Starbreeze AB (publ)

Good morning, everybody, and welcome to our presentation of the second quarter. And thank you all for listening in. There will be time for questions after the presentation. So please bear with me. My name is Mathieu. I'm the acting CEO and CFO of Starbase. So second quarter, key takeaways. Let's get into it. We have had a very good quarter with several updates for Payday 3. We also had an AGM where we appointed our new chairman of the board, Jörgen Goldner, and we have gone into full production of our next game, Dungeons & Dragons. Third-party publishing with RoboQuest as our biggest title continues to perform better than expected. And we ended the quarter with a strong cash position of about 335 million, which enables us to continue to develop Payday 3 at a high pace and at the same time develop and release Dungeons & Dragons in 2026, among other initiatives. So all in all, a very good quarter. Just to recap a little bit about Starbeast and our strategy. We usually talk about this in the presentations where we also highlight part of what we already have done and looking into what we're going to do going forward. So we have talked about this over the past years and I'm very glad to say that we continue to deliver on our goals we have set for 2024. If we're looking into the years to come, our strategy is to build Starbreeze stronger and better through self-publishing of our own games based on our own IPs. That's a core foundation of our company. We will have several games on the market, driving revenue and at the same time increasing stability. We will continue to monetize on all the titles we have published already or will publish in the future. And we have the ambitions to expand our franchises beyond games through, as an example, movie or TV series or other initiatives. I'm certain that we will see our games on different platforms going forward as well. So the statement we usually make regarding our strategy, where we are as a company, where we want to be, is that we say that we make cooperative multiplayer games with a focus on our community for a long time ahead. That's what we call games as a service internally here. So that's the core foundation of Starbiz, and we continue to have that as our key in Starbiz going forward as well. If we look a little bit more on what we have done when it comes to Payday 3, which is our biggest product and the core focus of the company. It's our top priority since September last year when we released the game. And the priority is to make the game better and more attractive for community as at the same time attract new players. We have up until now released three DLCs, including heists, weapons and cosmetics. We have also released two, three heists, two of the most popular ones from Payday 2. Really great feedback on that. So it feels good to actually bring also old content to the game. The latest release was actually done yesterday and we saw a very good improvement in CCU compared to previous months. Actually, one of the highest and best month since the game was released. It's fantastic to see the community loving what we're doing. On top of that, we have our Operation Medic Bag. It's a feature and quality of life range of improvements to the game. It's been released through various patches over the months, and we will continue to release more updates to the game for the coming months as well. Based on a response for our community, we feel confident that we are doing the right thing, developing the game, expanding it with more functionality and content, And simply making the game a better game. Some say where it should have been when we released the game, but now we are 100% focused on actually delivering on all the promises that we have made both to the community and to the market when it comes to Payday. Some of the features that's on the way is VoIP and server browser and current map and so on, and that will be released over the year. And the plan is to have some of those out in October already. We are not finished or happy with the current state of the game, even though we see huge improvements. We do have higher ambitions and we will continue to make improvements and release more DLCs over the months and years to come. So there is a release plan that we communicate to the community as well with when we are going to release content and what kind of content. Our other big project that's in the works is Project Baxter. It's based on a fantastic IP called Dungeons and Dragons that we have the benefit of developing a great game based on that one. And it's now in full production and it looks fantastic. So I'm really looking forward to be able to show more and talk more about this game going forward and hopefully closer to year end this year. The game is planned for release in 2026 and we are currently working on the release plan as well as evaluating different partnerships for the game to make the most of the game and make it as good as possible. If we go in a little bit to the financials. For a quarter. Net sales for the quarter amounted to 40.2 million, a slight decrease compared to the same quarter last year. Our EBITDA amounted to 8.1 million. Our second quarter is traditionally a little bit weaker quarter sales-wise, and we see that this year as well. The DLC we released in the quarter was released late in June at the same time as Steam Summer Sale. Unfortunately, that didn't impact the quarter that much. We saw most of the sales after the quarter. So we'll have an impacting third quarter instead. The depreciation plan for period three is quite aggressive. So we depreciate two thirds during the first 12 months of the release. So for the first 12 month period since September last year. So our depreciations for the quarter amounted to 78.9 million. We continue to invest heavily into our games, both Payday and Baxter and other projects, and we report the loss of the tax for 70.6 million. Our cash flow, though, was positive for the quarter with 2.1 million, and that took us to a healthy cash position at the end of the quarter of 334.6 million. If we look on the first six months of the year, the first half year, so to say, our net sales amounted to 96.8 million and our EBITDA amounted to 56.6 million. So a strong result and a good revenue for the first six months. And our cash flow for the first half year was positive with 81.1 million from operating activities. If we look at our cash flow development since year end, we closed the books in 2023 with a cash position of 348 million. And during the first six months of this year, we have a positive cash flow from operating activities related to our games done for 81 million, as I said. And we continue to invest in both Payday and Baxter and other projects. And we have invested so far 117 million in game development. Part of our revenue is related to Payday 3, is recognized as financing, and that's because it's related content that's not been released yet. And that together with some IFRS adjustments sums up to 23 million for the quarter. And as mentioned, a good cash position in the end of the quarter with 335 million. On the expense side, we feel that our underlying expenses are decreasing to a more long-term healthy level. We are continuously reviewing them and also our priorities, of course, to be as effective as possible when it comes to the expense side. During the quarter, we had some restructuring expenses related to changes in personnel, impacting our expenses on the total level with about 3.5 million. Direct cost amounted to 82.8 million. It's a very big increase compared to last year, but that relates to depreciations of intangible assets. In other words, payday three depreciations. And if you look on the actual amount recognized for depreciation for payday three was 74.1 million. Recognized under direct cost, we also have the revenue share related to row request and payday of about 4 million. Selling and marketing adjusted for reduction cost was pretty much in line with previous year. The expenses recognized there is mainly related to cost for personnel working with marketing and PR activities for fire games and at the moment mostly payday 3 then of course. Our admin expenses amounted to 16.7 million, which is a decrease compared to previous year of 4.1 million. So that's a good signal. We are focused on our expenses and keeping them at a decent level going forward. We had 192 employees at the end of the period, which is an increase with 13 employees compared to the same period last year. The ambition isn't to continue to grow the company significantly in number of employees, but we are recruiting key personnel and key competence, both for Baxter and Payday 3, of course, and for other initiatives. Finally, if we look at our balance sheet, our intangible assets of 497 million consists mainly of capitalized expenses for game development and goodwill. Property, plant and equipment amounts to 170 million, of which right of use assets for office lease, the Stockholm office, amounts to 111 million. Our current assets amount to 106 million and mainly relates to prepaid expenses and trade receivables. And cash then, as mentioned, 335 million. Furthermore, on the debt side, our external non-current liabilities has been amortized and the remaining part mainly relates to lease liabilities for the office. And our current liabilities of 173 million mainly relates to accrued expenses and trade payables. So to sum it up and the quarter that we just left, we had a good split of sales between our different games. Payday 3, still not fully recovered, but we see a very strong positive trend both in player activity and in sentiment and also in sales. And we look forward to releasing more content. And on top of that, that we have a solid cash position to further invest it both into Payday, but also Baxter and other parties going forward. That enables us to continue to deliver on our strategy. And I feel that we are in a very good position going forward. And by that we open up for questions.

Yes, so we have quite a few questions here in the chat. Let's begin with when will you show some form of gameplay or early trailer for Project Baxter?

As I mentioned, Project Baxter has gone into full production, so we are fully focused on that as well. We have a team in place that really delivers great content. And the ambition is to be able to show more and talk more about the game closer to the end. But it's really up to the marketing department to decide when we actually disclose more both content and information about the game. But I will definitely come back to that.

Right. You are currently both the acting CEO and CFO. Is it the idea that you will continue to be CFO in the future? Or have you made yourself available to the board as a permanent CEO?

Yes, the recruitment of a new CEO is really up to the board and that process is handled only by them. So I'm not involved in that process at all. I'm very happy to help out and I think taking on the responsibility as an acting CEO for the time being has been and is a great opportunity and I fear that we see where the recruitment is going, going forward, but it's up to the board to present both candidates and and the process.

We have a few questions here about the payday TV film project. Can you tell us if it will be a movie or a TV show?

The interest for Payday to take that IP into cinematics, either a movie or TV series, is very high. And we are in the works of that project at the moment. We haven't decided exactly what kind of format it is, and we will disclose that information as soon as we have set down the scope of it. But that's interest for both at the moment.

A question here, will you have any sale or rebate on Payday 3 for players of Payday 2 to migrate them over to Payday 3?

We are continuously doing marketing campaigns and discounts on Payday 3. And that's up to our marketing department to decide on when and how. Of course, Payday 2 players and the community we have for Payday 2 is very important to us. We want them to move over to Payday 3, of course, long term. But we're also happy to have them on Payday 2 continuously. But we do marketing campaigns with focus on them as well. So we'll see going forward.

Payday 3 is currently on Xbox Game Pass. Will it continue to be on Game Pass or can you say anything about the deal?

The Game Pass deal will expire shortly. It's usually a time bar with about usually around a 12 month period. If it will continue to be on Game Pass or not, that's up for a discussion between us and our publisher PlayOn and of course Microsoft. And we come back with more details about that if that's going to happen or not.

During Q2-23 to Q1-24, investments in game development and technology averaged about 45 million SEC. In Q2-24, investments amounted to 68 million SEC. Do you consider this to be a sustainable level going forward or do you anticipate higher or lower investment needs given the stages Payday 3 and Project Baxter are entering?

I would say that if you look on the amount of content that we actually released up until now and that's in the works now for the release over the coming month, it's a lot of content, both for Payday and as well as I said, Backstago and Interfold production. So the ambition is of course to continue to deliver content, but we will see when it comes to payday going into a more normal release plan and not having operation medic pad of course that will reduce the investment into payday 3 when it comes to development. On the other hand, if we would start up another project initiative that might lead to higher investments in game development related to that project then. But specifically for Payday 3, game development budget will be lower going forward.

You have stated that Project Baxter will be self-published, but the partnerships will be entered where it makes sense, likely regarding distribution and or marketing. Could you elaborate on what kind of revenue share or other contingents that investors could expect from such a partnership and also the magnitude of the advanced payments that are anticipated?

I can't get into numbers. Of course, that is something that we continue to negotiate and evaluating at the moment. Depending on what kind of deal that we decide to do, if it's a pure distribution deal, it's merely about getting an advance or prepaid prepayment, so to say. If you look on Game Pass, for instance, that's usually a yearly fee for a game. And if you would go into some kind of publishing deal, which is not what we plan currently for Baxter, then RevShare would come into play. But at the moment, we're not looking into that kind of deals. But we see going forward, the ambition is to do what we think is best for the game. to get the game out to as many consumers as possible, and at the same time do the best for Starbiz when it comes to making a profit on the game, of course.

Can you provide more details on the profit threshold Payday 3 needs to achieve for the agreement with Digital Brothers to take effect? Additionally, how close is Payday 3 to reaching that profitability target so far?

We have talked a little bit about that. We haven't disclosed the terms related to that contract in detail. What I can say is that the royalty to Digital Brothers is based on 33% of our net, basically our profit for the game. And then we're talking about actual cash received. So even though the game has generated a significant amount of revenue since the game was released, we also invest heavily into the game. And revenue is of course coming in later compared to the investment. At the moment we don't see any royalty payments related to Digital Buddies. We don't see it in the near future either. If the game continues to improve and we see sales picking up, I'm very happy to share the profit with the Digital Brothers. I mean, if we make money, we have a contract that we should share the profit on the game. So I'm happy to do that.

Is there any update on when features like offline mode, VoIP and CrimeNet will be introduced in Payday 3?

The current release plan, we're talking about those features in October. So you'll see press release coming out about that. It's in the works and the plan is October.

You had a good result from third party publishing. Is this due to the 1.0 launch of Tribe Must Survive and follow up? Is this sales level sustainable for the future quarters?

Specifically to try must survive. We have a released update for try must survive and it's a good game and it's out there. It's not generating a significant amount of money for strawberries, but the game that actually delivers at the highest level is Rover Quest and Rover Quest is where we focus and see the most. The opportunity going forward both to take it to new platforms, but also expanding the game. and investing into the game.

Can you give any details on the depreciations, assuming they will decrease 12 months after launch? How should we look at depreciations going forward?

As I said, two thirds will be depreciated over the first 12 months since release of the game, and then the remaining part will depreciate over a longer period of time. I don't have that top of mind exactly how many months, but I think you see that in our annual report as well. And we can clearly state that in the presentation going forward as well. But it will go down significantly since it's only one third remaining for depreciation and it's depreciated over a period of time several years.

Looking at the investments needed for Operation Medic Bag, is there any risk that investments in Baxter will be down prioritized?

No, it's a separate teams. Of course, as I said, our top priority has been Payday and is Payday. It's our strongest brand and a game we love. So we continue to focus on Payday. But when it comes to backstage, we recruited partly a new team. But we also had people working for Payday 2 and so on that moved over to backstage as well. So it's two separate teams. Baxter is fully staffed and we deliver that with good progress and according to plan. And the focus on Payday remains solid.

Do you have any plans to look into any sort of different revenue models for Payday 3? For example, a subscription service in order to increase income? Or will you continue to focus on DLCs as a preliminary income structure on top of game purchases?

We're continuously evaluating different opportunities. We're talking about Game Pass in a way that this is our model for Game Pass with DLC releases on a quarterly basis and so on. But we're continuously evaluating that. We need to adapt to what the consumers want and our community want. I think that's very important to be very flexible and look into and trying out different revenue models. And I'm sure you will see that going forward as well. It's up to our publishing department together with the publishing department with PlayOn to set the revenue models going forward. So we come back for that when it comes to year two. But for the coming release now in September, the model remains the same.

And we have the last question here. You have made some changes for Payday 3 regarding server provider and matchmaking services. Are you looking to make further changes away from the provider that was around the launch?

Yes, we are. We are evaluating the best technical platform for the game and how it should work going forward, both to make the game as good as possible for our players, but also to be able to have the game on the market at as low cost as possible, of course. So the cost has been high during the release and the time after. We have made some progress on that and we see significantly lower costs now for the game. But there are more things we can do. The ambition is to be having the game together with different partners going forward.