Gaming

Flexion Q4 Report – 31 December 2021

Published

3 years ago

March 11, 2022

George Miller

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Flexion produces record results: 52% growth in revenue, 63% growth in gross profit and 163% growth in EBITDA

October 2021 to December 2021 performance

Total revenue increased by 52% to GBP 10.5m (GBP 6.9m)*
Gross profit increased by 63% to GBP 1.5m (GBP 0.9m)
Adjusted EBITDA^‡ increased by 163% to GBP 0.33m (GBP 0.13m)
Operating profit increased to GBP 0.63m (GBP 0.06m)
Earnings per share amounted to GBP 1.28 pence (GBP 0.13 pence)
Cash amounted to GBP 14.5m (GBP 12.4m)

April 2021 to December 2021 performance

Total revenue increased by 46% to GBP 26.1m (GBP 17.9m)*
Gross profit increased by 43% to GBP 3.4m (GBP 2.4m)
Adjusted EBITDA^‡ increased by 68% to GBP 0.43m (GBP 0.25m)
Operating result increased by 734% to GBP 0.56m (GBP 0.07m)

Important events during the quarter

Launch of Evony: The King’s Return from Top Games Inc.
Launch of The Ants: Underground Kingdom from StarUnion
Launch of Puzzles & Survival from 37Games
Signing of Mahjong Treasure Quest from Vizor

Important events after the quarter

Strategic investment in mobile game influencer, Liteup Media UG
Alignment of the financial year with the calendar year by closing the current financial year after 9 months in December 2021

* Comparable number for the same quarter of the previous financial year in brackets
‡ The Company defines adjusted EBITDA as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, finance costs, impairment losses and other income. Adjusted EBITDA (adjusting operating profit for several non-cash items) is used by the Company for internal performance analysis to assess the execution of our strategies. Management believe that this adjusted measure is a more appropriate metric to understand the underlying performance of the Company

Notes from the CEO

European Gaming Congress 2024 (Warsaw, Poland)

What a great quarter we had – our best so far! We entered the 4^th quarter with three new top titles leading up to the important Christmas period and I am really pleased that we managed to launch all of them and benefit from store promotions during the festive season.

Evony: The King’s Return, The Ants: Underground Kingdom and Puzzles and Survival are some of the biggest titles in the market and generated more than USD 40m in Google Play during December. These are now part of our portfolio and contributed to our strong performance in Q4. We experienced 52% growth in quarterly revenue compared with the same period last year and an increase of 46% for the whole year, which was in line with our guidance. The strong performance can also be seen in gross profit and EBITDA, up 63% and 163% respectively.

In 2021, we reached critical mass on the platform, and that’s why we now see a positive effect on our EBITDA for each new game we launch. I am also very happy that we generated GBP 0.6m in net profit for the period partly thanks to the recovery of GBP 0.4m from the impairment write-down we made in March 2020. These titles performed better than expected and are now generating positive contribution.

We added one more leading developer during the quarter, Vizor Games, and we are preparing to launch their title Mahjong Treasure Quest. On the back of our current strong performance and growing portfolio, we are actively phasing out low performing titles. This will help us improve the overall portfolio’s performance and increase the average revenue per game. Our top-tier monthly average has improved from USD 560K in Q3 to USD 730K. This can be seen in our KPI section on page 12.

We have now started to invest in new strategic initiatives within paid user-acquisition, with focus on influencer marketing and performance marketing to support our core business and to expand our footprint into the game services market as previously announced. The plan involves acquisition of talent through investments and acquisitions, but we are also strengthening our development and product teams to support these new initiatives. Our first step into influencer marketing was the investment made in January 2022 in Liteup Media. Liteup Media is a promising German start-up that has set out to disrupt influencer marketing and make it more mainstream and accessible to mobile game advertisers. This investment is attractive to us as we get a foot in the door in influencer marketing, while we have the option to acquire the company.

Looking at the wider market, we can see some clear market trends in favour of new services such as influencer marketing. This is partly due to privacy changes such as deprecation of IDFA by Apple, which makes it more difficult to target and track users. Google have also announced that it will make similar changes adding to the problems for traditional performance marketing. In parallel, we are seeing new demand for influencer marketing from blockchain-based games and NFTs. New marketplaces outside the traditional app stores are evolving for these games, adding to more market fragmentation. This in turn will drive new trends in user acquisition which we want to capitalise on. Other interesting recent moves that will expand our market is Microsoft’s support for Android on Windows 11, through their Amazon Appstore partnership. This project is now publicly launched by Microsoft, and Flexion is already supporting it. In addition, Netflix has entered the overall games market principally to support their core business and recently announced it stepped up its push into gaming by acquiring Next Games, a NASDAQ First North listed game developer.

We are now entering a new financial year and the traditionally weaker Q1 period. Our performance has so far been in line with expectations, we are focusing on growing revenue and audiences for our new top titles. On the back of our strong momentum coming into the new year, we expect our annual revenue to grow with 40-60% and our staff cost by 8-12% during 2022. This growth is driven by our core strategy, while new initiatives are ramping up during 2022. Overall, it should set us up for another strong and exciting year.

I would also like to comment on Flexion’s exposure to the terrible events happening in Ukraine and our thoughts are with all those affected. As a company with business in global markets, we have to date not seen any political events where mobile games have been sanctioned and we do not foresee that happening here either. We are very fortunate that our staff have not been exposed to the region, none of our developer contracts are with Russian companies and our settlement structure is relatively well protected against payment freezes or delays. The risks we see lie within the highly volatile Russian Ruble and the ability of our channel partners to transfer funds out of Russia. So far, the effects on Flexion have been limited and in February less than 10% of our global revenue was generated in the Russian market. The situation is very fluid, and we are monitoring it closely.

Finally, I would like to thank all Flexion staff for a fantastic year and welcome our new colleagues at Liteup Media to the Flexion Group.

Jens Lauritzson – CEO

Gaming

Getting ready for Xmas: SplitMetrics partnership with Wargaming helps World of Warships app sail to new heights with 15% uplift in organic conversions

Published

2 weeks ago

November 7, 2024

George Miller

getting-ready-for-xmas:-splitmetrics-partnership-with-wargaming-helps-world-of-warships-app-sail-to-new-heights-with-15%-uplift-in-organic-conversions

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Wargaming, a leading game developer, teamed up with SplitMetrics, an app growth solutions company, to boost conversion rates with seasonal Christmas-themed screenshots for the launch of its game World of Warships: Legends.

Coinciding with the game’s soft launch in Brazil, the Philippines, Canada, and France ahead of the Christmas holidays, Wargaming wanted to capitalise on the seasonality effect to influence its app engagement without advertising.

By working with SplitMetrics Agency, a leading mobile growth agency, Wargaming increased conversions by an average of 15% on iOS across App Store storefronts in Canada, the Philippines and France. Canada experienced the highest conversion rate increase with 31.45%, followed by the Philippines (9.61%) and France (3.44%). On Android, the Brazilian Google Play storefront experienced the highest conversion rate increase with 6.68%.

SplitMetrics Agency focused on A/B testing as its core strategy. The agency optimised visual assets, analysed performance and tested various creative hypotheses. Using SplitMetrics Optimize, the agency’s experts ran experiments to identify the best-performing illustrations for both the App Store and Google Play product pages.

A key hypothesis tested during this project was whether tailoring visuals to each region during Christmas would have an impact. For France and Canada, the images were adjusted to include a winter theme featuring snow, fireworks and a Christmas tree. For the Philippines, the agency used white ribbons, a local Christmas tradition, along with fireworks and ornaments displaying the country’s flag. And for Brazil, fireworks and ornaments decorated with the Brazilian flag.

During this testing period, there were no in-app events or paid user acquisition campaigns, allowing the performance changes to be directly attributed to the updated screenshots.

Thomas Kriebernegg, General Manager, SplitMetrics Agency, said: “Christmas is one of the main calendar events that app marketers need to prepare for, especially in the gaming category.

“The World of Warships: Legends case study is a great example of how seasonality can significantly impact your app’s performance and give you a boost in users. And this can be achieved without an advertising budget. It can all be done organically when you have the right calendar event, great graphics and A/B testing.

“As in the case of the Wargaming game, a comprehensive analysis and testing strategy increased its conversion rate by an average 15% across three markets.

“It is essential that app marketers forward-plan for any relevant calendar events. It’s also important to note that Christmas may not be relevant for every app but if you’re unsure you can always try A/B testing to see what works. And keep optimising.”

The post Getting ready for Xmas: SplitMetrics partnership with Wargaming helps World of Warships app sail to new heights with 15% uplift in organic conversions appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Gaming

Nolimit City revisits the brutal factory life in Outsourced: Slash Game

Published

3 weeks ago

November 5, 2024

George Miller

nolimit-city-revisits-the-brutal-factory-life-in-outsourced:-slash-game

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Nolimit City takes you back to the grind with its latest release, Outsourced: Slash Game. For those who thought their consumerist cravings were a safe indulgence, think again. Following in the footsteps of Outsourced, this new addition pulls back the curtain on the sweat and sacrifice lurking behind those everyday luxuries—this time with a dash of danger. Outsourced: Slash Game is the studio’s second venture into crash-style gameplay, the first being xCrash™ in Skate or Die – but this time it’s a standalone crash game!

In Slash Game, players have to make some cutthroat decisions as a laser traces the outline of their hand, increasing the multiplier with every pass. Players hit “stop” to cash out, locking in the multiplier when they feel the timing is right. After which, they will be shown the potential winnings if they wouldn’t have stopped. But here’s the catch: if players hesitate a second too long and the laser slips, all the winnings are lost. A live scoreboard displays the Top Win, Top Miss and Last Round, so that players can keep track of their previous rounds.

Outsourced: Slash Game is not a familiar Nolimit City slot to some players but could cause some excitement with an increasing multiplier and a maximum payout of 1,500x the base bet. Outsourced: Slash Game, unlike Nolimit City’s high-volatility slots, is rated as ‘Medium Volatility’ but don’t let that fool you as it still includes the risk of losing your hand.

Per Lindheimer, Head of Product at Nolimit City, said: “Get back to work, will you? We’re bringing players back to the unrelenting factory floor of Outsourced with an all-new twist. Slash Game is a standalone take on our crash-style games, and it’s packed with plenty of heart-stopping moments (and maybe a few hand-stopping ones, too). We’re thrilled with how it turned out and we hope that our fans will be too!“

‘Outsourced: Slash Game’ will be available to all Nolimit City partners on November 5th, 2024.

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Gaming

The mobile gaming market is growing and attracting new companies. GAMIVO is the latest example

Published

4 weeks ago

October 30, 2024

George Miller

the-mobile-gaming-market-is-growing-and-attracting-new-companies.-gamivo-is-the-latest-example

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Usually, consoles and PCs come to mind when discussing the gaming industry. The mobile sector is often treated as a child of a lesser god, even though it generates almost as much revenue as console and PC combined. Some companies can see this potential. For instance, the e-commerce platform GAMIVO has recently entered the mobile market, allowing players to buy in-game items cheaper.

Back on course

The entire video game industry has evolved incredibly, but the most spectacular has been the growth of the mobile sector. It expanded from 36.9 million dollars in 2016 to 93.2 billion in 2021. Unfortunately, the gaming market suffered from a decline that stemmed from the overoptimism of the pandemic era. As a result, the mobile gaming industry revenues dropped to 92.2 billion in 2022 and to 90.5 billion in 2023. Recent information has indicated this was a necessary correction rather than a long-term trend.

The latest Newzoo report, issued in August 2024, shows that the industry is on the right track again. According to analysts, the mobile sector will generate revenues of $92.6 billion, representing +3.0% growth year-on-year. It’s nearly half of the entire gaming industry.

Billions of players

Revenues are crucial, but they only show part of the story. To fully understand the size and potential of mobile gaming, it’s necessary to consider the number of players, which constantly grew even when revenues dropped. Newzoo estimates that it will reach 2.8 billion in 2024. It means that almost twice as many people play on mobile devices than on PCs and consoles combined. Currently, every third person on Earth plays on mobile devices, and there’s still space for further growth.

“There are emerging markets where smartphones and mobile networks can expand, providing new potential players. Furthermore, this type of entertainment has a low entry barrier because most popular games are free and don’t require high-end devices,” explains Mateusz Śmieżewski, the CEO at GAMIVO.

One hobby, different habits

GAMIVO is an example of a company that has recently joined the party to get a piece of the mobile pie. “We examined the mobile market for a very long time, trying to find a suitable place for us. It’s essential to understand that mobile gaming and mobile gamers differ from their PC or console counterparts. You can’t do the same things you do with PC and consoles and hope to replicate your success,” said Mateusz Śmieżewski.

Studies confirm this observation. Average PC and console players spend about 2.1 hours a day in virtual worlds. It’s half an hour more than mobile gamers. However, things get interesting when we take a look at playtime per week, which is the same for mobile and console (5.4 hours) and slightly longer for PC (5.7 hours). Moreover, typical PC and console owners play 2.6 and 2.7 days a week, respectively, while mobile players play 3.4 days per week.

Those statistics prove that PC and console players are more dedicated, spending more time in games’ worlds once they enter them. However, mobile gamers prefer shorter but more frequent sessions. They play while commuting or have a short amount of free time.

“Mobile players are more willing to uninstall games and give another title a chance. Hence, the gameplay has to be captivating and designed to provide quick but intense sessions.

Furthermore, even though the average weekly playtime is identical to PC players, many mobile players don’t think of themselves as gamers,” clarifies Mateusz Śmieżewski.

Another major difference regards the way in which revenue is generated. PC and console games traditionally represent the premium model, where players buy the game. Most popular mobile releases are free and generate revenue with microtransactions. Almost all titles allow players to spend their real money on virtual coins, crystals, and other items that can be used to unlock additional content or reduce cooldowns.

Entering the mobile market

Those contrasts and nuances scare most companies from the mobile market. Let’s see how GAMIVO has coped with this.

“We decided to launch a new product category dedicated to mobile gamers. Our model allows them to top up in-game accounts cheaply. As a result, they can save up to 30% on buying virtual items, upgrades, and other content. The GAMIVO offer includes the most popular mobile titles, such as Genshin Impact and PUBG Mobile, and still extends,” describes Mateusz Śmieżewski.

“We dedicated a lot of time to research and analyses. Also, the development process required a lot of work to provide GAMIVO customers with safe transactions and a user-friendly environment. The first reactions are very positive, confirming our belief that our decision was right and there is still more space in the mobile game market,” concludes the GAMIVO CEO.

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