TBLS Tinybuild Inc.

23 April 2024

tinyBuild, Inc

("tinyBuild" or the "Company")

Preliminary Unaudited Results for the year ended 31 December 2023

tinyBuild (AIM:TBLD), a premium video games publisher and developer with global operations, announces the Company's unaudited results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2023.

Financial Summary (unaudited):

¹ Excludes share-based compensation expenses and exceptional items (e.g. impairment); includes amortisation of Development costs

Financial highlights:

Operational highlights:

Employee Benefit Trust:

Post Period End highlights:

Outlook

Alex Nichiporchik, Chief Executive Officer of tinyBuild, commented:

"2023 was a tough year for the whole video games industry and demonstrated once again the importance of strong diversified back-catalogue and investing in long-term, sustainable franchises. We see early signs of success in our shift towards the 1,000 hour game and we will continue to experiment with the aim to add additional revenue streams to our core business."

"On a personal note, I want to thank our Chairman, Henrique Olifiers, the Board of Directors and all staff for their unwavering support and incredible dedication navigating through these tumultuous times."

Enquiries:

About tinyBuild:

Founded in 2013, tinyBuild (AIM: TBLD) is a global video games publisher and developer, with a catalogue of more than 70 premium titles across different genres. tinyBuild's strategy is to focus on its own intellectual property (IP) to build multi-game and multimedia franchises, in partnership with developers.

tinyBuild is headquartered in the USA with operations stretching across the Americas and Europe. The Group's broad geographical footprint enables the Company to source high-potential IP, access cost-effective development resources, and build a loyal customer base through its innovative grassroots marketing.

tinyBuild was admitted to AIM, a market by the London Stock Exchange, in March 2021.

For further information, visit: www.tinybuildinvestors.com.

Chairman's Statement

Restarting the game

It's an understatement to proclaim it has been a challenging financial year for the tinyBuild. From key changes to its executive team to the closure of studios; from delayed titles to an equity fundraise underwritten by its CEO and founder, tinyBuild has worked with and around a great deal of issues, and the management continues to work hard to address the challenges of a fast-changing industry.

While it's true the industry as a whole faced headwinds in the past twelve months, the travails of the Group should not be solely ascribed to these variables. Our merger & acquisitions (M&A) growth strategy delivered underwhelming results, prompting a refocus towards internal production which, although slower, in turn allows for more control and predictability, likely improving outcomes in the form of more games that perform in line with forecasts.

Given our stated ambition of transitioning a significant portion of our portfolio from premium games to games as a service, this realignment towards production and publishing is key and features higher odds of delivering the expected results. Greenshoots of this work can already be seen in the form of the successful announcements of Kingmakers, Level Zero: Extraction and DUCKSIDE, and how these titles' premises resonated with players to a higher degree compared to the titles the group announced or launched last year.

Overall, the fundamentals of the games industry remain solid and promising, full of opportunities, not least the opening gap in release windows that is being created by the recent series of titles cancellations and teams' closures industry-wide: in the next 12 to 36 months, there should be fewer competing titles launched than otherwise across all platforms, creating more space for our games to be seen and experienced. This puts renewed demand over the tinyBuild teams, in particular its executive group, to go back to the basics that formed its earlier success stories: its ability to produce and find high-quality IP rather than offloading this mandate to companies brought into tinyBuild through M&A.

The executive team's conviction in its ability to deliver against the stated objectives is exemplified by the CEO's actions when reinvesting into the business at a critical juncture. This belief is shared throughout the Group, and bolstered by the recent titles announcements' reception, pointing towards the potential of our upcoming games and their alignment with the group's long term strategy.

What remains now is to execute on the new strategy, and live up to the expectation of these games both on production and publishing fronts - something tinyBuild has the capability to deliver over the coming years.

Henrique Olifiers

Non-Executive Chairman

Chief Executive's Review

2023 has been the reset year of the games industry, which is bleeding into 2024. We've seen development budgets in AAA skyrocket, which led to, despite record-setting sales, also record-setting layoffs, and a complete reshuffle of allocation of capital. Many studios have realized the hardships of building efficient teams remotely. Most studios are readjusting to listening to gamers first and foremost, and using real data to make decisions. All while megahits such as Palworld and Helldivers 2 are reaffirming our strategy of investing into deeply replayable, emergent gameplay products.

In 2023 we have refocused on products that connect with audiences, using hard data to back it up, evidenced by early 2024 traction and announcements. We are also leaner and more efficient, with a lower and more flexible cost base.

We're all gamers at tinyBuild. It's all about the games. My full attention has been on our games product since post the fundraise at the start of the year.

Tectonic shifts in the industry

Over the course of 2023 funding for video games dried up completely. All of the sudden, capital was not cheap anymore, if it was accessible at all. At the same time, the wave of labour cost inflation caused by the invasion of Ukraine aggravated pressure on development budgets, which were already particularly high, so funding even the most promising game became incredibly hard in the context of the funding environment before 2023.

As the development of a game was becoming more difficult to finance, a huge number of games developed in previous years were being released, without sufficient market demand to support all of them. A good and fun game that would have performed really well only a few years back may just drown in the sea of new launches and even struggle to cover its costs.

For a game to get noticed now, you need to have a brand new idea, cool-looking graphics, top-notch technology, constant two-way communication with your audience and impeccable marketing strategy. The relationship between developer and publisher is even more important and is the only way to achieve a successful launch.

Adapting our strategy

Over the past few years, we have continued to adapt our strategy to the changing environment, shifting gradually to the 1,000-hour game. When players are so completely fascinated by the experience that nothing else matters. They spend over a year playing it, for several hours every day. Every single day. We all have these memories from our youth. Mortal Kombat, Tekken, GTA SAMP (which morphed into GTA Online), Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, World of Warcraft, amongst the many examples.

The easiest way to create a game like these is to get thousands of developers churning out enormous amounts of content in a mega franchise. It's absolutely fine to do so. If I think of it though, the amount of money poured into some of my favourite games is really scary. So we took a different tack, we look for emergent gameplay based on the interaction systems instead of content. Games where the players may decide their own definition of win. Games like Minecraft or DayZ, H1Z1, Rust, ARK, The Culling even. If you grew up playing Minecraft, your game experience is not about a game saying you did great. It's about knowing you did great. It's about the emotional satisfaction of your own set goal and achieving that goal.

Let's first talk about multiplayer since this is the obvious focus for us. Secret Neighbor, SpeedRunners, Pandemic Express, Deadside, the upcoming SAND, Rawmen, Kingmakers, Level Zero - all of these are multiplayer games. Here's what we learned from these games and playing other titles:

●    You release a game that blows up.

●    Tens of thousands of users play the game.

●    Two weeks later the buzz starts to drop off.

●    Development teams need to rapidly scale up and produce more content so that veteran players come back.

We were stuck in exactly this grind loop with Secret Neighbor, working overtime to get content updates out the door. Even then, new players can't really appreciate the later-stage level content as they're still enjoying the vanilla game. Instead now we focus on adding more systems to the game so that all players can experience from the outset and interact with each other on an equal level. Social interaction in multiplayer games is another gameplay mechanic which is not fully understood and should be used in single player experiences. The addition of crafting, looting, farming and similar mechanics also allows users to create their own progression and their own personal space in the game.

So here we have a formula to create worlds where players can spend 1,000 hours, without committing a AAA budget.

KINGMAKERS - the potential to be the next big thing?

Kingmakers is a shooter/real time strategy hybrid where you fight off thousands of enemies in a medieval battle - using modern weapons. The game is developed by the extremely talented team behind Road Redemption, and the tech behind it has been in the works for over four years.

The announcement of this title is a testament to our approach to production and marketing of new IP. The announcement trailer received tens of millions of views across social media, propelling the game to top 50 wishlisted on Steam within weeks. We are working hard to meet player expectations when the game launches.

Level Zero: Extraction - re-announcement

If something isn't working, you need to adapt and overcome. Level Zero was announced two years ago as an asymmetric multiplayer title, and while it got initial traction, we were concerned about the longevity of the concept. A year ago we came together with the design team and looked at the market landscape, agreeing we had an opportunity to pivot into an exciting direction. Typically re-announcing a game gets little to no traction.

Our production and marketing teams came up with a brilliant plan. Let's re-announce the game in its new form - as an Extraction-style horror title - focusing on the unique aspects of several human teams fighting each other, and an overarching threat, a team of monsters that hunts everyone. We did an amazing trailer, and actually gave the game to targeted influencers to play it. The shortest way to describe it is "Alien Isolation meets Escape from Tarkov", and it hit the target audience exactly how we forecasted. A new, fresh take with live gameplay sessions recorded for influencers. This rejuvenated interest in the title, and set us up for a public playtest with close to 100,000 players opting in.

We have proven that we don't need a AAA budget to reach large audiences. We have plenty of exciting projects in the pipeline for 2024 and beyond. This pipeline combined with the recent fundraise, leaves tinyBuild well positioned. I am as confident in the opportunity ahead and we all remain 100% committed to ensuring we capitalise on it.

2024 and beyond is the time to shine.

Alex Nichiporchik

CEO and Founder

Chief Financial Officer's Review

2023 was a testing year. Testing for our staff and testing for the whole Company. Game delays at Versus Evil and inflationary cost pressures added to a sharp decline in revenues from large deals into the end of the year. We regrouped once more and together we made some difficult decisions. We took action on costs to re-align expected revenues with planned growth investments and we raised net proceeds of over $11m in new capital, welcoming Atari as a new core investor in tinyBuild.

The full impact of the internal reorganisation will become visible only in 2024 which started with cautious investments in high-potential games that have already received validation from their respective audiences.

Revenue

Revenue generated from games sold to consumers were resilient at $34.2m (-1% y-o-y), but the sharp drop in revenues from large contract (e.g. subscription programs, development partnerships and exclusivity agreements) caused Company revenues to decline by 29% (2022: +21%) from $63.3m to $44.7m. Events revenues increased over 100% in 2023 with launches in new locations across Western and Central Europe.

Revenue generated from own-IP (1st and 2nd party games) declined to 65% of gaming revenues (2022: 77%), as a result of changes in portfolio mix. Revenues from back-catalogue increased to 92% of total (2022: 80%), with successful new releases including I am Future (Early Access) and Punch Club 2. The top 5 games generated 46.8% of total revenues (2022: 44.8%), and the top 10 games 65.4% (2022: 66.3%), demonstrating broad diversification across audiences, genres and technologies.

Operating Profit and Adjusted EBITDA

Operating loss was $63.7m (2022: $15.9m operating profit), impacted by the $18.6m decline in revenues, the $36.2m impairment of software development costs and $11.9m impairment of other intangible assets. Exceptional charges for 2023 relate to a $3.5m legal settlement. Included within the operating loss is a further $0.6m of charges in relation to the conflict in Ukraine, where the situation remains uncertain and management cannot exclude further charges in the future.

Adjusted EBITDA is presented net of amortisation of development costs, excluding share-based compensation expenses, amortisation of purchased IP and other intangible assets and one-off costs. Adj. EBITDA loss was $7.1m (2022: $24.4m profit), largely driven by the decline in revenues, aggravated by inflationary pressure on costs resulting from the geopolitical and macroeconomic situation. The full impact of cost action carried out before the end of 2023 will be visible in 2024.

Interest income and taxation

Interest income was $0.4m (2022: $0.1m) and tax provision $1.4m (2022: $0.5m).

Financial Position

In 2023, the net cash position decreased to $2.5m from $26.5m, as investments in new games including a number of larger-budget titles more than offset cash generated by the operations. In December tinyBuild also paid the $1.5m as part of the legal settlement, with a further $2m paid in February 2024. Capitalised software development costs decreased from $35.8m to $31.9m in 2023 as a result of more selective investments in the upcoming pipeline releases. As at 31 March 2024, post the January fundraise, the Company had cash levels in the high single-digit millions. This is anticipated to reduce towards the half year as the Company invests in upcoming game releases scheduled for the second half of this year.

Goodwill decreased from $3.7m to zero, following the impairment of Versus Evil and Red Cerberus. IP decreased to $16.1m (2022: $23.1m) and Software Development to $34.0m (2022: $49.0m) as the impairment carried out in 2023 more than offset additions.

Cash Flow

Cash flows from operating activities decreased from $19.3m to $10.9m primarily due to lower revenues and game delays at Versus Evil, more than offsetting the decrease in investments. Timing issues (e.g. December sales) also impacted net working capital. It is important to note that timing issues can fluctuate year over year and variability here is to be expected especially during the Holiday season and partners' payment terms.

Employee incentive plan and EBT update

Since the Company's previous update on 21 December 2023, the Employee Benefit Trust has purchased an additional 1,015,058 ordinary shares on the market and now holds a total of 3,916,587 ordinary shares. The EBT was setup in 2022 for the benefit of current and future employees and will continue to act independently of the Company to satisfy potential future option exercises of vested options granted.

As previously announced, the Remuneration Committee of tinyBuild intends to utilise share awards to incentivise and retain key employees and executive directors. The share awards not only encourage share ownership and stakeholder alignment in the business but also serves to preserve cash resources that would otherwise be used by the Company to satisfy bonus awards. A further announcement will be made in due course in connection with these awards, which includes a multiyear vesting share award to Giasone Salati, CFO of the Company. Where possible, the Company has the option to issue shares from the employee benefit trust to satisfy such awards.

Acquisitions and disposals

In December 2023 tinyBuild sold Not Games studio, while retaining Not For Broadcast, a critically acclaimed full motion propaganda simulator. tinyBuild had acquired the studio in March 2023, ahead of the game's launch on consoles.

Giasone (Jaz) Salati

Chief Financial Officer

TINYBUILD INC.

CONSOLIDATED UNAUDITED INCOME STATEMENT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

*Adjusted EBITDA is a non-IFRS measure and is defined as earnings after capitalised software development costs, but before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation, share-based payments expenses, impairment and other significant one-off other income or expense items.

TINYBUILD INC.

CONSOLIDATED UNAUDITED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2023

TINYBUILD INC.

CONSOLIDATED UNAUDITED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2023