Frontier Developments have announced as part of their interim results and trading update that Jurassic World Evolution 2 sales have neared 1 million after just under three months of availability. This comes after an initial trading update revealed that Jurassic World Evolution 2 sales were "lower than expected" on the PC platform despite good reviews and encouraging pre-order sales.
Revenue has also grown 33% to £49.1 million (H1 FY21: £36.9 million) for the company since the release of Jurassic World Evolution 2 and the continued performance of other games in their Frontier Developments' portfolio, such as Planet Coaster and Planet Zoo.
David Braben, Chief Executive at Frontier Developments, said:
"We have had an unprecedented couple of years because of Coronavirus and the resulting changes, both positive and negative. We have seen increased sales and changes to purchasing patterns, the acceleration of the transition towards interactive entertainment and digital purchasing, and changes to production that embrace home-working. Although Coronavirus challenges remain, we believe we now have sound production processes that work in the new hybrid world, as demonstrated by the on-time and high quality delivery of the excellent Jurassic World Evolution 2, and this sets us up for future success."
While revenue has grown 33% in part because of ongoing Jurassic World Evolution 2 sales, the gross profit margin has been reduced to 63% compared to the 71% of last year (H1 FY21: 71%). This is due to IP license royalties for Jurassic World Evolution 2 and the console disc sales that achieve lower margins compared to disc sales.
"Our team has done a fantastic job adapting to all these challenges and finding new ways of working," Braben continued. "We have the potential for much greater growth in the next few years as we reap the benefits of all the hard work we have done to adapt to these changes and capitalise on a great portfolio of existing games together with the exciting new franchises such as Formula 1 management games and our Warhammer Age of Sigmar real-time strategy game. We are well set up with a great portfolio for an exciting future."
In other news, Elite Dangerous had a "difficult calendar year" due to its disappointing launch of its Odyssey expansion in May 2021. Despite this, the game continues to be supported and the Elite Dangerous community has seen a morale boost as a result of their work.
Frontier Developments is also seeing a big boost in the form of new employees, with 250 new employees added to the company, growing its total number to 745 overall as of December 31st 2021.
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