Tag: Profit

Funcom Q2 2019: Conan Exiles Strong, Unconquered Not So Much


Funcom this week published their second quarter results for 2019 and they are pretty much okay.

Funcom’s CEO Rui Casais referred to 2019 as a transition year for Funcom between the turnaround and growth phases of the company where those changes may not be immediately visible. Presumably he is referring to Funcom’s revenue and profit for the second quarter which despite boasting a 53% increase from last quarter is moderately over half of last year’s numbers. $8.9 million in revenue in Q2 2019 compared to $15.2 million in 2018 as well as $600,000 in profit compared to $5.8 million in 2018.

The numbers makes sense as 2018 brought in Conan Exiles and Mutant: Year Zero and Funcom didn’t have as big of a title to publish this year outside of Conan Unconquered which didn’t quite live up to expectations. On the plus side, the company has shed its $3.4 million in debt since last year and is in a strong, growing cash position.

With Conan Unconquered we saw an opportunity to experiment with a low budget game in a new genre for Funcom, “Real-Time Strategy”. We worked with a developer with a long track record in the genre to create a small game that isn’t a classical example of the genre, but a twist on it. Unfortunately, the reception from the players was not as positive as we hoped for. We are grateful for their feedback and based on that feedback we have made free updates to the game and have a larger update ready to go out soon. We are improving our processes based on this experience and we still believe in this genre, but it’s clear that the budget and quality of this game was not high enough.

Conan Exiles continues to be the strong performer in terms of revenue and funding Funcom’s other projects. The report does note that the success of Conan Exiles showing the company’s strength in multiplayer games as a service, that the Conan single player game has been put on hold in order for the Oslo team to focus on continued content for Exiles as well as the Dune open world multiplayer game set to release soon™. The Funcom North Carolina team is working on a multiplayer shooter that they hope to bring to market in 2020, while the company is also publishing Moons of Madness and Conan Chop Chop, as well as other titles yet to be announced.

Dune is currently listed as in pre-production while the coop shooter based in the Mutant: Year Zero IP is in production. Moons of Madness, a game set in the Secret World universe, is on track for a Halloween 2019 release with Conan Chop Chop to come in 2020. Funcom is also engaged in joint operations surrounding the Kult RPG franchise, Solomon Kane, Mutant Chronicles, and Doom Trooper along with other lesser known franchises.

Source: Report, Presentation

NCSoft Income Dips In Q2, Lineage Is Doing Just Fine


NCSoft this week released their second quarter earning reports and the results are not entirely great, but not entirely bad. While sales dropped 6% over last year, profits are down 19% with net income down 17% over the same period. NCSoft’s mobile titles are still going very strong and now make up the vast majority of the company’s revenue with Lineage continuing to be the breadwinner on the traditional MMO side.

Lineage launched a remaster update and revamped monetizations that has been credited for a spike in sales and has seen user numbers more than double. NCSoft believes that this rebound revenue will remain solid and that other updates in the second half will maintain revenue numbers. According to NCSoft statements, Lineage M continues to maintain its highest numbers ever. NCSoft also expressed pride in Lineage II, noting that “the fact that a game in its sixteenth year is achieving 55% YoY growth is extremely encouraging for us,” with more updates coming in the second half of the year that should accelerate growth. There were no additional notes for Aion, Blade & Soul, and Guild Wars 2.

The second half of 2019 is set to bring Lineage II M to the market which NCSoft hopes will shake up the market with its differentiated content. Aion 2 and Blade & Soul 2 are progressing smoothly with NCSoft taking aim to ensure that the games are received well not just in Korea but in the international market as well. Lineage II M is set to launch in the fourth fiscal quarter 2019 followed by international launch in a “timely manner” with minimal gaps. They did acknowledge concerns with the Korean MMO market due to underperformance of recent launches in the country and whether the market has further growth potential. NCSoft stated that their own internal numbers indicate that there is a large potential demand of customers “waiting on the sidelines” for something to appear, and that Lineage II M is exactly the title that can satisfy that pent-up demand, however they do recognize that adding overseas revenue is necessary and that Lineage II M will cater to that market.

As for NCWest, NCSoft noted the company is going through a “process” to improve efficiency from the studio, but does not see a significant decrease in labor costs from the entity in the coming year which should assuage fears of further layoffs.

On the topic of cloud/console gaming, it was stated that PC titles from the beginning will be designed to be played on a console format going forward. There are internal projects looking into cloud gaming, but nothing that could be discussed at this time. ArenaNet is looking at several projects including a potential mobile Guild Wars 2, however there are no solid titles that could be announced at this time as all of the projects are still under review.

(Source: NCSoft quarterly income)

[NM] Rockstar North Paid No Taxes, Earned Tax Relief


It’s hard to look at Rockstar North and not see dollar signs (or pound signs) around the massive success of Grand Theft Auto V, but this week’s news is sure to set some fires in more than a few bellies as the company’s finances come into more scrutiny.

TaxWatch UK a thinktank that tracks business earnings reported this week that Rockstar North has made an estimated $5 billion in profit over the last six years. Despite this massive amount of profit, the company still determined that it deserved tax relief and claimed £42 million between 2015 and 2017, or 19% of all government credits issued to the industry during that period. And with all of this income, can you guess how much Rockstar North paid in taxes? That’s right, absolutely nothing between 2009 and 2018.

The thinktank noted:

“It is outrageous that the UK taxpayer is being asked to shell out tens of millions of pounds in subsidy to the developers of Grand Theft Auto, when at the time that the game’s developers put in their tax credit application Grand Theft Auto V had already generated several billion dollars in sales and profits. This is a drive-by assault on the British taxpayer and corporate welfare scrounging at its very worst.”

It should also be noted that no one is claiming any illegal activity on the part of Rockstar North. The news of Rockstar’s nonexistent tax bill is likely to come off as especially egregious considering the company recently opened up a literal casino in Grand Theft Auto V where players from certain countries are able to buy virtual chips with real life currency.

(Source: TaxWatch)

Lods of Emone: Jagex Posts Record Financial Success


RuneScape is doing just fine, thank you.

This week Jagex released their 2018 financials and boasted a 9.3% increase in revenue to £92.8 million. 2018 saw RuneScape reaching its highest membership total ever with Old School RuneScape launching on mobile and seeing over five million downloads.

CEO Phil Mansell noted:

“This lets us accelerate Jagex’s transformation; we have strengthened our leadership team and will continue to build on the company’s talent base, we are funding new game development, building out our third-party live game publishing, investing in massive publishing platform upgrades, whilst continuing to expand our live RuneScape games.”

The last year has seen Jagex increase its team by more than 100 people with investments in research and development boosted by 69%. 2018 also marked the launch of the Jagex Partners Initiative which aims to deliver operational services tailored toward third party studios.

Source: Jagex Press Release

Funcom Boasts Best Half Ever As Conan Exiles Propels Profits


Funcom’s second quarterly revenue report is out, and the results are as expected, positive. The combined success of Conan Exiles and Secret World Legends has propelled the Oslo developer to its best half in the history of the company, nearly halving their debt and increasing equity by 40%. Sales of Secret World Legends have exceeded company expectations, although the sales had little effect on this quarter’s revenue due to its late release and will not be seen until the next release. Overall revenue increased 79% over last year.

To complement its success, Funcom has rebranded as Funcom 2.0, with a brand new logo of a screaming face on a burning flag, to convey the developer’s passion, ambition, and history.

Two new games are currently in production at Funcom, with the Oslo studio working on a new Conan game and the Durham studio in the concept stage on a game that will be dependent on the success of Secret World Legends. In addition, Funcom has announced that it is partnering with Bearded Dragons to produce a new game for 2018. Funcom had previously revealed that Johnny Depp will be involved in a TV series based off of The Secret World.

(Source: Funcom)

Funcom Reports Most Profitable First Quarter In History


We’d like to picture that Funcom is having a huge money fight in their offices, with the announcement that the company has posted the highest profit in their history. Thanks to the runaway success of Conan Exiles, Funcom this quarter boasted a profit of $6.1 million USD, with total revenue nearing $11 million.

For upcoming Funcom games, players will have to wait until June 26 to get their hands on Secret World Legends, the free to play reboot of The Secret World, and July 31 in order to get said game on Steam. In their investor report, Funcom blames this on a competitive market in May/June with expansions for Final Fantasy XIV and The Elder Scrolls Online hitting Steam, as well as the Steam launch of Black Desert Online. Meanwhile, Dreamfall Chapters was released on May 5. Both Funcom Oslo and Funcom North Carolina are working on upcoming titles, one of which is based on the Conan IP.

(Source: Funcom)

NCSoft Posts Q4 Report: Wildstar Revenues Climb


sales

NCSoft has posted their fourth quarter reports for 2015, and the results are a general mixture of the good and the bad. As you can see from the chart above, while figures were pretty solid across the board over the third quarter, revenue and profit dropped notably over the same period last year. NCSoft pits the majority of the loss on overseas royalties, but that overall the company is growing in profit thanks to a balanced growth from overall IPs.

On the games front, every single title in NCSoft’s library saw growth in the last quarter, including Wildstar. Lineage and Lineage 2, as well as Blade & Soul, grew thanks to content updates and strong in-game item promotions. Guild Wars 2 drove in plenty of new revenue thanks to the sale of Heart of Thorns.

sales2

Thank you to NCSoft for plotting out each game on an individual basis, it saves me a lot of time. As you can see from the chart above, while Wildstar’s income grew in the first quarter of free to play, it didn’t grow all that much. Revenue is still far down from where it was when the game launched, and it brought in only $2.23 million USD in its initial free to play rush.

At this point in the timeline, it looks like the upcoming China launch may be Wildstars best, and only, bet at salvation. Assuming NCSoft is willing to shoulder the title to that milestone, we’ll likely be hearing in 2017 about whether or not this title goes on the chopping block. As for Guild Wars, it looks like the Heart of Thorns quarter brought in a bump of $14 million. According to the earnings call itself, while sales were good for Heart of Thorns, they did fall below expectations. This lines up with earlier predictions of Daewoo Securities that Heart of Thorns would sell less than expected.

The first quarter earnings for NCSoft won’t be out for another few months, but they will have some very important information going forward: How has Blade & Soul fared with its western launch? How will Wildstar hold up after its free to play transition?

Star Vault Posts Higher Q1 Earnings


Screenshot 2015-05-22 at 11.12.56 AM

Star Vault has released their first quarter sales for 2015, and the results are rather positive. While sales are down from where they were last year, net sales increased over the fourth quarter to $68 thousand. Likewise, Star Vault’s net loss fell substantially from over $100 thousand in Q4 to $61 thousand this quarter.

According to Star Vault’s report, the number of subscribers remained about the same over last quarter.

CEO Henrik Nystrom’s note:

We have recruited a further enhancement to our team, in the form of an experienced programmer with great interest in game development. This gives us the resources for the Steam release. Our new additions will work in several areas of development in Mortal Online – it’s great with fresh eyes coming from outside that can give feedback on what areas can be improved. We also have an additional encoder remotely in the US who now helps us with GUI and flash programming.

(Source: Aktie Torget)

Disclosure: Star Vault’s finances are published on the Aktie Torget stock exchange in Swedish, linked above, and translated using Google’s automatic tools. Figures shown above are based off of the SEK to USD conversion rates as of the day of their publishing. This is for informational purposes and is not meant to advise investment.)

(Editor’s note: Henrik Nystrom’s note only includes the last of three paragraphs. The first two were removed for brevity and poor translation, and cover outdated information on the Sarducca update)

Virtual Stable Sells For $5600


Science_Tent

Entropia Universe is well known here at MMO Fallout for its ridiculous sales of virtual estate for real money. Entropia Universe AB announced today that the MMORCE (Massively Multiplayer Online Real Cash Economy) game has successfully completed its first stable auction, and the results might just astound you. Over $58 thousand real dollars were spent by players to get their hands on thirteen virtual stables. The most expensive stable sold for $5600.

What’s so great about these stables that someone would pay nearly six grand for it? Stables are able to accumulate wealth by renting out stalls and offering specialized training to other players in return for PED, which can be cashed out for real money. Theoretically, given an upcoming update that will place more importance on stables, each of the buyers are likely to come out with a profit. A real profit, of real money.

The sales are as follows:

Stables Estates on Planet Calypso
                  Cape Corinth Stable – Eugenio Anhithe Wilde – $5000
                  Emerald Lakes Stable – Gunnar MRmP Pettersen – $4280
                  Fort Ithaca Stable – Kassandra Blackwidow Draconis – $4300
                  Nate Valley Stable – Gandalf GandalfSzary Szary – $4800
                  Port Atlantis Stable – Jenna Star Mercury (for investors) – $6100
                  Twin Peaks Stable – Matek Matek Barbods – $6200

Stables Estates on ROCKtropia
                  City of Dreams Stable – Narfi Hungry Willam (for investors) – $2200
                  Tangerine Stable – Programer Doc Grey (for investors) – $2300

Stables Estates on Planet Arkadia
                  Celeste Outpost Stable – Maxihundred Max Power – $5600
                  Redoubtable Firebase Stable – Eugenio Anhithe Wilde – $5070
                  Resolute Firebase Stable – Lady Nadie Hawke – $5070

Stable Estate on Planet Cyrene
                  Suppy Depot Stable – Harmony bella Simpson (for investors) – $5200

Stable Estate on Planet Toulan
                  Guardian Village Stable – Wangxiang WangXiang Tuxing – $2200

(Source: Entropia Universe Press Release)

Star Vault Sees Q1 Bump In 2014


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Star Vault has released their Q1 2014 finances and the results are actually looking good. Net sales broke one hundred thousand for the quarter, up heavily from the previous quarter’s report of eighty one thousand. Net profit remains in the red but increased severely over the previous two quarters, from one hundred fifty thousand in the red down to eighty three thousand. If Star Vault can keep this momentum going, the company will be in the black by the end of the third quarter.

As usual, Henrik Nystrom made his quarterly address.

During the first quarter of 2014 marked by a continued positive trend in increased player activity in Mortal Online. Meanwhile, we have the beginning of 2014, working with a major focus for the planned release on STEAM, the world’s largest online distributor of PC games. Mortal Online will then be posted on a global playlist daily visited by between 4-6 million players worldwide. In February, the game engine Unreal Engine updated, resulting in a large number of improvements in place. Briefly, the above, including both graphical quality and performance improved, which facilitates the creation of a new continent in the game, so we can handle a larger number of players.

With the new continent will face in Mortal Online will be doubled and the new Territory Control will enable us to offer unique features. These features will be released in stages before release. In our industry it is known that all releases are unpredictable and I think it’s important to be clear that although we will encounter problems in the same way as the major players, but we’re doing what we can to be prepared. One of the major challenges in the industry is of course to bring in new players, but also to maintain the existing players by offering a consistently high quality. The competition is tough and you have to deliver. We will just as before to continue to be very honest with our player and also allow them to participate and judge when we have what it takes for a successful release on STEAM. 

As previously announced, of course, both the content and quality priority, which means that we update the plan we had from the beginning, to gain more time for testing and bug fixing before release. In this overall development plan to release the work has been divided into six blocks; Engine update (completed and is live), development of the Territory control, test and release of Territory Control continent’s development, test and release of the continents, and the testing and release of Steam API (Application Programming Interface). Each block has a lead time of about one month, while parts of the work of the various blocks is done in parallel. 

We have since the beginning of the year even able to announce a new functionality in the form of that Mortal Online has built-in support for Oculus Rift. Oculus Rift can be described as the next generation of virtual reality headsets and developed by the company Oculus VR. In March 2014 it was announced that Facebook, Inc. decided to buy the project for about two billion dollars. By playing Mortal Online with Oculus Rift given increased playing experience then, so to speak “comes into play.” Turn the head of the unit really does play the character in the game too. One sees also the depth and 3D by Oculus, which can provide some benefits in Mortal Online because you always play the game in first person view. When Oculus Rift released, we think players will be interested to try the dedicated first-person games such as Mortal Online, which is the first mmo game that is exclusively dedicated first person only, and therefore lends itself very well to play with Oculus rift. 

Henrik Nystrom 
CEO, Star Vault AB

Editor’s note: Figures are provided by the Aktietorget stock exchange. All figures are presented in US Dollars using conversions provided by Citibank NA and reflect trading values on the day of reporting. Henrik Nystrom’s statements are automatically translated by Google and may contain various spelling or grammatical errors.