TIDMFDEV
RNS Number : 0441T
Frontier Developments PLC
22 November 2021
22 November 2021
Frontier Developments plc
Trading Update
Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV, "Frontier" or the
"Company"), a leading developer and publisher of videogames based
in Cambridge, UK , provides an update on trading for the current
financial year FY22, the 12 months ending 31 May 2022.
Our well-established titles, including Jurassic World Evolution,
Planet Zoo, and Planet Coaster, continue to perform well, as new
players come to those games and engage with both the base game and
with paid downloadable content, while sales of Elite Dangerous:
Odyssey have been more muted so far in FY22.
Our latest multiplatform game, Jurassic World Evolution 2, was
released as planned on 9 November 2021 on PC via Steam and the Epic
Games Store, PlayStation(R)5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation(R)4 and
Xbox One. The critical and audience reception from launch has been
very positive, thanks to the hard work of our talented people
across our development, publishing and support teams. Our player
community are enjoying the enhancements we have made, as well as
the new content that we have introduced, building on the strong
foundations of Jurassic World Evolution. Game reviews are very good
- the scores compiled by Opencritic show 44 reviews at the time of
this update, with a Top Critic Average score of 80.
Pre-order sales of Jurassic World Evolution 2 were encouraging,
with unit volumes on each platform comparable to the levels
achieved by Jurassic World Evolution in the run-up to its release
in June 2018. However, sales of the game over the initial period
following its release have been lower than expected on the PC
platform. We believe this is potentially a short-term effect from a
more crowded release window than expected, with a number of other
highly anticipated titles launching in the same window.
Simultaneous release on PlayStation and Xbox consoles of both
digital and physical versions went ahead smoothly, and console
sales numbers are largely as expected.
We continue to project Jurassic World Evolution 2 to overtake
Jurassic World Evolution in terms of revenue in its first 12 months
from release. We believe the initial PC sales are primarily a
phasing issue, where we expect further significant sales around
Christmas, with excitement strong on PC (with over 440,000 on the
Steam wishlist). Sales in the first 12 months will also benefit
from the launch of the Jurassic World Dominion film in June
2022.
Jurassic World Evolution 2 will be our biggest release and our
largest revenue contributor in this financial year FY22, the 12
months to 31 May 2022. Based on the lower initial PC sales noted
above and the under-performance of Odyssey in the financial year to
date, we are prudently updating our revenue guidance for FY22 to
GBP100 million to GBP130 million. The wide guidance range is
indicative of the variability of outcomes across our whole
portfolio as we approach the important holiday season (Thanksgiving
and Christmas).
We will continue to closely monitor sales performance of all of
our games over the next six to eight weeks, and expect to provide a
trading update early in the new year.
Looking further ahead, excitement is building for our first F1
management title in 2022 and we look forward to delivering our
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar real-time strategy game in the future. We
also have exciting titles to come from our games label for third
party publishing, Frontier Foundry, which is making good progress.
FAR: Changing Tides and Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate -
Daemonhunters will be releasing later in this financial year and a
number of great unannounced titles are coming in the future.
David Braben, CEO and Founder said "A massive thank you to
everyone involved with the launch of Jurassic World Evolution 2.
Whilst initial sales on PC have been lower than we targeted, the
game is already being enjoyed by around half a million players
across all platforms, and showing very strong critical and player
reviews. We are confident that it's another terrific addition to
our great portfolio of games. Frontier's future looks strong and
our portfolio continues to grow."
Conference call for analysts:
Frontier will host a conference call with analysts at 09.00 am
today. To participate please contact Tulchan Communications at
frontier@tulchangroup.com for details.
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by
the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under
the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 as amended by The
Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019. The person
responsible for making this announcement on behalf of the Company
is Alex Bevis.
Enquiries :
Frontier Developments +44 (0)1223 394 300
David Braben, CEO
Alex Bevis, CFO
Liberum - Nomad and Joint Broker +44 (0)20 3100 2000
Neil Patel / Cameron Duncan
Jefferies - Joint Broker +44 (0)20 7029 8000
Max Jones / William Brown
Tulchan Communications +44 (0)20 7353 4200
Matt Low / Jordan McCulla / Olivia Lucas
About Frontier Developments plc
Frontier is a leading independent developer and publisher of
videogames founded in 1994 by David Braben, co-author of the iconic
Elite game. Based in Cambridge, Frontier uses its proprietary COBRA
game development technology to create innovative genre-leading
games, primarily for personal computers and videogame consoles. As
well as self-publishing internally developed games, Frontier also
publishes games developed by carefully selected partner studios
under its Frontier Foundry games label.
About Jurassic World Evolution 2
Jurassic World Evolution 2 is a major sequel to Frontier's
highly successful Jurassic World Evolution which builds upon the
ground-breaking and immersive 2018 management simulation. Jurassic
World Evolution 2 introduces a compelling, new narrative campaign,
incredible new features and awe-inspiring new dinosaurs brought to
life with captivating authenticity. Together with expanded
construction and more customisation options, the result is an even
bigger, better and authentic Jurassic World game.
Frontier's LEI number: 213800B9LGPWUAZ9GX18.
www.frontier.co.uk
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