Q2 2026 G5 Entertainment AB Earnings Call

August 12, 2026

Speaker #2: Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Q2 2026 earnings call. We'll wait a few seconds for the attendee list to load properly. In the meantime, I just want to remind you that you're in listener view only during the presentation. Afterwards, we'll open up for a Q&A session.

Stefan Wikstrand: Morning, everyone. For the Q2 2026 earnings call, we wait a few seconds for the attendee list to load properly. In the meantime, I just want to remind you that you're in listener view only during the presentation, and then afterwards we'll open up for a Q&A session where you can raise your hand, and we will allow you to ask your questions verbally. You can also type questions in the Q&A box during the call or after, and we'll answer them when we get to the Q&A part. With that said, I will hand over to our CEO, Vlad Suglobov.

Speaker #2: You can raise your hand, and we'll allow you to ask your questions verbally. You can also type your questions in the Q&A box during the call or afterward, and we'll answer them when we get to the Q&A part.

Speaker #2: With that said, I will hand over to our CEO, Vlad Suglobov.

Speaker #3: Thank you, Stefan. Welcome, everyone, to the earnings call for the second quarter. We obviously have Stefan Bykstrand, our CFO, with us today, and as usual, we'll go through the presentation in about 15 minutes, and then we'll open the line for questions.

Vlad Suglobov: Thank you, Stefan. Welcome, everyone, to the earnings call for the second quarter. We obviously have Stefan Wikstrand, our CFO, with us today, and, as usual, we'll go through the presentation in about 15 minutes, and then we'll open the line for the questions. I'll start by giving you a brief overview of this morning's report. First I'll tell you about the current optimization of the workforce. As we disclosed in the first quarter report, the plan was to reduce our staff by approximately 180 employees with the aim to have a total of around 635 employees. This first wave of redundancies was completed during the second quarter. Since then, we have continued to review the workforce and the active projects, and we have identified further redundancies.

Speaker #3: I'll start by giving you a brief overview of this morning's report. First, I'll tell you about the current optimization of the workforce. As we disclosed in the Q1 report, the plan was to reduce our staff by approximately 180 employees, with the aim to have a total of around 635 employees.

Speaker #3: This first wave of redundancies was completed during the second quarter. Since then, we have continued to review the workforce and active projects, and we have identified further redundancies.

Speaker #3: So, this second wave of optimizations took the total number of employees down to approximately 550, and it was completed in early August. So, this is the number of employees as of today.

Vlad Suglobov: The second wave of optimizations took the total number of employees down to now approximately 550, and it was completed in early August. This is the number of employees as of today. The total yearly savings from both these waves of redundancies combined is approximately 11 million USD. Let's continue with the numbers from the report. Revenue was 20.1 million USD, and this was a decrease of 16% year-over-year and 7% sequentially. We unfortunately continue to see a sequential decline across all three main pillars of revenue, Sherlock, Hidden City, and the Jewels family of games. Hidden City, in particular, suffered due to new functionality that unfortunately had negative effects, and the game declined 10.5% year-over-year and 8% sequentially. That functionality has been restored, and as of July, the game was trending back gradually.

Vlad Suglobov: The second wave of optimizations took the total number of employees down to now approximately 550, and it was completed in early August. This is the number of employees as of today. The total yearly savings from both these waves of redundancies combined is approximately $11 million. Let's continue with the numbers from the report. Revenue was $20.1 million, and this was a decrease of 16% year-over-year and 7% sequentially. We unfortunately continue to see a sequential decline across all three main pillars of revenue, Sherlock, Hidden City, and the Jewels family of games. Hidden City, in particular, suffered due to new functionality that unfortunately had negative effects, and the game declined 10.5% year-over-year and 8% sequentially. That functionality has been restored, and as of July, the game was trending back gradually.

Speaker #3: And the total yearly savings from both these waves of redundancies combined is approximately $11 million USD. So let's continue with the numbers from the report.

Speaker #3: Revenue was $20.1 million, and this was a decrease of 16% year over year and 7% sequentially. We unfortunately continue to see a sequential decline across all three main pillars of revenue: Sherlock, Hidden City, and the Jewels Family of Games.

Speaker #3: Hidden City in particular suffered due to new functionality that unfortunately had negative effects, and the game declined 10.5% year over year and 8% sequentially.

Speaker #3: So that functionality has been restored, and as of July, the game was trending back gradually. Sherlock declined 16% year over year, and 8% sequentially, and finally we have the Jewels Family of Games that declined almost 30% year over year, and as we have stated in previous reports, we have had a roadmap in the second quarter we worked on it, and you know this roadmap included a number of changes to the Jewels games that were supposed to change the trajectory of these games, reach the end of the road, in the second quarter towards the end of it with little success.

Vlad Suglobov: Sherlock declined 16% year-over-year and 8% sequentially. Finally, we have the Jewels family of games that declined almost 30% year-over-year. As we have stated in previous reports, we have had a roadmap. In Q2, we worked on it. This roadmap included a number of changes to the Jewels games that were supposed to change the trajectory of these games. We reached the end of the road in Q2 towards the end of it with little success. So we see that we cannot justify continued investment in these games. The Jewels games will therefore be put in harvest mode. We will maximize the profitability of these games going forward, assuming that they will continue to gradually decline.

Speaker #3: So we see that we cannot justify continued investment in these games, and the Jewels games will therefore be put in harvest mode. We will maximize the profitability of these games going forward, assuming that they will continue to gradually decline.

Speaker #3: On the right side, we have seen a very strong performance in third-party distribution on the G5 Store. During the quarter, revenue from distributed third-party games increased 100% sequentially, which is pretty good.

Vlad Suglobov: On the bright side of things, we have seen a very strong performance in the third-party distribution on the G5 Store during the quarter. Revenue from the distributed third-party games increased 100% sequentially, which is pretty good. The interest from the developers is growing. We are releasing more third-party games in the G5 Store. The pipeline of new games to be signed is forming very well, too. We have also reached another all-time high gross margin of 73.1%, up from 70% last year. The reasons are the same, the continued growth of our direct-to-consumer channel, G5 Store, including third-party distribution, and the continued positive development of our efforts to monetize players on mobile devices directly, including through the webshop.

Speaker #3: The interest from developers is growing. We are releasing more third-party games in the G5 Store, and the pipeline of new games to be signed is forming very well, too.

Speaker #3: We have also reached another all-time high gross margin of 73.1%, up from 70% last year. The reasons are the same: the continued growth of our direct-to-consumer channel, G5 Store, including third-party distribution, and the continued positive development of our efforts to monetize players on mobile devices directly.

Speaker #3: Including through the web shop. Monthly average gross revenue per paying user continues to go up as well, and here we also set a new record of $79, which is a 15% year-over-year increase, reflecting the high quality of our loyal audience.

Vlad Suglobov: Monthly average gross revenue per paying user continues to go up as well. Here we also set a new record of 79 USD, which is a 15% year-over-year increase, reflecting the high quality of our loyal audience. User acquisition was 19.5% of gross revenue, higher than 18% a year ago. At the end of the quarter, our cash position stood at a strong 24.4 million USD after paying the dividend and share repurchases. We continue to remain debt-free and to have a strong balance sheet, which gives us strategic flexibility. Now let's move over to and have a little closer look at G5 Store and our D2C strategy. By now, the G5 Store has established itself as the clear number one among our distribution channels.

Vlad Suglobov: Monthly average gross revenue per paying user continues to go up as well. Here we also set a new record of 79 USD, which is a 15% year-over-year increase, reflecting the high quality of our loyal audience. User acquisition was 19.5% of gross revenue, higher than 18% a year ago. At the end of the quarter, our cash position stood at a strong $24.4 million after paying the dividend and share repurchases. We continue to remain debt-free and to have a strong balance sheet, which gives us strategic flexibility. Now let's move over to and have a little closer look at G5 Store and our D2C strategy. By now, the G5 Store has established itself as the clear number one among our distribution channels.

Speaker #3: User acquisition was 19.5% of gross revenue, higher than 18% a year ago. At the end of the quarter, our cash position stood at a strong $24.4 million, after paying the dividend and making share repurchases.

Speaker #3: We continue to remain debt-free and have a strong balance sheet, which gives us strategic flexibility. Now, let's move over and take a closer look at G5 Store and our D2C strategy.

Speaker #3: So by now, the G5 Store has established itself as the clear number one among our distribution channels. The low single-digit processing fees and the growing G5 Store continue to be a key driver of our margin performance, as just discussed.

Vlad Suglobov: The low single-digit processing fees and the growing G5 Store continue to be a key driver of our margin performance, as just discussed, given that third-party app stores typically charge between 12% and 30%. This cost efficiency directly contributes to our improved profitability and the expansion of our gross margin. We are talking about the gross margin, of course. Third-party mobile store sales continued to decline for G5, while G5 Store grew 5% sequentially and 15% year-over-year. It now accounts for 25.5% of total group revenue and 29% of net revenue, which is after the commissions. The share of payments from the players of mobile devices processed directly continues to grow rapidly. In Q1, we saw a doubling of such revenue from Q4, reaching 11% in total.

Speaker #3: Given that third-party app stores typically charge between 12% and 30%, this cost efficiency directly contributes to our improved profitability and the expansion of our gross margin.

Speaker #3: And we're talking about the gross margin, of course. Third-party mobile store sales continue to decline for G5, while G5 Store grew 5% sequentially and 15% year over year.

Speaker #3: And it now accounts for 25.5% of total group revenue, and 29% of net revenue, which is after the commissions. The share of payments from the players on mobile devices processed directly continues to grow rapidly.

Speaker #3: In the first quarter, we saw a doubling of such revenue from the fourth quarter, reaching 11% in total. In the second quarter, this trend has continued, and this share reached over 17% in the second quarter.

Vlad Suglobov: In the second quarter, this trend has continued, and this share reached over 17% in the second quarter, further reducing platform fee exposure. The extension of the G5 Store as a distribution platform continues. We launched three new games during the quarter, and of the games that were in negotiations during the quarter, five have been signed and negotiations are underway for nine games as of now. Revenue from third-party games is growing steadily, and we continue to be on track to make this a significant fourth revenue pillar for G5 over time. Let's move on to the next slide and look a little bit more in detail on the development during the quarter.

Speaker #3: Further reducing platform fee exposure, the expansion of the G5 Store as a distribution platform continues. We launched three new games during the quarter. Of the games that were in negotiations during the quarter, five have been signed and negotiations are underway for nine games as of now.

Speaker #3: Revenue from third-party games is growing steadily, and we continue to be on track to make this a significant fourth revenue pillar for G5 over time.

Speaker #3: Let's move on to the next slide and look a little bit more in detail at the development during the quarter. The negative trend here is explained, as mentioned before, by the decline in all three main pillars of our revenue: Sherlock, Jewels Family of Games, and Hidden City.

Vlad Suglobov: The negative trend here is explained, as mentioned before, by the decline in all three main pillars of our revenue, Sherlock, Jewels Family of Games, and Hidden City, and they all unfortunately underperformed, and that's why we have this dynamic. The share of own games is currently on the negative trend as well, and this is due to the weak performance of Sherlock and Jewels Family of Games, and this effect is further amplified by the increase of revenue from the distribution of third-party games in the G5 Store. As mentioned, our gross margin reached a record high of 73.1%, up from 70% a year ago, primarily due to the continued growth of the G5 Store and processing more of the mobile player revenue directly. Now let's look at our operating profits for the quarter.

Speaker #3: And they all unfortunately underperformed, and that's why we have this dynamic. The share of owned games is currently on a negative trend as well, and this is due to the weak performance of Sherlock and Jewels Family of Games. This effect is further amplified by the increase in revenue from the distribution of third-party games in the G5 Store.

Speaker #3: As mentioned, our gross margin reached a record high of 73.1%, up from 70% a year ago, primarily due to the continued growth of the G5 Store and processing more of the mobile player revenue directly.

Speaker #3: Now, let's look at our operating profit for the quarter. Reported operating profit for the period came in at minus $0.2 million, compared to a positive $0.6 million last year.

Vlad Suglobov: Reported operating profits for the period came in at -0.2 million USD compared to +0.6 million USD last year. The reported margin was -1.1% versus 2.5% a year ago. User acquisition was 19% as percentage of revenue compared to 18% in the second quarter of 2025. EBIT margin was slightly impacted by the increase in UA spend for the quarter. EBIT was also impacted by positive currency exchange effects and negatively by severance payments. Adjusting for these, EBIT was 0.1 million USD and 1.6 last year, corresponding to an EBIT margin of 0.4% compared to 6.8% last year. During the quarter, the net capitalization impact on earnings was 0.1 million USD compared to -0.3 million USD last year. Net capitalization will go down following the optimizations that we've made. Now let's talk about our cash position. Let's move on to the next slide.

Vlad Suglobov: Reported operating profits for the period came in at -$0.2 million compared to +$0.6 million last year. The reported margin was -1.1% versus 2.5% a year ago. User acquisition was 19% as percentage of revenue compared to 18% in the second quarter of 2025. EBIT margin was slightly impacted by the increase in UA spend for the quarter. EBIT was also impacted by positive currency exchange effects and negatively by severance payments. Adjusting for these, EBIT was $0.1 million and 1.6 last year, corresponding to an EBIT margin of 0.4% compared to 6.8% last year. During the quarter, the net capitalization impact on earnings was $0.1 million compared to -$0.3 million last year. Net capitalization will go down following the optimizations that we've made. Now let's talk about our cash position. Let's move on to the next slide.

Speaker #3: The reported margin was minus 1.1%, versus 2.5% a year ago. User acquisition was 19% as a percentage of revenue, compared to 18% in the second quarter of 2025.

Speaker #3: EBIT margin was slightly impacted by the increase in UA spend for the quarter. EBIT was also impacted positively by currency exchange effects and negatively by severance payments.

Speaker #3: Adjusting for these, EBIT was $0.1 million, compared to $1.6 million last year. This corresponds to an EBIT margin of 0.4%, compared to 6.8% last year. During the quarter, the net capitalization impact on earnings was $0.1 million, compared to minus $0.3 million last year.

Speaker #3: Net capitalization will go down following the optimizations that we've made. Now, let's talk about our cash position and move on to the next slide. Yes.

Speaker #3: G5 remains debt-free with a strong cash position of $24.4 million, providing flexibility to fund new game development and marketing from our operations. The quarter was negatively impacted by the dividend of $1.6 million ($6.5 million last year) and repurchases amounting to $1 million ($0.2 million last year).

Vlad Suglobov: G5 remains debt-free with a strong cash position of USD 24.4 million, providing flexibility to find new game development and marketing from our operations. The quarter was negatively impacted by the dividend of USD 1.6 million, 6.5 last year, and repurchases amounting to USD 1 million, 0.2 last year. Total cash flow during the first quarter was -1.9 million USD compared to -4.5 million USD last year. Let's move on to the next slide and go through the final thoughts of our earnings call. As we move through 2026, we remain focused on key drivers. The organizational changes have materially been completed in the third quarter with a run rate decrease of 11 million USD. We remain vigilant about the cost structure while maintaining product momentum across the game portfolio, the G5 Store, and other initiatives. As a second quarter, obviously, not third. Sorry for saying that.

Vlad Suglobov: G5 remains debt-free with a strong cash position of USD 24.4 million, providing flexibility to find new game development and marketing from our operations. The quarter was negatively impacted by the dividend of USD 1.6 million, 6.5 last year, and repurchases amounting to USD 1 million, 0.2 last year. Total cash flow during the first quarter was -$1.9 million compared to -$4.5 million last year. Let's move on to the next slide and go through the final thoughts of our earnings call. As we move through 2026, we remain focused on key drivers. The organizational changes have materially been completed in the third quarter with a run rate decrease of $11 million. We remain vigilant about the cost structure while maintaining product momentum across the game portfolio, the G5 Store, and other initiatives. As a second quarter, obviously, not third. Sorry for saying that.

Speaker #3: Total cash flow during the first quarter was minus $1.9 million, compared to minus $4.5 million last year. And let's move on to the next slide and go through the final thoughts of our earnings call.

Speaker #3: As we move through 2026, we remain focused on key drivers. The organizational changes have materially been completed in the third quarter, with a run rate decrease of $11 million.

Speaker #3: We remain vigilant about the cost structure while maintaining product momentum across the game portfolio, the G5 Store, and other initiatives. And as a second quarter—obviously not third, sorry.

Speaker #3: For me saying that, we will continue to sign and launch high-quality third-party titles to the G5 Store to solidify the store as our fourth revenue pillar.

Vlad Suglobov: We will continue to sign and launch high-quality third-party titles to G5 Store to solidify the store as our fourth revenue pillar. We are also looking to increase advertising monetization as another tool to stabilize the portfolio performance and further improve the gross margin. Finally, we are moving forward with our games in the pipeline towards potential global launch or cancellation, depending on the results of the soft launch and utilizing agile teams for continuous innovation. We remain committed to financial discipline and generating long-term shareholder returns through dividends and buybacks. I would like to thank the whole G5 team for their resilience and our shareholders for their trust. This concludes my presentation, and I would like to open the call for questions.

Speaker #3: We are also looking to increase advertising monetization as another tool to stabilize portfolio performance and further improve the gross margin. Finally, we are moving forward with our games in the pipeline towards potential global launch or cancellation, depending on the results of the soft launch, and utilizing agile teams for continuous innovation.

Speaker #3: We remain committed to financial discipline and to generating long-term shareholder returns through dividends and buybacks. I'd like to thank the whole G5 team for their resilience, and our shareholders for their trust.

Speaker #3: And this concludes my presentation. I would like to open the call for questions.

Speaker #1: Thank you. And as I said before, you can either raise your hand, or you can also post questions in the Q&A box. We'll start with Hjalmar Ahlberg from Redeye.

Stefan Wikstrand: Thank you. As I said before, you can either raise your hand, or you can also post questions in the Q&A box. We will start with Hjalmar Ahlberg from Redeye. Hjalmar, you are on.

Speaker #1: Hjalmar, you're on.

Speaker #2: Thank you. Maybe start with a question on the core franchises, Sherlock and Hidden City, as some challenging environment or challenging development in the quarter. For Hidden City, you said you see some improvements from removing that functionality.

Hjalmar Ahlberg: Thank you. Maybe start with a question on the core franchises, so to say, Sherlock and Hidden City, some challenging environment or challenging the development in quarter. Hidden City, you said you see some improvements of removing that functionality. What about Sherlock? Do you see that it could be tough to regain performance of that game?

Speaker #2: What about Sherlock? I mean, do you see that it could be tough to regain the performance of that game?

Vlad Suglobov: It is difficult to say, to be honest. We have teams that ideate and analyze why the performance of the games evolves in a certain way, and quite often they can identify changes that maybe led to some setbacks, and as the case is with Hidden City, from June to July, once these things were addressed, the situation improved. With Sherlock, I do not think we have identified one specific area which caused this. But if you look over the years, if you look at our monthly paying users trends, for example, over the years, you can clearly see a gradual decline there, which is only partly offset by the increase of revenue per user.

Speaker #3: It is difficult to say, to be honest. We have teams that ideate and analyze why the performance of the games evolves in a certain way, and quite often they can identify changes that maybe led to some setbacks.

Speaker #3: And as the case is with Hidden City, from June to July, once these things were addressed, the situation improved. With Sherlock, I don't think we have identified one specific area which caused this, but if you look over the years—if you look at our monthly paying users trend, for example, over the years—you can clearly see a gradual decline there, which is only partly offset by the increase of revenue per user.

Speaker #3: And so I think the fundamental challenge in the present market for the portfolio of games that we have is whether we can replace the paying users that we are gradually losing due to natural churn.

Vlad Suglobov: I think that the fundamental challenge in the present market, for the portfolio of games that we have, is whether we can replace the paying users that we are gradually losing due to the natural churn. If you look at the industry analysis, you could have seen the news that the cost for user acquisition continued to increase in the market. It really is a challenging situation on mobile for us because replenishing the users is becoming more and more difficult in the market and even improving the LTV of games and increasing the revenue per user in games sometimes feels like it is not enough because the costs for installs in the market continue to go up at a higher pace than it is possible to get or the increase in the ARPU from the player.

Speaker #3: And if you look at the industry analysis, you could have seen the news that the costs for user acquisition continue to increase in the market.

Speaker #3: And it really is a challenging situation on mobile. For us, because the sort of replenishing the users is becoming more and more difficult in the market, and even improving the LTV of games and increasing the revenue per user in games sometimes feels like is not enough because the costs in the market are costs for installs in the market continue to go up sort of at a higher pace than it's possible to than it's possible to get or the increase in the our pool from the player.

Speaker #3: And so, I think these local issues—with which feature has improved the situation and which feature maybe temporarily kind of made the situation worse—that's kind of a higher frequency fluctuation that we work with every day.

Vlad Suglobov: I think these local issues like with which feature has improved the situation and which feature maybe temporarily made the situation worse, that is a higher frequency fluctuations that we work with every day. The fundamental reality of this market is that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to replenish the number of users that we need for the revenue to stabilize or for the revenue to start going up. Especially with older games, and Hidden City is now 12 years on the market, it is getting a little bit more challenging even for older games. That is the situation. I could dive deeper into the details of what exactly was done and why it affected sales for some time, or what do we plan on doing in order to improve the situation.

Speaker #3: The fundamental reality of this market is that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to replenish the number of users that we need for the revenue to stabilize or for the revenue to start going up.

Speaker #3: And especially with older games—and Hidden City is now fourteen... yeah, wait a second, twelve years on the market—it's getting a little bit more challenging even for older games.

Speaker #3: And so that's the situation. Then I could sort of dive deeper into the details of what exactly was done, why it affected sales for some time, and what we plan on doing in order to improve the situation.

Speaker #3: But I feel more and more that the probability of us fixing the LTV in our older portfolio to such an extent that it will allow for the increase in the revenue of these older games—I think that probability, to be honest, is decreasing after a few years of trying to do that, with some wins of course along the way, like the stabilization of last year. But generally, it's still a gradual decline if you look at the underlying audience metrics.

Vlad Suglobov: But I feel more and more that the probability of us fixing the LTV in our older portfolio to such an extent that it will allow for the increase in the revenue of these older games. I think that probability, to be honest, is decreasing after a few years of trying to do that with some wins, of course, along the way, like the stabilization of the last year. But generally still a gradual decline if you look at the underlying audience metrics. We definitely need new areas of growth. We have some of these areas like G5 Store and the user base there, and the number of paying users in the G5 Store is growing. With increasing the number of third-party titles there, we will be at some point offsetting the decline that we have on the mobile if the situation there does not change.

Speaker #3: And so we definitely need new areas of growth. We have some of these areas, like the G5 Store, and the user base there—and the number of paying users in the G5 Store—is growing.

Speaker #3: And with increasing the number of third-party titles there, we will at some point be offsetting the decline that we have on mobile if the situation there doesn't change.

Speaker #3: And our user acquisition spend on G5 Store, as opposed to mobile, is actually driving the user base up. So, we have this part of the business that is growing—and growing quite quickly—but we have this older part of the business, an older part of the portfolio, that is clearly stagnating in terms of the audience. And we would obviously like to have a driver of growth in our portfolio.

Vlad Suglobov: Our user acquisition spend on G5 Store as opposed to mobile is actually driving the user base up. So we have this part of the business that is growing and growing quite quickly, but we have this older part of the business, older part of portfolio that is clearly stagnating in terms of the audience. We would obviously like to have a driver of growth in our portfolio. As I said before, we remain cautiously optimistic about the remaining new game that we have in development. However, that is still probably months away from finding out the answer to the question of whether it provides the LTV curve, especially on the deeper into the lifetime of the player that can justify big investments and scaling this game in the present market situation. So this is the situation we find ourselves in.

Speaker #3: As I said before, we remain cautiously optimistic about the remaining new game that we have in development. However, that is still probably months away from finding out the answer to the question of whether it provides the LTV curve, especially kind of deeper into the lifetime of the player, that can justify big investments and scaling this game in the present market situation.

Speaker #3: So this is the situation we find ourselves in. For now, we do what we can to stabilize the old portfolio and invest in the promising game that we have.

Vlad Suglobov: For now, we do what we can to stabilize the old portfolio and to invest in the promising game that we have and to try and invest as much effort as we can in building up third-party distribution in the G5 Store. Sorry for a very long answer.

Speaker #3: And to try and invest as much effort as we can in building up third-party distribution in the G5 Store. Sorry for a very, very long answer.

Speaker #2: All right, that's helpful. Thank you. And, I mean, mentioning the growth opportunities, you talked a bit about third-party, but also own games. I don't know if you can confirm it, but we can see in the app store that Spooky Suits is a game that has appeared on your portfolio there.

Hjalmar Ahlberg: That is helpful. Thank you. Mentioning the growth opportunities, you talked a bit about third party, but also own games. I do not know if you can confirm it, but we can see in App Store that Spooky Suits is a game that has appeared on your portfolio there. Can you confirm that is the game that is in soft launch? I guess it is always difficult to say, but would you dare to give any chance of the game going into global launch?

Speaker #2: Can you confirm that that's the game that's in soft launch? And I guess it's always difficult to say, but would you dare to give any chance of the game going into global launch?

Vlad Suglobov: It is really hard to say. As we have learned from before, sometimes we have really good metrics early in the game, but then we just cannot get longer-term metrics right. In this case, we have certainly moved deeper from the early days and building out the LTV of our first few days towards a longer depth within the lifetime of the player. But it is still, if you look at the current break-even horizons that you have to assume in the market, that is still just a fraction of the consistent LTV increase that we need to deliver. Testing these changes is also quite time-consuming because you have to make these changes, and then you have to see how new users flow through these changes.

Speaker #3: It is really hard to say. And as we've learned from before, sometimes we have really good metrics early in the game, but then we just cannot get the longer-term metrics right.

Speaker #3: In this case, we have certainly moved deeper from the early days and kind of building out the LTV of the first few days, towards a longer depth within the player.

Speaker #3: But it is still, if you look at the current breakeven horizons that you have to assume in the market, that's still just a fraction of the sort of consistent LTV increase that we need to deliver.

Speaker #3: And testing these changes is also quite time-consuming because you have to make these changes and then you have to sort of see how new users flow through these changes, not only old ones, because you might have lost some users along the way, and then you want to watch how your new cohorts advance through the gameplay and the reality of the market is such that even when if we get to the point of going to scale this game really dramatically, we would have to spend quite significant amounts of money while still taking a leap of faith because the we would have to do it realistically before we are certain that the LTV curve will take after, let's say, year one, right?

Vlad Suglobov: Not on the old ones, because you might have lost some users along the way, and then you want to watch how your new cohorts advance through the gameplay. The reality of the market is such that even if we get to the point of going to scale this game really dramatically, we would have to spend quite significant amounts of money while still taking a leap of faith. Because we would have to do it realistically before we are certain that the LTV curve will take us where we want to be after, let us say, year 1, right? Year 2. Compared to even 6 or 10 years ago when we were launching other games, the cost of install has grown several times over. So to get a game to a certain level of revenue costs several times more money nowadays.

Speaker #3: And year two. And compared to even six or ten years ago, when we were launching other games, the cost of install has grown several times over.

Speaker #3: So, to get a game to a certain level of revenue costs several times more money nowadays. And so there's more risk. And so we'd like to take a little bit more time to make sure these metrics are there.

Vlad Suglobov: There's more risk, so we'd like to take a little bit more time to make sure these metrics are there. It really is hard to say from having fixed, I don't know, first few weeks if the month 6 is going to look good. That's the reality of business. I want to compensate the gloominess of that with saying that this game has the best early metrics we've seen by far. So it's a really good start, and we have to work with that to make sure that it's also built out the right way further into the depth of the lifetime of the player.

Speaker #3: And it really is hard to say, from having fixed, I don't know, the first few weeks, if month six is going to look good.

Speaker #3: That's the reality—that's the reality of business. But again, I want to sort of compensate for the gloominess of that by saying that this game has the best early metrics we've seen by far.

Speaker #3: So it's a really, really good start, and we have to work with that to make sure that it's also built out the right way, further into the depth of the lifetime of the player.

Speaker #2: All right. It'll be interesting to watch in the coming quarters here, and also interesting to hear that you talked a bit more about ad revenue.

Hjalmar Ahlberg: All right. Will be interesting to watch in the coming quarters here. Also interesting to hear that you have talked a bit more about ad revenue. Is that something that you push in your own games, or is that something that has evolved maybe with more third-party games on the platform?

Speaker #2: Is that something that you push in your own games, or is that something that has evolved with more third-party games on the platform?

Speaker #3: Well, first of all, we do think that it needs to be done on mobile nowadays if you look at the market. What's happening in the market is that, basically, even the biggest developers realize they have to put advertising into their games. This is just the way that the user acquisition industry has evolved and the way that the big players in this area are forcing the members of this market to behave.

Vlad Suglobov: First of all, we do think that it needs to be done on mobile nowadays. If you look at the market, what's happening in the market is that basically even the biggest developers realize they have to put advertising into their games. This is just the way that the user acquisition industry has evolved and the way that the big players in this area are forcing the members of this market to behave. It's imposed right now and assumed. Without having advertising in your games, it would be difficult for you to acquire users from other games, so to speak. That's the way the ecosystem has evolved. We've taken very patient approach with advertising. We always thought that it's a distraction that we'd rather not have. But now, like everyone pretty much in the industry, we have to do it.

Speaker #3: It's kind of imposed right now and assumed, and really, without having advertising in your games, it would be difficult for you to acquire users from other games, so to speak.

Speaker #3: That's the way the ecosystem has evolved, and so we've taken a very patient approach with advertising. We always thought that it's a distraction that we'd rather not have.

Speaker #3: But now, like pretty much everyone in the industry, we have to do it. We're trying to introduce it in a very gentle way, as much as we can.

Vlad Suglobov: We're trying to introduce it in a very gentle way as much as we can. But generally, I think we will roll out advertising monetization over time across all of our portfolio on mobile. When it comes to third-party games in the G5 Store, we'll certainly make this option available. We have some initiatives that will make it possible shortly.

Speaker #3: But generally, I think we will roll out advertising monetization over time across all of our portfolio on mobile. And when it comes to third-party games in the G5 Store, we'll certainly make this option available.

Speaker #3: And we have some initiatives that will make it possible shortly.

Speaker #2: All right, thank you. And then, just a final question: Do you have any comments on the outlook for you in H2 and going forward?

Hjalmar Ahlberg: All right. Thank you. Just a final question, if you have any comment on the outlook for you in H2 and going forward.

Speaker #3: Well, we will try to we really take it on a case-by-case basis. Let me say that. And we would have to look at the situation on a particular game and what the models are showing.

Vlad Suglobov: Well, we really take it on a case-by-case basis. Let me say that. We would have to look at the situation on a particular game and what the models are showing. We are trying to find a way to acquire users to stabilize the revenue of the games over the long run. As you can see, sometimes we are more successful, like last year, or less successful like this year. We will continue to try and do that. We will probably try to protect our margin or at least protect our reserve and not go negative unless we see strong reasons to believe that becoming unprofitable for some time will certainly pay off, as the case may be if we decide to go into global launch with the new game, depending on its metrics.

Speaker #3: We are trying to find a way to acquire users to stabilize the revenue of the games over the long run. As you can see, sometimes we are more successful, like last year, or less successful, like this year.

Speaker #3: We'll continue to try and do that. We'll probably try to protect our margin, or at least protect our reserve and not go negative, unless we see strong reasons to believe that becoming unprofitable for some time will certainly pay off.

Speaker #3: As the case may be, if we decide to go into global launch with the new game, it will depend on its metrics. But for the older portfolio—for the old portfolio of games—we will always try to find a balance to make sure we can fund both the development and user acquisition from revenue.

Vlad Suglobov: But for the old portfolio of games, we will always try to find a balance to make sure we can fund both the development and user acquisition from revenue.

Hjalmar Ahlberg: All right. Thank you.

Speaker #3: So, I would expect the same level, in other words.

Vlad Suglobov: I would expect the same level, in other words.

Hjalmar Ahlberg: Understood. Thank you.

Speaker #2: Yeah. Understood. Thanks.

Hjalmar Ahlberg: Understood. Thank you.

Speaker #3: Thank you, Thelma.

Vlad Suglobov: Thank you, Hjalmar.

Speaker #1: Thank you, Elma. And then we have Simon Johnson from ABG.

Stefan Wikstrand: Thank you, Hjalmar. Then we have Simon Jansson from ABG.

Speaker #4: Good morning, guys. Can everyone hear me well?

Simon Jansson: Good morning, guys. Hope you can hear me well.

Simon Jönsson: Good morning, guys. Hope you can hear me well.

Speaker #3: Good morning, Simon. Yes.

Vlad Suglobov: Good morning, Simon. Yes.

Speaker #4: Yeah, good morning. First of all, on—you will stop here. Put it in harvest mode, and given the revenue decline we have seen so far, what should we expect now when you put it in harvest mode?

Simon Jansson: Good morning. First of all, on Jewels software put in harvest mode. Given the revenue decline we have seen so far and what we should expect now when you put it in harvest mode, should we expect the decline to accelerate further because of that? Do you think that, or do you expect that the games will continue to decline at that fairly similar pace? I think it was around 10% sequential decline here in the quarter on quarter. Do you think that pace should be or can be maintained, or should we rather expect that that pace will accelerate?

Simon Jönsson: Good morning. First of all, on Jewels software put in harvest mode. Given the revenue decline we have seen so far and what we should expect now when you put it in harvest mode, should we expect the decline to accelerate further because of that? Do you think that, or do you expect that the games will continue to decline at that fairly similar pace? I think it was around 10% sequential decline here in the quarter on quarter. Do you think that pace should be or can be maintained, or should we rather expect that that pace will accelerate?

Speaker #4: Should we expect the client to accelerate further because of that, or do you think that—or do you expect—that the games will continue to decline at a fairly similar pace?

Speaker #4: I think it was around a 10% sequential decline here in the quarter-on-quarter. Do you think that pace should be, or can be, maintained, or should we rather expect that pace will accelerate?

Speaker #3: I would actually expect that this pace would sort of slow down over time, as the games go to lower levels. We're not doing user acquisition for these games for some time already.

Vlad Suglobov: I would actually expect that this pace would slow down over time as the game goes to lower levels. We are not doing user acquisition for these games for some time already, so it is not going to get worse because we put these games into harvest mode. Harvest mode is more about not investing any more money into trying to change the game or deploying new features, things like that. We are examining whether we will continue providing content for this game, which may affect revenue a little bit. But usually when we see that continuing to develop content can help keep the revenue at the same level or slow down the decline, we would choose to do so. So that analysis is happening right now. So yeah, I do not know if putting this game into the harvest mode will affect its trajectory into the future.

Speaker #3: So it's not going to get worse because we put these games into harvest mode. Harvest mode is more about not investing any more money into trying to change the game or deploying new features.

Speaker #3: Things like that. We are still examining whether we will continue providing content for this game, which may affect revenue a little bit.

Speaker #3: But usually, when we see that continuing to develop content can help keep the revenue at the same level or slow down the decline, we choose to do so.

Speaker #3: So that analysis is happening right now. So, yeah, I don't know if putting this game into the harvest mode will affect its trajectory in the future.

Speaker #3: The game at this point is pretty much priced out of user acquisition in the market for this genre, so it's on its own, but we will support it with cross-promotion from our existing portfolio and, obviously, within the G5 Store.

Vlad Suglobov: The game at this point is pretty much priced out of user acquisition in the market for this genre, so it is on its own. We will support it with the cross-promotion from our existing portfolio and obviously within G5 Store, and the games there. Hopefully, this will help support the game's revenue to a certain extent, especially in the G5 Store, where the audience of the overall store is actually, or the overall portfolio is actually growing.

Speaker #3: And the games there. And hopefully, this will help support the game's revenue to a certain extent, especially in the G5 Store, where the audience of the overall store, or the overall portfolio, is actually growing.

Speaker #4: All right, thanks for that. That's very clear. Then just a follow-up on Yalma's question on user acquisition. Just to clarify a bit, because last quarter you said that you expected increased investment.

Simon Jansson: All right. Thanks for that. That is very clear. Just to follow up on Hjalmar's question on user acquisition. Just to clarify a bit, because what you said last quarter that you expected increased investment. It sounds like you now expect more stable user acquisition, but is that on an absolute level or do you mean in relation to sales going forward?

Simon Jönsson: All right. Thanks for that. That is very clear. Just to follow up on Hjalmar's question on user acquisition. Just to clarify a bit, because what you said last quarter that you expected increased investment. It sounds like you now expect more stable user acquisition, but is that on an absolute level or do you mean in relation to sales going forward?

Speaker #4: It sounds like you now expect more stable user acquisition. But is that on an absolute level, or do you mean in relation to sales going forward?

Speaker #3: Yeah. So I think the situation that happened is that between the last quarter and this quarter, the market became quite a bit more expensive.

Vlad Suglobov: Well, I think that the situation that happened is that between the last quarter and this quarter, the market became quite a bit more expensive. That sort of threw off our plans a little bit. In a given situation, we will try to find a strategy that supports the revenue of the games in our portfolio. Through the decrease in the top line, we have already consumed the margin space that I was sort of trying to warn you about. Does this make sense? Therefore, I do not feel like we want to go negative for that sake if we do not see strong enough belief that this will be limited in time. When I communicated that in the previous quarter, I thought after the optimizations that we have done, we are going to have some margin that we could deploy to spending more on user acquisition.

Speaker #3: And that sort of threw off our plans a little bit. So in a given situation, we will try to we'll try to find a strategy that supports the revenue of the portfolio of the games in our portfolio.

Speaker #3: But through the decrease in the top line, we have already consumed the margin space that I was sort of trying to warn you about.

Speaker #3: Does this make sense? And so therefore, I don't feel like we want to go negative for that sake if we don't see strong enough belief that we can that this will be limited in time.

Speaker #3: But when I communicated that in the previous quarter, I thought we, after the optimizations that we've done, were going to have some margin that we could deploy to spending more on user acquisition.

Speaker #3: But two things happened. Due to the decline in revenue, we no longer have that margin that can be used towards that. That's one thing.

Vlad Suglobov: Two things happened. Due to the decline in the revenue, we no longer have that margin that can be used towards that. That is one thing. Another thing, that prices in the market to user acquisition also went up, which sort of made realization of that plan also less realistic. We are sort of back to the strategy where we are just going to try to operate the portfolio with the UA strategy that aims to stabilize the revenue across all platforms. Which means we will probably continue losing some revenue on mobile while trying to gain more revenue on the G5 Store to compensate for that.

Speaker #3: And another thing is that prices in the market for user acquisition also went up, which sort of made realization of that plan also less realistic.

Speaker #3: So we're sort of back to the strategy where we're just going to try to operate the portfolio with the UA strategy that aims to stabilize the revenue across all platforms, which means we'll probably continue losing some revenue on mobile, while trying to gain more revenue on the G5 Store to compensate for that.

Speaker #4: All right, that makes sense. Yep. Thank you so much. That's all from me.

Simon Jansson: All right. That makes sense. Yep. Thank you so much. That is all from me.

Simon Jönsson: All right. That makes sense. Yep. Thank you so much. That is all from me.

Speaker #3: Thank you, Simon.

Stefan Wikstrand: Thank you, Simon. We also have a question in the Q&A box from Erik Larsson from SEB. It is two questions, but the first one is, how are third-party games trending versus your expectations? Is the strategy ambition unchanged or have there been any tweaks recent months?

Speaker #1: Thank you, Simon. We also have a question in the Q&A box from Eric Larson from SEB. It's two questions. The first one is: How are third-party games trending versus your expectations?

Speaker #1: And is the strategy ambition unchanged, or have there been any tweaks in recent months?

Speaker #3: Sorry, can you repeat please?

Vlad Suglobov: Sorry, can you repeat, please?

Speaker #1: Yes. How are third-party games trending versus your expectations? Is the strategic ambition unchanged, or have there been any tweaks in recent months?

Stefan Wikstrand: Yes. How are third-party games trending versus your expectations? Is the strategy ambition unchanged or have there been any tweaks recent months?

Vlad Suglobov: I would say it's a confirmation of what we wanted to see. The revenue from the third-party games on the G5 Store is tracking really well. As we mentioned, 100% increase sequentially, which is very good. We have some very strong games, some new releases coming to the G5 Store very soon. Our strategy of acquiring users into these games seem to be working well. You can see the difference between the growth, the sequential growth in the third-party games, and our own games, other games on the G5 Store. It was supposed to be more balanced. However, with the decline of the performance in these games in our portfolio overall, it looks a bit skewed. I hope that the growth in the G5 Store will be more distributed and not entirely sort of concentrated within third-party games. We will certainly work on that.

Speaker #3: I would say it's a confirmation of what we wanted to see. The revenue from the third-party games and the G5 Store is tracking really well.

Speaker #3: As we mentioned, a 100% increase sequentially, which is very good. We have some very strong games and some new releases coming to the G5 store very soon.

Speaker #3: And our strategy of acquiring users into these games seems to be working well. You can see the difference between the growth, the sequential growth, in the third-party games and our own games—other games on the G5 Store.

Speaker #3: It was supposed to be more balanced. However, with the decline in performance in these games and in our portfolio overall, it looks a bit skewed.

Speaker #3: So I hope that it's going to be more the growth in the G5 store will be more distributed and not entirely sort of concentrated within the third-party games.

Speaker #3: We will certainly work on that. But I think that our general premise of first being able to cross-sell new games to our existing audience of non-paying users and to convert these non-paying users into new games has certainly worked out.

Vlad Suglobov: I think that our general premise of first being able to cross-sell new games with our existing audience of non-paying users and to convert these non-paying users into new games, that certainly worked out. Our models for user acquisition within this space were certainly validated. We are able to consistently acquire users and increase the number of payers in the G5 Store, and we can see month to month that this certainly pays off and we manage this in a responsible way where basically the growth in the G5 Store is being funded from the revenue of the G5 Store. I think if anything, it's a further confirmation that this can become a substantial source of revenue for the company in the coming quarters.

Speaker #3: And our model for user acquisition within this space, we're certainly validated. We are able to consistently acquire users and increase the number of payers in the G5 store.

Speaker #3: And we can see month to month that this certainly pays off. We manage this in a responsible way, where basically the growth in the G5 store is being funded from the revenue of the G5 store.

Speaker #3: So I think, if anything, it's further confirmation that this can become a substantial source of revenue for the company in the coming quarters.

Speaker #3: And we are really excited that we have developers who are really, really interested in putting their games on the G5 Store, after the initial successes that we have demonstrated. I think we can do good things here.

Vlad Suglobov: We are really excited that we have developers that are really, really interested in putting their games on G5 Store after the initial successes that we have demonstrated. I think we can do good things here for ourselves and for other developers. There's a lot of pressures for the development studios right now, especially those with just a few games. I think what we're doing here is a thing that's quite in demand for the studios, creating this incremental revenue streams. That's why we are able to talk with the studios that have really high-quality titles that make substantial money on mobile, and they're really willing to talk to us about putting them on G5 Store. These games are in the pipeline and will be coming to the G5 Store in the coming months, in some cases, in weeks.

Speaker #3: For ourselves and for other developers. And it's not a it's a there's a lot of pressures for the development studios right now, especially those with just a few games.

Speaker #3: And I think what we're doing here is a thing that's quite in demand. For the studios, it's creating these incremental revenue streams. So that's why we are able to talk with the studios that have really high-quality titles that make substantial money on mobile, and they're really willing to talk to us about putting them on G5 Store.

Speaker #3: And these games are in the pipeline and will be coming to the G5 Store in the coming months. And in some cases, in weeks. We'll be really interested to see what we can do with bigger and better games in the G5 Store.

Vlad Suglobov: It will be really interesting what we can do with the bigger and better games in G5 Store as well. I'm quite optimistic about the development.

Speaker #3: As well. So, I'm quite optimistic about that development.

Speaker #1: Great. Eric also had a second question. He appreciated the color or the nuance that we gave on the quarterly savings ahead. Is it fair to assume these will only be partly realized in Q3?

Stefan Wikstrand: Great. Erik also had a second question. He appreciated the color or the nuance that we gave on the quarterly savings ahead. Is it fair to assume these will only be partly realized in Q3?

Speaker #3: Well, in Q3, I think we still have some severance left. Well, generally, it remains the same situation. Yeah, Stefan, go ahead.

Vlad Suglobov: Well, in Q3, I think we still have some severance left. Well, generally it remains the same situation. Stefan, go ahead.

Speaker #1: No, what I would say is that there's still a bit to be done in Q3, as we said. The majority is done more or less as we kind of released this report.

Stefan Wikstrand: No, but I would say that there is still a bit to be done in Q3. As we said, the majority is done more or less as we release this report. So the full effect will not be seen in Q3, so it will be partially realized in Q3. But obviously as we communicated in the report, the first wave of redundancies were completed in Q2. That should have full effect in Q3. And then the second wave is going to be partially realized in Q3 and from the mid-part of the quarter, you can probably expect those to fall into the P&L.

Speaker #1: So the full effect will not be seen in Q3, so it will be only partially realized in Q3. But obviously, as we communicated in the report, the first wave of redundancies was completed in Q2.

Speaker #1: That should have full effect in Q3. And then the second wave is going to be partially realized in Q3, and from the mid part of the quarter, you can probably expect those to fall into the P&L.

Speaker #3: Thank you, Stefan.

Vlad Suglobov: Thank you, Stefan.

Speaker #1: I think that was that. If we have any more questions, please type them in the Q&A box or raise your hand. I don't see anything currently.

Stefan Wikstrand: I think that was that. If we have any more questions, please type them in the Q&A box or raise your hand. I do not see anything currently. Okay, I think that was it. Vlad, I will hand over to you for final remarks.

Speaker #1: Okay, I think that was it. Vlad, I will hand over to you for final remarks.

Speaker #3: Well, thank you for attending the call and for your continued interest to the company. That's the end of our call. Have a great day.

Vlad Suglobov: Well, thank you for attending the call and for your continued interest to the company. That is the end of our call. Have a great day.

Stefan Wikstrand: Thank you everyone.

Speaker #1: Thank you, everyone.

Operator: Goodbye

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Q2 2026 G5 Entertainment AB Earnings Call

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