CI Games, the developer of Lords of the Fallen, touted its record revenue a few months after it laid off 10% of its workers.
The company said that it delivered its "best year" ever in revenue terms, saying that it raked in more than $60 million during fiscal 2023. The developer also said that the revenue total represented a 400% rise year-over-year.
CI Games Touts Revenue
(Photo : CI Games / Screenshot taken from official website)
The record income comes as their game, Lords of the Fallen, had sold approximately 1.3 million units in less than three months. Over the 12-month reporting period, CI Games was able to record a gross profit of roughly $6.48 million and a net profit of roughly $3.57 million.
It was also revealed that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization or EBITDA, which is an alternate measure of profitability to net income, amount to roughly $24 million.
The CEO of CI Games Group, Marek Tyminski, described the 2023 fiscal year as a "period of continued momentum." He thanked the launch of Lords of the Fallen, which was the company's most expensive title in history and was able to generate 83% of sales revenue across the year, according to Game Developer.
However, Tyminski neglected to mention that the company made some layoffs back in January that resulted in 10% of the company's workforce being made redundant. CI Games at the time said that it made the "tough but necessary decision to cut jobs in order to deliver "business strength and stability."
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Previous reports noted that the workers who worked at Lords of the Fallen studio Hexworks, Sniper Ghost Warrior developer Underdog, and the "majority" of the company's marketing team would be affected by the layoffs.
The latest fiscal report of CI Games said that more than 180 people currently work at the company. It also said that Hexworks currently has an internal development team of 82 workers while Underdog has 53 staff members.
Lords of the Fallen's Performance
With regards to the initial 1 million units that Lords of the Fallen sold, 55% came from the higher-priced Deluxe version and 54% came from consoles. On top of the sales data, a previous report included some details about CI Games' new upcoming projects, said WCCFTech.
They mentioned that there were multiple new games in development with the publisher's ambition to "increase the rate of new game releases to every 12 to 18 months. The company's "Project Survive" from Underdog Studio had targeted a 2025 release.
In October 2022, the publisher's roadmap mentioned a release time somewhere between 2023 and 2024 for the new survival title. A change from the previous announcement is that it was Hexworks that was said to be working on the project but it was changed to Underdog Studio.
Late last year, CI Games also shared its ambitious revenue target for Lords of the Fallen, saying that it plans to achieve $100 million in reported net revenue from sales in the coming years. The company expects its popular game to be one of its main revenue drivers.
Despite having a mixed review rating on Steam in November last year, Lords of the Fallen performed relatively well for a game in the Soulslike genre. It peaked at more than 43,000 concurrent players at the time, according to Game World Observer.
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