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4-2024 Newsflash - Update from 5th Planet Games and partner, Skybound Entertainment on the incredible growth of its key franchise, Invincible
I do not really like this kind of announcements. The stock exchange announcements should contain information about the company, and should not be 99% publicity for the activities of the mayor shareholder. I do not understand why this is even allowed by the market authorities.
The current amount of sales of the atom eve game (and expected share in the revenues) do not really justify this kind of posts.
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I would rather have had an explanation for this recent tweet: https://twitter.com/skyboundgames/status/1762268947112665500?s=20
Here Skybound says there will be no season 5 for the walking dead, despite the fact that in the investment agreement with 5PG, 5PG has some co-publishing rights.
https://ir.q4europe.com/Solutions/hugogames/2166/newsArticle.aspx?storyid=15150613
5-2024 Newsflash - Sagafilm ehf, A 5th Planet Games Investment, Announces Co-Production Deal For Prime Video Nordics New Series VAKA
This for example is more relevant news, as 5PG owns 25% of Sagafilms.
Two weeks prior to the publication of the annual report, I endeavor to conduct an honest and balanced review of the current state of the company.
The positive aspects:
As previously mentioned, the involvement of Skybound has transformed the company; no new games are developed in-house, but they have transitioned into publishers. This translates to fewer risks as the company now invests only in games close to release. Additionally, the company is debt-free and possesses a substantial war chest for game investments. Tough decisions have been made much earlier than in the past (compare the year-long Doodle Jump saga of Hugo Games with the quick termination of The Walking Dead: Betrayal now). The company is managed decently from a financial standpoint.
The company has significantly altered its activities in the last quarter of this year. Owning 25% of Sagafilms (with the other part held by Skybound), the company will benefit from the development of Emil Hjörvar Petersen’s Survivors of Ragnarök novels and VAKA. Note that both are set in some sort of dystopian world (linking with The Walking Dead). In this sense, 5PG is involved in two parts of Skybound’s portfolio: games and movies/series. If such series turn into hits, 5PG may profit from them.
The negative aspects:
What concerns me somewhat is the high dependency on Skybound . This may lead to disadvantageous deals for minority shareholders in the future.
Promises were not always kept: the promotion of the US listing (IDGAF) has not occurred yet, although this may change in the future. The new site has not been launched yet.
Communication is not always effective: The status of Vice NDRCVR is unknown. Moreover, at the point of investment by Skybound, they had promised the 5PG shareholders that they would share publishing rights of the next Telltale game of The Walking Dead. Nevertheless, Skybound has recently stated that there are no (current) plans for this project. It is unclear whether Skybound sees this as a delay or will compensate 5PG in another manner.
What to expect:
I believe it is currently very difficult to assess the profits and budgets of next year. Moreover, 5PG tends to publish new reports for game launches only 2-3 months before the launch, which may change the outlook for next year. I anticipate some news in April-May of new games, considering the earlier cycle of news. Additionally, I expect some growth with the existing games being published on multiple platforms, which is positive (they know how well the game performs and it attracts new customers at a very low cost). Furthermore, the development of series/movies (note that these are already linked to Prime Video, thus having already a minimum market) will contribute to the profitability of the company.
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Looking forward to the results of today…
Results were expected, most important news are the cancellation of vice ncvdr game and the updates on saga film:
In February 2023, Sagafilm released the feature film Operation Napoleon. The budget for
the film was appr. EUR 6.5 million. The film was a box-office hit in Iceland and was released
globally in 2023. In spring 2023, Sagafilm closed financing on the EUR 5 million TV series the
Minister 2. Shooting commenced in late July and wrapped in early December 2023. The
series will be released all over the world in the fall of 2024.
In the fall of 2023, the TV series Vaka was greenlit by Amazon Prime Nordics. The budget
for Vaka is appr. EUR 10 million. The shooting of the Swedish language series will start in
March 2024 in Stockholm. In addition to developing the series, Sagafilm will also handle
parts of the production and most of the post-production. At the end of 2023, the company
was waiting to greenlit two big TV series for 2024 in addition to several documentaries and
entertainment programs.
More concrete news should help the companies shareprice to increase further.
So if I understood this correctly, 5PG will start to sell limited editions and collectibles of games like Invincible Presents: Atom Eve, Escape Academy and WrestleQuest (and Hugo) in the Nordics? Right?
They now have a parther for physical distribution. Good thing to have, but not a game changer.
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