The period after the pandemic, especially 2022, has been an interesting year for the game industry. The industry has been climbing up to that point and has seen the first recession in its history. As of the beginning of 2023, indicators have been positive so far, and most professionals and analysts interpret the recession as normalization after an abnormally fast growth. Still, panic has managed to seep through a couple of cracks once.
This, combined with the hyper-casual’s glorious reign coming to an end, introduced strange dynamics to the industry. On one side are layoffs, studios shutting down, merging to survive, or being assimilated into another, while on the other side, companies are changing their establishing genres and shifting strategies. There are also companies that resist giving in to panic and push on to further expansion. Nordcurrent is one of these.
Nordcurrent, Lithuania-based mobile game development and publishing studio, managed to defy the challenges faced by the industry and achieve remarkable growth. The company reported a notable 42% increase in revenue, reaching an impressive €89 million in 2022 compared to €62.75 million in 2021.
Nordcurrent’s profits before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) also saw an extraordinary surge, skyrocketing by 551% to €9.38 million in 2022, up from €1.44 million in 2021.
Victoria Trofimova, the CEO and Co-Founder of Nordcurrent attributes the company’s success to two key factors: the triumphant launch of new games and substantial investments in advancing previously released titles. Two highly anticipated titles, the simulation game “Happy Clinic” and the detective game “Murder By Choice” were unveiled in 2022 and have already surpassed 1 million downloads. These games have captivated millions of players, substantially increasing both player base and revenue.
Victoria Trofimova further commented:
“Our titles, ‘Airplane Chefs’ and ‘Pocket Styler,’ have garnered an impressive and dedicated player base since their launch in 2021, with ‘Airplane Chefs’ surpassing a staggering 20 million downloads. As part of our strategic focus last year, we prioritized optimizing user acquisition while elevating the overall gaming experience. By introducing captivating new features and delivering fresh content, we achieved remarkable growth in profitability for these games. Furthermore, we take great pride in the enduring success of our flagship game, ‘Cooking Fever,’ which continues to excel and captivate players even after eight extraordinary years.”
Apart from its game-related achievements, Nordcurrent expanded its operations significantly, experiencing a notable 40% growth in 2022. The company welcomed 73 new colleagues who joined Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine offices.
Looking ahead, Nordcurrent predicts moderate growth for 2023 and is working on several new titles they eagerly anticipate releasing.
