Business news Cyberpunk 2077, Nintendo, Nacon… the business news of the week
Published on 04/12/2022 at 17:00
Sales figures, studio buyouts, financial statements, developer transfer window, investments… if these topics interest you, you’ve come to the right place. We offer you an update on the business news of the past week.
Summary
Cyberpunk 2077 and the Edgerunners anime boost CD Projekt’s resultsNacon has 50 games in developmentNintendo discusses its strategy for mobile gamesAt a glance in the business news of the weekOur other business articles of the week
Cyberpunk 2077 and Edgerunners anime boost CD Projekt results
CD Projekt revealed its results for the period from July to September 2022, marked by the release of the Cyberpunk Edgerunners anime on Netflix. Like The Witcher series, it has a significant impact on the game concerned, especially since the developers have concocted a 1.6 update with content based on the anime. Cyberpunk 2077 has thus experienced a real resurgence in popularity, exceeding one million active users and 20 million sales since its release in December 2020. It was also in September that the developers presented the Phantom Liberty expansion, planned for 2023. Result, CD Projekt realized the best third quarter in its history with a turnover of 52 million euros and a net profit of 21 million euros.
PeriodRevenueOperating profitNet profitJuly to September 2021€30.9 million€3.3 million€3.5 millionJuly to September 2022€52.4 million€20.7 million€21 million
As always, CD Projekt took the opportunity to take stock of its many projects, already sketched out last October. The Polish firm has confirmed that the remake of the first The Witcher will be in the open world, unlike the original game released in 2007 on PC. Its development has been entrusted to the external studio Fool’s Theory, while the team at The Molasses Flood (studio acquired by CD Projekt in 2021) is working on another version of the franchise, the “Sirius” project. During this time, the “Polaris” project already monopolizes a good part of CD Projekt’s internal developers, as you can see on the graph opposite. It will mark as a reminder the start of a brand new The Witcher trilogy. The priority remains the development of Phantom Liberty, the Cyberpunk 2077 extension. obviously hasn’t started yet.
Nacon has 50 games in development
For its part, Nacon presented the results of its first fiscal semester, i.e. the period from April to September 2022. The French firm has reason to celebrate, with a turnover of 77.5 million and a net profit of 8.4 million, up 6.2% and 123.5% respectively compared to the same period last year. The games activity of the French firm has particularly shone by achieving 47 million euros of this turnover, up 72%, in particular thanks to the releases of Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong, Steelrising and Session: Skate Sim. The results are less positive for sales of accessories, Nacon’s other business sector, whose turnover is down 34.7% and peaks at 28.5 million euros. “This activity remains marked by a very high base effect, particularly in the USA and by a sharply declining global helmet market”, justifies the company.
PeriodRevenueOperating profitNet profitApril to September 202173 million euros4.5 million euros3.8 million eurosApril to September 202277.5 million euros9.8 million euros8.4 million euros
For its second half, Nacon can already count on WRC Generations, released on November 3 and whose sales are “up slightly compared to WRC 10” over the first three weeks. Other games like Blood Bowl 3, Chef Life and Clash Artifacts of Chaos are planned for early 2023, while The Lord of the Rings Gollum will be released between April and September 2023. With this rather extensive schedule, the firm “anticipates revenue and current operating income for 2022-23 up slightly compared to the previous financial year despite the later release of several major games, an “accessory” activity in withdrawal and tensions in the supply of new consoles”. Last noteworthy information from this report: Nacon announces that it has a total of 50 games under development.
Nintendo discusses its strategy for mobile games
Six years have now passed since Nintendo released its first mobile game, Super Mario Run. At the time, the Japanese firm was looking for new sources of income after the failure of the Wii U, before the Switch became the massive success that we know. Its strategy and interest in this lucrative and colossal market has therefore evolved over the years. While its initial goal was to release several mobile games per year, it currently has only five active titles. : Super Mario Run, Fire Emblem Heroes, Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, Mario Kart Tour and Pikmin Bloom (published by Niantic). Launched in 2019, Dr Mario closed its doors two years laterwhile Dragalia Lost met the same fate this weekknowing that it was only available in Japan and North America.
Nintendo’s only real financial success on mobile is Fire Emblem Heroes (Pokémon games being operated by The Pokémon Company). Driven by its gacha business model, the RPG exceeded $1 billion in revenue last June, which then represented nearly 55% of the turnover of all mobile games released by the firm, far ahead of Animal Crossing Pocket Camp. ($282 million) and Mario Kart Tour ($282 million).
A mixed picture, then, but from which Nintendo still draws some positives: “although we recognize the importance of generating revenue and profits through our mobile business, our basic strategy is to provide access to Nintendo’s intellectual properties to more people,” a spokesperson told Axios. The company indicates that its mobile games have made it possible to reach people located in countries where the Switch is not yet available and to familiarize them with its licenses.
Looking to the future, Nintendo says it’s focused on bringing new experiences to its current mobile games through updates, while “considering new apps.” Since the release of Pikmin Bloom in 2021, the firm has not announced a new mobile game.
Briefly in the business news of the week
Launched on October 25 on Steam, the management game Victoria 3 developed by Paradox has exceeded 500,000 sales.Persona 5 Royal ports recently released on Xbox Series, Xbox One, Switch, PS5 and PC have reached one million copies sold, knowing that it is also available in the Game Pass. The game now totals 3.3 million in sales, not even including those of the Persona 5 base game on PS3 and PS4. Atlus also reported that the entire Persona 5 saga (Persona 5, Persona 5 Royal, Persona 5: Dancing in Starlight and Persona 5 Strikers) has sold 8.3 million. Digimon Survive has sold 500,000 copies five months after its release on PC, Switch, PS4 and Xbox One.
