(Courtesy of Aluna our news Bard) New owners incoming: https://www.enadglobal7.com/press/7758700B9A777D34/ A Gaming Fellowship With Global Reach EG7 is a family of companies within the gaming industry that develops, markets, publishes and distributes PC, console and mobile games to the global gaming market. The company employs 100+ game developers and develops its own original IP:s, as well as act as consultants to other publishers around the world through its game development divisions Toadman Studios and Antimatter Games. In addition, the group’s marketing agency Petrol has contributed to the release of 1,500+ titles, of which many are world famous brands such as Call of Duty, Destiny, Dark Souls and Rage. The group’s publishing and distribution company Sold Out holds expertise in both physical and digital publishing and has previously worked with Team 17, Rebellion and Frontier Developments. The group is headquartered in Stockholm with +270 employees in 10 companies worldwide.
Mixed news for the EQ IP, maybe the franchise gets revitalized but bad in the sense that it keeps getting sold. Bad news for CS and QA staff, and general budget cuts. Also, I remember Columbus Nova purchasing SOE for $500 million. So, only 60% of the original valuation.
This is positive news at least for now. If EG7 is willing to pay $300 million, they are in it for the long haul. It remains to be seen what vision and direction they have in store for the studio. On the plus side, Swedish ownership sounds pretty good. (Everyone loves IKEA).
Assuming the information quoted is correct, Daybreak is significantly more profitable than many, including me, had thought. The number of 178 million registered users is interesting. How many of those users are FTP for instance? In any case, I hope it will indicate a continued interest in maintaining what they have and using additional resources to build strength into the franchise. I wish the folks who work at Daybreak well and I hope this will bring increased job security to them. BTW, has anyone done any research into the new owners? Reputation, track record, etc.? They mention H1Z1 in the press release. Is this an indication of any interest in that defunct title? I found this article. EG7 has cash to spend. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-11-25-piranha-games-acquired-by-enad-global-7
Actually EG7 was just recently cash poor and had to open up shares to be sold. I believe that was in October. (Most of this info is from Swedish news and Google translate leaves something to be desired) There's other news about the savviness of the investment according to Swedish investment firms but I'll leave that alone. It's easy enough to find. Also, I guarantee that 178 million number includes every user, ever. Read the verbiage surrounding that number. Either way I hope it's a chance to get some cash infused into the game. I've been playing, on and off, since beta, and I most likely will still be playing as long as it's up and running in any form.
In that post, they just told you by end of year Q3 they made 77.6m net revenue and an EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, Amortization) of 29.0m. Keep in mind this across all games including LOTRO and DDO. So, that's not as good a number as you think but I would wager the top earning games are DCUO and EQ1, respectively. They're not using cash. They're using leverage and will be placing the 300m on DBG as debt. Debt that has to be repaid. The terms are all private, but based off the Columbus Nova purchase and sale assume a 5-10 year payback period. If, other franchises fail to perform while EQ overperforms it will be irrelevant. All, that will be used to payback the debt that was used to acquire DBG.
Give these guys and gals the resources to make the content they really want to make. SIXTY FOUR BIT. That is all.
Wow, $300 million. I would have valued current EQ at more like $10 million. I often forget about the other games in the portfolio, though.
Yeah it's nerve wracking how many times EQ has traded hands. Ultimately, if one of these companies goes under, what happens? Would they sell this off and close it down or would they make sure it found some way to stay up? Also, who knows what changes can be made- maybe they'll do away with FTP for instance. Do they have to respect things like lifetime membership if the company is sold or does that business agreement work across companies?
Some of Shawn Lord's (Azaliil) Twitch guests have said a single AAA game's development cost can range in the $500 million to $1 billion range these days. On balance, $300 million for several titles with revenue flow and customer base may be a bargain. And, after witnessing the struggles and delays of titles like Pantheon and Ashes of Creation, established titles (with experienced teams) probably have much more stock.
I think you are right. They "deliver" speedy, error-free experiences more like a poor struggling $10M company instead of a $300M company.
DBG doesn't control the IPs for either LOTRO or DDO, those are held by Standing Stone Games. DBG is only serving as publisher for those titles, for which they get paid fees, but it isn't the full revenue stream they get funneled up from their own studios. I doubt that both of those games combined have a playerbase as large as EQ1. Still, it does count for something. The 178M registered users sounds more like e-mail addresses than once-active accounts. If it includes SOE's marketing database, that would in turn include e-mail addresses for every person worldwide who ever bought a PlayStation, any model. Still, it would have value to a company which is currently marketing to the console platforms on behalf of other studios.