GameSquare Holdings, Inc.

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us for the GameSquare Holdings 2026 First Quarter Conference Call. On the call today, we have Justin Kenna, GameSquare CEO, and Mike Munoz, CFO. During the call, all participants are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. Before management discusses the results, I would like to remind everyone that certain statements in this call may be forward-looking in nature. These include statements involving known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. For information about forward-looking statements and risk factors, please see our 10-K for the quarter ended March 31, 2026, which will be available on the company's website or with the Securities and Exchange Commission. I will now turn the call over to GameSquare CEO, Justin Kenna. Justin, please go ahead.

Thank you, and good afternoon to everyone joining us on today's call. GameSquare is off to a solid start in 2026. Our first quarter results were in line with our expectations during what is typically the seasonally slowest period of the year, and we're excited by the momentum we're seeing across our platform. Our performance reflects the organic contribution of the integrated business that we've built, as well as the early benefits of recent acquisitions, including clicks. our creator marketing and talent business, and TubeBuddy, our AI-enabled software and workflow platform for creators and brands. We believe these acquisitions have meaningfully expanded our position in the creator economy, providing our customer with a single entry point for reaching these audiences. Qlik gives us a deeper ability to identify, manage, deploy, and monetize high-value creators for brand and publisher campaigns, while TubeBuddy adds a scaled technology layer that supports creators and digital publishers with workflow analytics, optimization, and AI-enabled tools. Together, these capabilities strengthen our ability to connect brands, creators, publishers, and audiences to a more complete and differentiated platform. We have seen clear evidence that GameSquare's platform is resonating with larger clients and driving bigger opportunities. Within GSX and our broader agency business, average deal size is increasing, with 70% of programmers now over 200K. and we've doubled the number of $1 million-plus opportunities. These are larger programs and larger clients, and they are increasingly pulling in multiple parts of our ecosystem, including creators, content, media, data, experiential production, and live activations. Importantly, we believe that this validates GameScript's strategy to serve as a gateway into the creator economy, combining proprietary data, technology, creator relationships, and gaming expertise to help brands reach digital native audiences in more authentic, measurable and scalable ways. We are also continuing to execute a disciplined capital allocation strategy focused on driving growth, improving profitability and creating long-term shareholder value. That includes investing behind the areas of the business where we see the greatest return potential, pursuing strategic M&A and evaluating opportunities to share repurchases. when we believe that the market is not appropriately valuing our business. We continue to expand the talent, technology and capabilities that make Game Square unique. The recent addition of Justin Miklat as Chief Growth Officer of Qlik, together with the signing of leading creators such as State and others further strengthens our position at the centre of the creator economy. Combined with Click and TubeBuddy, these additions enhance our ability to scale high-value talent, create new monetization opportunities, and deliver more integrated solutions for brand partners. We are excited by the direction that we're headed and believe that GameSquare is increasingly well-positioned to deliver against our 2026 plan. That is background. I'll use my time today to review our first quarter performance, discuss the progress that we're making across the business, and provide an update on our expectations for the year ahead. During the first quarter, we executed against several important strategic priorities and delivered strong financial results that were in line with our expectations. Reported revenue on a year-over-year basis increased by 95% and gross profit dollars expanded year-over-year by nearly 77% or by $2.4 million. The combination of revenue growth and higher gross profit continues to support the development of a more scalable financial model. Along these lines, we also improved our first quarter adjusted EBITDA loss year over year on a pro forma basis, including the contribution from TubeMoney. Our adjusted EBITDA loss was just $656,000, which was consistent with our expectations for the seasonally slowest quarter of the year. Importantly, these results demonstrate the continued progress that we're making toward a full year of profitability. As a reminder, in Feb of 2026, we announced the acquisition of TubeBuddy from Bent Labs in an all-staff transaction. TubeBuddy provides powerful search engine optimization, workflow analytics, and productivity tools powered by proprietary AI, which are used by creators and digital publishers to grow, manage, and monetize their content. The acquisition adds a scale-created technology layer to our technology platform, which we believe will accelerate our strategy to build an integrated ecosystem spanning content, community, data, and performance marketing. Importantly, the accredited acquisition of TubeBuddy demonstrates the evolution of our M&A strategy. As our scale increases and our capabilities expand, we are focused on pursuing compelling operating assets that we expect to be accredited to earnings. Just this morning, we announced the appointment of Justin Mikva as Chief Growth Officer of Qlik. It added several major creators to Qlik's roster, including Stake, the second largest Roblox creator. The newly added talent is expected to generate more than $5 million of incremental annualized revenue, while enhancing GameSquare's ability to connect leading creators with global brands through its integrated platform of spending, talent management, data analytics, creative services, and experiential activations. These additions provide several important benefits to GameSquare. First, Stake and other recently added creators expand our reach. Secondly, Justin brings a proven track record of scaling and monetising leading digital talent. Thirdly, these additions create profitable creator-driven revenue streams with attractive operating leverage. And finally, they reinforce GameSquare's ability to consistently attract and retain top-tier talent in an increasingly competitive market. Adding high-impact creators materially expands our presence and enhances our ability to drive higher-value brand partnerships, increase campaign volume, and improve monetization across our platform. These positive trends reflect the strength of our platform and our ability to consistently attract and retain top-tier talent in an increasingly competitive market. Our integrated platform is driving strong momentum as we provide valuable solutions that connect brands, creators, and consumers at scale. One of the clearest examples of this progress was the performance of our Game Square Experiences Division, or GSX, which generated record first quarter 2026 bookings of more than $10 million. This performance was driven by continued demand from leading video game publishers and global brands seeking to connect with Gen Z and digital-first audiences through authentic, measurable campaigns. Importantly, GSX currently serves many of the largest video game publishers in the world, underscoring the relevance of our platform within the global gaming ecosystem. GSX is a strong example of how GameSquare's integrated platform is translating into real commercial momentum. The division brings together creators, content data, media strategy, consumer products, and large-scale experiential execution to help bridge digital influence with real-world engagement. During the quarter, GSX executed a range of live events, hybrid experiences, and digital-first campaigns designed to connect online and offline communities. Other recent customer and partnership wins further validate the growing momentum we are seeing across GameSquare's ecosystem. During the quarter, we announced the fourth annual renewal of Zones' longstanding partnership with DairyMax, reflecting the continued value we are delivering for recurring brand partners. We also expanded our partnership with Capcom to support the global launch of Resident Evil Requiem, the newest title in the globally recognised Resident Evil franchise. In addition, we continue to see strong execution across Phase Esports, Phase 1-6 Invitational 2026, taking home $1 million in prize money, which contributed to revenue in the first quarter. This marks the second consecutive year that FaZe Esports has earned the title of world champion, and we believe it is powerful validation of FaZe's position at the top of global competitive gaming. Now on to Q2. Positive first quarter trends recently accelerated and were encouraged by the growing momentum of we are seeing early in the second quarter, and the visibility we are building to the balance of the year. We believe our integrated platform is resonating with brands and publishers as they increasingly look for measurable, creator-led solutions that combine digital reach, real-world engagement, and authentic connections with Gen Z, Gen Alpha, and millennial audiences. Recent wins include the continued expansion of our work with several leading global video game publishers. We've already started We have already started multiple new programs that are expected to contribute to second quarter sales, while also building a broader pipeline of opportunities for the second half of the year. These programs reflect the increasing demand we see for GameSquare's ability to combine creators' content, live experiences, media, data, and production into integrated campaigns that engage both digital and IRL audiences. In addition to the momentum we are seeing with individual publisher programs, We are also building a strong track record, helping leading game publishers and brands launch, promote, and extend engagement around major titles and gaming communities. This includes identifying and procuring the right creators, developing the creative strategy, and helping deploy campaigns across content, media, live experiences, and community channels. During the first quarter of 2026, this area of the business generated approximately $2.2 million of revenue, This includes recent programs for Capcom, Ubisoft, and other leading game publishers. We expect this to be a major contributor into Q2 and certainly in the back half of 2026. We are also gaining strong traction in what we view as an important IP creation opportunity for brands and publishers. Programs such as Into the Zones, Epic Games, and the Roblox Creator Showdown demonstrate our ability to develop original repeatable formats that can be monetized across multiple aspects of the GameSquare ecosystem. These properties bring together creators, publishers, brands, content media, live experiences, sponsorships, production, and community engagement in a way that creates multiple high-value revenue opportunities across our platform. Importantly, these programs are a strong proof of our land and expand strategy. Across Into the Zone and Roblox Creator Showdown, we have developed multiple pieces of IP with our clients supporting approximately 10 events globally in 2026 and generating approximately 5.5 million of revenue today. We have already locked in events in the US, Germany and London, with an event in Brazil coming, highlighting both the global production capabilities we've built and the opportunity to expand successful programs into additional markets, formats and commercial relationships over time. We are also seeing strong momentum at Qlik, With the recent addition of several high-profile creators, Qlik is positioned to deliver what we expect in Q2 to be the largest quarter in its history. The timing of these additions, combined with the appointment of Justin Miklat, gives us added confidence in our ability to scale talent, improve monetization, and drive higher-value brand partnerships with a focus on the US market. A recent example of Qlik's growth is the expansion of Hungry Boys Hot Sauce, the viral hot sauce brand from YouTube collective The Boys, which launched in November of 2025 across HEB grocery stores and has since expanded to Spencer's and nearly 300 world market stores. This success highlights our ability to convert creative influence into scalable consumer products, retail distribution, and incremental monetization opportunities. We expect to add additional commercially relevant creators to our platform during the second quarter, further expanding a talent ecosystem built to drive brand partnerships, consumer products, content, and experiential revenue. Within Stream Hatchet, we recently launched Creator Communities, which is a new way of handling the entire creative marketing process in one place, from creative discovery and onboarding to activation and reporting. As campaigns become more data-driven and performance-focused, companies are looking for platforms that can manage creator discovery, drive positive campaign execution, and provide performance analytics in a single workflow. Creator Communities represents the next step in StreamHatch's evolution from a data analytics platform into a broader creator marketing platform. We expect this new AI-enabled platform to begin generating revenue in the back half of 2026. Finally, we are seeing growth from brands and video game publishers across the globe. This includes meaningful opportunities across the Middle East and Asia within our agency business. As I mentioned before, our events business is producing multiple activations globally that coincide with some of the year's biggest cultural events. In addition, GameSquare will once again be well represented at this year's Esports World Cup, which will take place from July to August. and will feature a record-breaking $75 million prize pool. As you can see, we believe that we are well positioned for a strong second quarter and an even bigger second half of 2026. We are attracting and retaining leading brand and publisher relationships, scaling creator-led and experiential offerings, and converting our position in gaming and youth culture into measurable commercial opportunities. With increasing visibility into the second quarter, and the back half of the year, we remain extremely confident in our ability to execute against our full-year sales and profitability outlook. Before I turn the call over to Mike, I want to briefly mention our upcoming annual meeting of stockholders, which will be held virtually on June 18, 2026. Stockholders of record as of April 23, 2026 are eligible to vote. Your vote is important. In addition to the routine matters being voted on, stockholders are being asked to approve a proposal that would allow us to restate our certificate of incorporation and make several governance and corporate structure updates. These include eliminating supermajority voting requirements to amend our certificate of incorporation, declassifying our board of directors, increasing the number of authorised shares and making other non-material changes. I want to emphasise that we believe this proposal is important to GameScore's continued evolution as a public company. Importantly, we understand there may be some misconceptions around the proposal, particularly as it relates to the increase in authorised shares. Increasing authorised shares does not mean these shares are being issued, nor does it mean the company is automatically diluting stockholders. Rather, it is intended to provide GameScore with appropriate flexibility to support our long-term strategy. including potential strategic opportunities, growth investments, balance sheet management, and other corporate purposes that may create value over time. We are asking shareholders to take a few minutes to review the proxy materials and vote their shares. Whether you're in a large position or a small position, your vote matters and helps ensure your shares are represented at the annual meeting. We appreciate the continued support of our stockholders and encourage everyone eligible to vote to do so as soon as possible. So with this overview, I'd like to turn the call over to Mike to review our 2026 first quarter financial results. Mike.

Thanks, Justin. Our reported results for the first quarter of 2026 reflect the successful strategies underway to drive profitable growth. Comparing our 2026 first quarter reported results to the prior year, total revenue was 14.5 million compared to 7.4 million. The 95% year-over-year increase in revenue was primarily due to the acquisition of Click and TubeBuddy, as well as large growth in our marketing agency operating segment. Reported gross margin for the 2026 first quarter was 5.6 million, or 38.4% of sales, compared to 3.2 million, or 42.5% of sales for the same period last year. The slight year-over-year decline in gross margin was due to the change in revenue by product mix. Adjusted EBITDA for the 2026 first quarter was 1.1 million loss compared to the 1.6 million loss for the same period last year. The 1.5 million improvement reflects the strategies we are pursuing to drive profitable sales. On a pro forma basis, which includes a full quarter contribution of TubeBuddy, revenue was $15.8 million, and pro forma adjusted EBITDA loss was just $0.7 million, or 4.2% of pro forma revenue. We believe pro forma sales and adjusted EBITDA demonstrate the accretive contribution TubeBuddy will have on our financial performance. As of March 31, 2026, we had cash and cash equivalents in digital asset treasury assets of $35.9 million. GameSquare has a strong financial position with excellent liquidity to pursue strategic initiatives, invest in our operating platform, and return capital to shareholders. With that overview, I'll turn the call back over to Justin.