Pearl Abyss, developers of games such as Black Desert and Eve Online, posted their Q3 financials earlier this month. They list an overall increase of revenue that peaks just above their Q3 2021 reporting, indicating that the company has weathered the storm of post-covid video game fatigue. However, their share of mobile revenue is down in a significant contraction from 2021, even as their share of the North American market and revenue for Black Desert grows.
Pearl Abyss reported their revenue had reached $71.8m, compared to just over $71.2m in Q3 2021. The post-covid dip for video game companies has been a noted trend, as people return to work and the boom of video games and interactive media in lockdown begins to cool. But it seems as if Pearl Abyss have bucked the trend for this quarter, although it remains to be seen if their 2022 Q4 financials reach the peak of $87.1m reported Q4 2021.
Pearl Abyss also saw their mobile share of revenue shrink from 29% in Q3 2021 to 16% in Q3 2022. For their growth strategy they highlighted their new IP efforts such as Crimson desert and their push into Web3 gaming, although these have apparently been delayed past their original release, in a possibly serious setback.
Rises and dips
The dip in mobile’s share of revenue can be seen as concerning to some, but although there may be a contraction overall it should be understood this does not indicate an overall drop. As their share in other markets begins to grow, Pearl Abyss are likely seeing players flock to platforms other than PC when initially joining or returning to their audience. All of this makes the mobile share appear to drop significantly, but it may not indicate this is significantly less in real money terms than before.
Either way Pearl Abyss do not indicate any concerns or shift of focus from mobile, as their investor presentation prominently points to the addition of new content to Black Desert Mobile, the port of their flagship franchise to smartphones. Given Black Desert Mobile passed 50m registered players back in September, there’s no indication the game’s growth is shrinking either. Although net profit is down compared to Q3, it’s not as big of a shock as could be expected, and could also be partially attributed to their ongoing efforts to grow and invest their money into new projects.
