Last close As at 05/08/2026
PLN2.58
— 0.00 (−0.19%)
Market capitalisation
PLN472m
Research: TMT
CI Games has completed a key milestone with its Lords of the Fallen (LotF) launch on 13 October, achieving 1.2m unit sales by end-November. Q3 performance benefited from pre-launch sales of LotF, although marketing costs affected profitability. LotF is one of the first games to use the Unreal Engine 5 platform for cutting-edge graphics, which caused some initial compatibility issues that have since been addressed. Sentiment is positive across all demographics and the game has since received accolades that provide momentum for Black Friday and Christmas sales.
Written by
CI Games |
Strong momentum following LotF launch |
Q323 update |
TMT |
1 December 2023 |
Share price performance
Business description
Analysts
CI Games is a research client of Edison Investment Research Limited |
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CI Games has completed a key milestone with its Lords of the Fallen (LotF) launch on 13 October, achieving 1.2m unit sales by end-November. Q3 performance benefited from pre-launch sales of LotF, although marketing costs affected profitability. LotF is one of the first games to use the Unreal Engine 5 platform for cutting-edge graphics, which caused some initial compatibility issues that have since been addressed. Sentiment is positive across all demographics and the game has since received accolades that provide momentum for Black Friday and Christmas sales.
Year end |
Revenue* (PLNm) |
EBITDA* |
PBT** |
EPS |
EV/EBITDA |
P/E |
12/20 |
46.0 |
27.8 |
8.5 |
0.03 |
17.3 |
66.1 |
12/21 |
105.5 |
62.5 |
44.9 |
0.16 |
7.7 |
14.1 |
12/22 |
56.7 |
16.1 |
11.4 |
0.05 |
30.0 |
46.0 |
Note: *Estimates based on sales forecasts in US dollars and therefore vary with exchange rate movements to the Polish zloty. **Normalised, excluding amortisation of acquired intangibles, exceptional items and share-based payments.
CI Games reported 9M23 revenue of PLN59.1m, up 43% y-o-y. LotF boxed pre-sales invoiced in September drove top-line strength, with continued back catalogue performance. A PLN1.7m operating loss (9M22: PLN6.2m profit) partly reflects final LotF marketing costs before launch. To support expenses, the group drew PLN20m from its credit facility and issued a PLN27.8m convertible bond. However, the LotF sales swing should allow CI Games to pay down the debt.
The game generated sales of 1.2m units by end-November – a mix of digital sell-throughs (direct to consumer) and physical sell-ins (sold to retailer, not necessarily to the consumer due to lack of visibility on physical retail inventory). Management is guiding lifetime net reported sales of US$100m, representing a 34% margin over US$69m production and marketing costs, which would make LotF the group’s most successful game to date. Notably, a targeted marketing campaign achieved 214m views and 1.2m wish list additions on the Steam platform, providing visibility for LotF in a period of record competition from AAA title releases.
LotF was among the first games to use Epic’s 2022 Unreal Engine 5, enabling cutting-edge graphics but initially causing performance issues as hardware/drivers adjusted to UE5’s advanced capabilities. Despite issues relating to third-party compatibility, CI Games was able to respond swiftly with a patch fix, restoring positive sentiment. The group is continually working with Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices on UE5 optimisation, as well as providing daily updates to address concerns over balancing enjoyability and difficulty. LotF’s nomination for the fan-voted Golden Joystick Game of the Year prize and October popularity rank of 6th in Europe and 20th in the US show significant interest despite launch growing pains.
Black Friday and Christmas discounts should help sustain sales momentum into the year-end. Looking ahead, Project III and Project Survive are the next two pillars in the pipeline, focusing on ambitious gameplay and the popular survival genre, respectively. Both games will be developed on UE5, where lessons learned from LotF provide CI Games with a competitive advantage. Delivering on this momentum and the strategic pillars could act as a catalyst to the stock. We are reviewing forecasts with a view to updating FY23 numbers and introducing FY24 estimates.
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