Home » Business » Focus: French publisher loses Farming Simulator but acquires Deck13 (The Surge) – News

Focus: French publisher loses Farming Simulator but acquires Deck13 (The Surge) – News

Focus Home Interactive has published its annual results for the 2019-2020 financial year ended March 31, 2020. The least that can be said is that the lights are green with a profit up 64% compared to 2018-2019 fiscal year. The French publisher also clarified the nebulous situation of the next Farming Simulator and announced the purchase of the German studio Deck13. In this period of crisis, the group maintained its objectives, which reassured the financial markets at the opening of the Paris stock exchange today.

A new profitability record

The critical and commercial success of A Plague Tale: Innocence, which was released in the first quarter of 2019-2020, was therefore a good omen for the rest of the fiscal year. With a turnover of 142.8 million euros (+ 13% compared to the previous year) and an operating profit of 19.2 million euros (+ 36% compared to the financial year 2018 / 19), Focus Home Interactive manages to generate a sharp increase in profit (+ 64% compared to the previous year) amounting to 13 million euros. “We have demonstrated our ability to change dimension by transforming the superb games we have published into commercial successes.Said John Bert, director of operations for the company. “This was achieved thanks to our strategy of significant investments in order to improve the quality of our games“he adds.

In millions of euros Fiscal year 2019/20 Fiscal year 2018/19 Variation
Turnover 142,8 126,0 +13 %
Operating income 19,2 14,4 +36 %
Net profit 13,0 8,0 +64 %

The remarkable increase in profits is partly explained by a loss related to exceptional results (non-recurring events that take place during a fiscal year), down 98% compared to that of the previous year, as well only by a good performance of the games. The company also notes an increase in consumption in digital format, dematerialized accounting for 82% of sales for the whole year, compared to 66% for the 2018-2019 financial year. The extended period of confinement may have something to do with it. The good students cited are, like those named during the first semester results, World War Z, Greedfall and A Plague Tale: Innocence.

Focus: The French publisher loses Farming Simulator but gets Deck13 (The Surge)Focus: The French publisher loses Farming Simulator but gets Deck13 (The Surge)

27 games in development and acquisition of Deck13 to continue the strategy “EEE

Focus: The French publisher loses Farming Simulator but gets Deck13 (The Surge)

In accordance with its strategic planEnhance – Evolve – Explore”Formalized in November 2018 (after the acquisition of Cyanide by Bigben, but before that of Spiders, still by Bigben), Focus Home Interactive announces the takeover of the prolific German studio Deck13 (The Surge, Lords of the Fallen). In fact, the company, which has produced 20 games over the past 18 years and which employs around sixty people, was bought for the modest sum of 7.1 million euros. Focus specifies that the group now holds the rights to the intellectual properties designed by the German developer. According to the official press release, the studio is currently working on a project that has not yet been announced. By putting its grapple on Deck13, the French publisher also recovers the label Deck13 Spotlight, a publishing service dedicated to independent developers which he intends to benefit from in the future.

Focus Home Interactive recalls that 27 titles are under development, including 9 with more than 50% of intellectual property, which means more generous income from sales. After SnowRunner and Hardspace: Shipbreaker, Othercide and Necromunda: Underhive Wars should arrive this summer. Titles of Sumo Digital, Limestone Games, Gasket Games or StreumOn Studio will be presented soon, with softs of the Warhammer license for the last two studios mentioned. Finally, the French publisher announces that it has signed 4 new projects with 3 partners, among which “an independent nugget made in France”And“two renowned international studios”, According to the press release.

Focus: The French publisher loses Farming Simulator but gets Deck13 (The Surge)Focus: The French publisher loses Farming Simulator but gets Deck13 (The Surge)

New Farming Simulator Won’t Pay Harvest at Focus

Focus: The French publisher loses Farming Simulator but gets Deck13 (The Surge)

We told you about the vagueness surrounding the future episode of Farming Simulator in our previous articles. End of suspense, Giants will publish the next game of the famous franchise on its own. The goose that lays the golden eggs therefore wants to remove the middlemen and sell its food itself. The markets had anticipated this announcement by punishing Focus during the first half results, when the French publisher had announced that no new Farming Simulator would arrive during the 2020/21 fiscal year. The group will however continue to deliver additional content to the current edition, over the months. Despite this announcement, the company maintains its turnover targets set between $ 110 and $ 130 million for fiscal year 2020-21, and between $ 150 and $ 200 million for fiscal year 2021-22. As Focus points out, these objectives had already taken into account the absence of a new Farming Simulator, hence the fact that they remain unchanged.

By posting results in clear progression and by maintaining its objectives in spite of the decision of Giants to self-publish the next Farming Simulator, Focus Home Interactive impresses the markets. At the time of this writing, the title has experienced a change of + 8.30%.

Profil the Carnbee, Jeuxvideo.com

By Carnbee, Journalist jeuxvideo.com

MP

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