook.

Samsung Securities cut its 2022 operating-profit forecast for NCsoft by 23% to KRW1 trillion, downgrading the stock to hold from buy and cut its target price by 21% to KRW720,000.

Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-27-21 0250ET