Jussi Tähtinen: Good morning.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): [Foreign language].
Jussi Tähtinen: Good morning. [Foreign language].
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Finland.
Jussi Tähtinen: Indeed. It's your boys, Jussi and Antti here, and we are here to deliver you the latest and greatest on Nitro Games.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Nice to see you all.
Jussi Tähtinen: Likewise. It has been a busy Q3.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah.
Jussi Tähtinen: Busy first nine months. We have done a lot on many fronts, and we still have a lot to do this year as we move forward.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah
Jussi Tähtinen: Cool. If you are new to Nitro Games, then as a quick introduction, we are one of the oldest game companies in Finland. We have a big celebration next year when we celebrate 20 years.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): I think we are best known from our action and shooter games.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): the projects and the partner projects.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah, in recent years especially.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): in a long history, starting from where we started.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): from strategy and action games.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): that's something that we've been carrying on
Jussi Tähtinen: Indeed
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): for years.
Jussi Tähtinen: Indeed. Stuff that we do lately, we operate a lot on multi-platform, also cross-platform. We do a lot of mobile. We do a lot of PC these days and also cross-platform games that are basically PC, console, sometimes even on mobile. One thing that describes Nitro well is that we have a habit of taking pretty advanced, technically challenging
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Bingo
Jussi Tähtinen: projects and are a sort of big USP. If you ask me, maybe the secret sauce why we have been around for such a long time is that we deliver uncompromised quality
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Quality
Jussi Tähtinen: to partners and players.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Quality and technical know-how
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): is quite often the things where both of our original projects are starting and
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): when our partners are approaching us,
Jussi Tähtinen: Indeed
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): that is what they are after.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Nowadays, more and more multi-platform, cross-platform
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): adaptations of the existing or new IPs.
Jussi Tähtinen: Bingo. If we look at Q3 and the highlights from the report that we just published this morning, Q3 overall is pretty well in line with our goals for this year and what we have discussed earlier, how we are this year taking careful investments in building new products, new partnerships, new collaborations.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Increasing our games revenue-
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): step by step going forward.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): First investing and then collecting the fruits.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes, indeed. This game revenue for us means basically that we want to see increased skin in the game from Nitro, also in our partner projects, then we expect to see revenue share and other forms of compensation moving forward. That is how we build during this strategy period that we are going through now.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Investing into the Nitro Originals games.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Those always means first investments and then recouping and profits.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah. If we look at the happenings during Q3, most of the stuff is going behind the scenes in a way, because this is a year when we build a lot of new stuff, so these things will surface one by one. We started the quarter by signing a follow-up agreement with a European games developer and publisher. This is a great project for us, great collaboration. Then we launched Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Boom! on mobile.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Quite a good kind of start for the new business area.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Free to try mobile,
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): mobile business and pre-registrations and first indications of the launch for the games were really great.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah. I am really happy with the results of the pre-registration phase when we scored 1 million pre-registrations. That is essentially double our target.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah
Jussi Tähtinen: that we had for the phase. When we started to go in towards the launch, we started to see nominated placements by Apple and Google instantly, that is super good because not only it makes us proud of what we just delivered, but it also means that the cornerstone of this type of premium game release, if you will, it relies on the continued support from the platforms
Jussi Tähtinen: as we go forward in the launch. It is very good. Also fresh news, end of last week, we signed with Team17, so cool new stuff.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Cool new stuff. Cool new partner.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Following the strategy that we have and
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): skin in the game revenues.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): But still something to go.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah. Indeed. This is a deal where out of the total project value, which we put into the press release, that it is approximately EUR 0.7 million, they bring in some of the funding, we bring in some of the funding, then we have a revenue share when the game goes live. So fully in line with our strategy.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Fully in line with strategy and increasing the share of the game revenue.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): in our business.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah. If we look at the numbers a little bit closer, I think the pillars on the left side of the screen, they pretty well describe what we are up to this year. As a reminder, we started with our new strategy period that runs for five years, and this year it is all about investing carefully in new growth. With new growth we mean new games, new partnerships, new collaborations, and especially, like Antti mentioned earlier, increasing the game revenue by putting more and more skin in the game.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): As you can see from the charts, also paying heavy attention to the bottom line.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes. That is one of the cornerstones of this strategy period, that we pay attention to the sound business, as we call it, and prioritize bottom line over the top line.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah
Jussi Tähtinen: growth, at least in the beginning phase.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Exactly. Now that we have been doing those investments, then going forward, we of course
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): try to collect the fruits on the game revenue side.
Jussi Tähtinen: Indeed. On the balance sheet side, if we look at the assets, those numbers are pretty close to what they were one year ago, so no huge changes on that side. On the liability side, then again, that is where we have some concrete progress compared to last year. Since end of September last year, we have essentially halved our debt. This is mostly due to Business Finland forgiving the R&D loan that we have from them. That helps to clean up the balance sheet
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah
Jussi Tähtinen: if you will. If we look at Nitro all the way since the beginning,
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): We have always been working with the great partners.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): The slide explains a few of them.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): I think the key thing going forward is that even working with the partner projects, we are steering all of the partner projects towards having skin in the game, doing the controlled investments, and increasing our share on the game revenues.
Jussi Tähtinen: 100%. I think that is the biggest change in Nitro today if you compare that against anything we have done in the past.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah.
Jussi Tähtinen: Historically, we have been doing a lot of pretty close to work-for-hire type of models. But now this year and moving forward, we seek to put some more skin in the game against what you just described. That is a big difference, and I think thanks to our history, we are in a position that we can actually do it.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Exactly.
Jussi Tähtinen: We would not be able to do it if we were fresh
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah
Jussi Tähtinen: in this business.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Also this lineup of the partners tells about the quality, tells about the
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): technical capabilities that we have.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Quite often why they are coming to us is either of those and then some innovative game elements that
Jussi Tähtinen: Indeed
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): we are one of few that can deliver.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah. This gives good synergies against our own portfolio of course as well. When we put this all into context of our almost 20 years of history now, we're now
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Next year you can say that.
Jussi Tähtinen: Next year we can finally say that. Yes. We need to throw a big party then. This year is in many ways about new beginnings. It is super exciting here inside Nitro because we're building a lot of new stuff. There is a lot of cool new things going on, and all that sort of financial stability that we built during that previous few years, we're now putting all that into good use and making sure that we do careful investments in building new growth for the remaining part of the strategy period.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Exactly. Going forward, I think what can be expected is more new games coming.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): out from Nitro and
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): new partner projects.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah. While at the same time also increasing the ambition level as
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah
Jussi Tähtinen: we go. So we want to make sure that every game that we do, we try to make it a category-leading product in that specific niche.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah
Jussi Tähtinen: wherever it is placed. The team, this is one of our secret sauces in a way, and I think the word partnerships applies here as well. We are roughly 50 people in total in Finland in two studios, when you count all the employees and the freelancers we have.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): With very senior kind of leadership team,
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): controlling all of that multi-talented and multi-location hybrid teams,
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): here and there, and I think not only the having ability to attract the best talent on each project, it is also a risk management tool for us.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): That we don't carry that big of the labor cost structure inside of Nitro, but then we can scale up and scale down when the
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): time needs.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah. Basically working with our partner studios who we worked with for so many years now already, gives us the ability to do exactly that. So we can invest when the projects require it, and balance everything so that things go smoothly with our financials as well.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): It seems that it is more and more accepted also in our partner projects. Even though some years ago it was seen a bit of a risk to have externals in
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): the project, but now more and more industry is going into the direction where this kind of
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): hybrid team models are accepted and sometimes even favored because there might be somebody in the same time zone as a client that is part of our partner project.
Jussi Tähtinen: 100%
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): These kind of things is starting to play in our benefit even though
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): we started already 20 years ago. But now it seems to be becoming more and more standard in the game develop.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes, definitely. Especially with the turbulence in the industry overall during the previous few years, there is a lot of big teams that unfortunately are not justified anymore and so on. This way of working seems to become maybe even the new industry
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah
Jussi Tähtinen: standard if you will.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah.
Jussi Tähtinen: Game portfolio. This is of course always the most important and juicy part.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah. As already referred, we have two sections or categories.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yep.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Nitro Originals, where we are operating with our own IPs.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Nitro Partners, where we are operating with somebody else's IPs. Both of these are now the areas where we are growing the game revenues.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Nitro Partners games are not only the work-for-hire kind of business models, but also in there, we are building structures where we are getting into the long earnings from the hopefully successful games.
Jussi Tähtinen: Indeed, 100%. Also on the Nitro Originals side, we are working more and more with different partners who are investing into something. So we are not taking full risk on that side either. If we quickly talk through what is happening in the game portfolio this year. Wolf Commando is the first one of hopefully many PC games coming out from us in this strategy period. With this one, earlier this year during the summer, we did the first public tests. This game is currently in production phase, aim towards launch, which we haven't announced yet. With this one, we are also looking into potential partnerships moving forward. Autogun Heroes, we announced it during the summer that we have signed up with Hyperkani.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Great partner.
Jussi Tähtinen: Great partner, yes.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): To leverage everything that we have done and adding their know-how on optimizing the store and optimizing the marketing funnel.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): It seems that the guys are getting some results.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes, indeed.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): I've heard that they have been doing.
Jussi Tähtinen: Indeed. I'm really looking forward to how they can help us to make Autogun Heroes go to the next phase of the game and what comes out of that. Autogun Heroes Supercharged, same IP, same brand, but on PC. That's something that we've been more silent recently and for a good reason. There's stuff going on that we haven't announced yet, so happy to see what comes out of that moving forward. Then we have Pistolo.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Pistolo
Jussi Tähtinen: which is our first-ever iGaming game, which we released at the beginning of 2025.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah.
Jussi Tähtinen: So end of 2025.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): That was opening of a new category for us.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): The Boltgun Boom is another category for us.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): It is free to try.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): with opening this iGaming category, we have been very happy with opening the category. Now in that category, in that segment, we have another partner that we are working with.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): own games.
Jussi Tähtinen: Indeed. We work with Ethereal Gaming. The first game that we did is called Cowboy Hop, which was released during the quarter. Now we have a second one, and we are pretty much done with that and looking forward to releasing that, and then hopefully many more to come.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah.
Jussi Tähtinen: interested in exploring those things forward as well.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Then about the Nitro Partners, a reminder that these two categories are not divided by the business models, but by who is owning the IPs.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Boltgun Boom! we already discussed quite a lot.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah. I think what to say about that is that it is a great way to start this whole mobile premium free to try before you buy, whatever you want to call it, approach. In that space, we seek to work with existing IPs, we seek to work with great partners because finding that audience and getting the support from the storefronts is essential. This is not your typical user acquisition game like in free-to-play mobile.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah.
Jussi Tähtinen: It is completely different in that sense. That is a great way to start.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): It seems that there are quite a lot of traction on that area. We have several discussions going on.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): That it is new for many, so it is a little bit slow to get the project started.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Interest is definitely there, and there are quite a few discussions in the various steps on our PD funnel.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah, definitely. Speaking of which, I think the opportunity to collaborate with Team17, that also feels good because Warhammer and Warhammer 40K are brands that we have all gotten exposed as kids back in the day. Team17 is also like everybody remembers so many classic games that they have done. So this is something that is super cool for us as well.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah. To be honest, all of our partner portfolios in such category apply to VOID Interactive, applying to Warframe and PAYDAY as well.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah, true that. Maybe to note about PAYDAY, because during the quarter, they announced that they finally released the Unreal Engine 5 version of the game. That is something that was super cool thing for us to be part of, because as far as we know, it is the first ever time somebody has done something like that for a live game, like upgrade the engine.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Live update, yeah.
Jussi Tähtinen: That was a interesting challenge.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): And again, proving the quality and technical know-how that
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): we have in Nitro and great partners of us are coming to us with this kind of
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): challenges when they really need the quality, when they really need the technical capabilities
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): of doing something as challenging as updating the live game engine.
Jussi Tähtinen: Indeed. If we look things forward, this year, our focus is on new growth. With that, we mean that we lay down the groundwork for this strategy period, that we have ongoing new games, new partnerships, new collaborations. We invest, we put skin in the game. How much we invest, how much the partner invests, that is case by case. All of this we do to increase the game revenues moving forward.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Come next year, then I think we can start expecting to hear and see something that has been brewing during this year, whether that is them revealing something or releasing something.
Jussi Tähtinen: Indeed
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): I think both of those will be happening during the next year.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yeah. Definitely, because this year is far from done there still, so us to work on. Also when we start to look at the next year and stuff, it looks super exciting for us now because it has been a good start so far.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah. Exactly.
Jussi Tähtinen: Yes. Okay. Let's then start to conclude this webcast. Hope you enjoyed it.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Awesome stuff.
Jussi Tähtinen: Hope you found the answers to whatever questions you might have had. Let me just check if we have gotten any new ones. Before the webcast, we got some asking about the new deal that we just signed and so on, so we already commented on those. Then there was some questions about the Boltgun launch. I think we spoke about that. I think we probably covered pretty much all of those. Where is my mouse? I need to find my mouse. Okay. Let's see. Come on. Now we are losing our mouse. But, hey, don't worry about it. We will conclude this webcast now, and until next time. See you. Thanks for joining.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Awesome stuff.
Jussi Tähtinen: Do not hesitate to reach out.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Yeah
Jussi Tähtinen: If you have any questions, thanks.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Thank you so much.
Jussi Tähtinen: Bye.
[Company Representative] (Nitro Games): Bye bye.
