The prominent social casino gaming entity, DoubleU Games, witnessed a downturn in their revenue during the final quarter of 2021. This decline occurred despite the positive performance of other companies in the same industry, which have benefited from increased social activity following the pandemic.
DoubleU Games’ revenue for the three-month period experienced a 12.9% decrease compared to the same period in the previous year. This downturn is attributed to the resurgence of social interactions outside the home, leading to a reduction in gaming engagement.
DoubleDown Interactive, a subsidiary of DoubleU Games, has recently become a publicly traded company in the United States. The company successfully issued 6.316 million shares, generating $86.5 million after accounting for associated expenses.
The majority of DoubleU Games’ revenue is derived from DoubleDown Casino, which generated 98 billion won. This represents a 6.2% decrease compared to the same period in the previous year. DoubleDown Interactive reports a 22.1% decline in monthly active users compared to the prior year.
The daily active user count has also experienced a decrease, falling by 15.7% to 986,000.
Although participation figures dropped, expenditures by those who continued to engage in the activity rose. DoubleDown products witnessed an 11.6% surge in average revenue per daily active user, reaching $0.96, while average monthly revenue per participant climbed 14.3% to $224.
In the meantime, DoubleU Casino revenue dipped 21.6% to 47.1 billion won, while other games experienced a 33.7% decrease to 5.7 billion won. The parent company did not disclose player statistics for all products.
On the spending front, operational expenses in the third quarter escalated to 102.7 billion won, primarily due to amplified marketing expenditures and a slight increase in platform fees. This resulted in a minor reduction in operating profit to 48.1 billion won.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) also declined from 60.7 billion won in the third quarter of 2020 to 52.8 billion won. However, DoubleU’s non-operating income expanded significantly, with higher interest income and favorable exchange rates contributing an extra 4.9 billion won to its operating profit.
This was partially offset by 5 billion won in non-operating expenses, but pre-tax profit still expanded 7.6% to 52.5 billion won. Taxes paid in the quarter also decreased to 9.3 billion won, meaning net profit increased 16.1% year-over-year to 43.2 billion won, a new company record.
Looking ahead, DoubleDown is venturing beyond social casinos for the first time with the launch of “World of the Dead: Hero Survival.”
This title was launched worldwide in late September as part of their “Beyond Social Casino” plan, intending to broaden their product offerings.
Thus far, the game has garnered 500,000 downloads in the North American market without substantial promotional efforts.
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