TIDMFDEV
RNS Number : 4636L
Frontier Developments PLC
13 January 2021
13 January 2021
Frontier Developments plc
Trading statement
Frontier Developments plc (AIM: FDEV, 'Frontier', the 'Group' or
the 'Company') , a leading developer and publisher of videogames
based in Cambridge, UK, provides an update on trading following the
Holiday period and in advance of the publication of interim
financial results:
-- Trading in the current financial year to date is ahead of the Board's original expectations
-- Extended home working has created additional development challenges
-- Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is still planned for release on PC
in FY21, with PlayStation and Xbox releases now coming in FY22 to
ensure the best experience for players on all platforms
-- Frontier Foundry title Lemnis Gate is now planned for release in FY22
-- Notwithstanding the decision to move these releases to FY22,
the Board continues to expect that revenue for FY21 will be in the
range of GBP90 million to GBP95 million
TRADING
Trading in the first six months of the current financial year
('H1 FY21' - 1 June 2020 to 30 November 2020) was in-line with
expectations, with strong performances from all four existing
titles, including major new platform launches for Planet Coaster
and Jurassic World Evolution in November, the final month of H1
FY21. Total revenue of approximately GBP37 million for H1 FY21 is
expected to be reported when interim results are published on 3
February 2021, which represents a 16% increase over the comparative
period (H1 FY20: GBP32.0 million).
Revenue in December, which is typically the biggest month of the
year for videogames sales, was stronger than expected across all
four titles, with both base games and paid downloadable content
('PDLC') selling ahead of expectations. As a result, trading in the
current financial year to date is ahead of the Board's original
expectations.
HOME WORKING
We successfully transitioned to working from home prior to the
official lock-down in March 2020, enabling our teams to continue to
work as effectively as possible. Our talented and dedicated teams
performed amazingly through the challenges of 2020, continuing to
develop and launch high quality content to our player communities,
including the great technical achievement of expanding our
audiences with Planet Coaster being launched on both current and
next generation PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and Jurassic World
Evolution having added the Nintendo Switch to its list of
platforms. In general we found individual task-based working in
most cases to be just as effective from home as from the office,
but are continually trying to adapt our processes for group and
planning tasks that require collaborative working. There is no
question there are still some efficiency challenges, especially for
larger projects, when working remotely.
ELITE DANGEROUS: ODYSSEY
Our next major internally developed release is Elite Dangerous:
Odyssey, which is a major new paid era for Elite Dangerous,
allowing Commanders to explore distant worlds on foot for the first
time, taking on new missions and engaging in intense tactical
combat, seamlessly merging with Elite Dangerous' iconic cockpit
experience. Premiered during The Game Awards on 10 December 2020,
reaction to the Elite Dangerous: Odyssey trailer has been positive
and encouraging in advance of its release this year.
Elite Dangerous continues to perform well through an engaged and
ever growing community of Commanders. During 2020 Elite Dangerous
hit its highest ever player numbers shortly after the Fleet
Carriers update at Easter, and then again higher still since on
multiple occasions, including just before Christmas. There is a
great deal of excitement around Elite Dangerous: Odyssey both
outside the Company and within. Over its lifetime Elite Dangerous
has already generated over GBP100m in revenues, with over 4 million
base game units sold. A successful strategy to seed new players in
advance of the launch of Odyssey yielded an additional 8 million
base game owners through the launch of Elite Dangerous on the Epic
Games Store in November 2020 including a 'Free Week'.
As always we are committed to delivering a high quality
experience through the release of Odyssey, to a large and engaged
player community with high expectations. Odyssey is coming together
well, despite Covid-related challenges with collaborative working
on such a large project, which are resulting in some inevitable
minor delays.
Having reviewed project timelines to take into account the
renewed need to continue with remote working for the near future,
as well as our commitment to release only when we are certain that
the experience for our players, on all platforms, will be as
enjoyable as possible, our launch plans for Odyssey have now been
updated.
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is expected to release on PC, the
biggest platform for Elite Dangerous, before the end of the
financial year (which ends on 31 May 2021), albeit slightly later
than our initial target for Q1 2021 (January to March). This will
be preceded by an alpha period. Our plan for PlayStation and Xbox
is to submit console versions for approval as soon as possible
after we have released on PC, rather than putting the console
developments of Odyssey under additional time pressure by planning
for a simultaneous PC/console launch. PlayStation and Xbox console
releases will therefore now come in FY22.
FRONTIER FOUNDRY
Covid-19 remote working has also adversely impacted some of our
development partners under Frontier Foundry, our games label for
third party publishing. Lemnis Gate, the awarding winning FPS game
with an intriguing time-based strategic element, will now release
in FY22 versus the original plan for a FY21 launch. We have a
number of other exciting partner titles planned for FY22 release,
and remain confident that Frontier Foundry will continue to grow
and so become a material part of our business.
OUTLOOK
Our existing portfolio, including both base games and PDLC
products, continues to sell ahead of our original expectations for
FY21, and based on all currently available information the Board's
projections for FY21 remain in-line with the previously guided
revenue range of GBP90 million to GBP95 million, despite the Elite
Dangerous: Odyssey console version and Lemnis Gate launch revenues
moving into FY22.
The current range of analysts' revenue projections for FY22 is
GBP133 million to GBP153 million. The Elite Dangerous: Odyssey
console version and Lemnis Gate launch revenues will now supplement
our initial estimates for FY22. We anticipate the continued strong
performance of our existing portfolio in FY22 alongside
contributions from an exciting line-up of new games, including two
multi-platform releases incorporating major global IP licenses and
a number of Frontier Foundry titles.
David Braben, Chief Executive, said:
"2020 was a hard year for a great many people because of the
challenges of Covid-19. Despite this, and doubtless helped by
lockdown boosting demand for screen-based entertainment around the
world, we had a successful year through the hard work and
adaptability of our talented teams. Our four great franchises have
really long play times and engaging social aspects to them, which
make them well-suited to lockdown.
We know that our Elite Dangerous community are looking forward
to the arrival of Odyssey this year, and we're focussed on
delivering the high quality experience that they expect and
deserve. 2021 is set to be another great year for Frontier."
This announcement contains inside information as defined in
Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014. The person
responsible for making this announcement on behalf of the Company
is Alex Bevis.
Enquiries:
Frontier Developments +44 (0)1223 394 300
David Braben, CEO
Alex Bevis, CFO
Liberum - Nomad and Joint Broker +44 (0)20 3100 2000
Neil Patel / Cameron Duncan
Jefferies - Joint Broker +44 (0)20 7029 8000
Max Jones / William Brown
Tulchan Communications +44 (0)20 7353 4200
Matt Low / William Booth / Tom Blundell / David Allchurch
About Frontier Developments plc
Frontier is a leading independent developer and publisher of
videogames founded in 1994 by David Braben, co-author of the iconic
Elite game. Based in Cambridge, Frontier uses its proprietary COBRA
game development technology to create innovative genre-leading
games, primarily for personal computers and videogame consoles. As
well as self-publishing internally developed games, Frontier also
publishes games developed by carefully selected partner studios
under its Frontier Foundry games label.
Frontier's LEI number: 213800B9LGPWUAZ9GX18.
www.frontier.co.uk
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END
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