Video games service and development giant Keywords Studios has reported a revenue increase of almost a third in 2019.
The company saw €326.5m ($353.6) in revenue for the year ending December 31st, 2019, a rise of 30.2 per cent. Keywords saw an adjusted EBITDA of €49.5m ($53.6m) for the period, a rise of 13.2 per cent year-on-year. The company's dividend fell by 64 per cent.
The 2019 financial year saw Keywords expand into Canada's Montreal, Katowice in Poland, Mexico City, the Philippines' Manila, Sao Paulo and New Delhi. That's on top of new development operations in Brighton, Tokyo and Leamington Spa. The company also reports that it is now shot of that anonymous troubled games project which became its problem thanks to an acquisition.
"Strong growth"
"2019 was a year of strong growth as we continued to build our platform to become the 'go to' service provider to the video games industry which, in turn, enabled us to take advantage of the accelerating trend towards external development in the industry," CEO Andrew Day (pictured) said.
"Some of our service lines felt the effects in 2019 of a light games release schedule at the tail end of the existing console cycle. 2020 is expected to see stronger demand from a fuller release schedule as a result of the launch of a new generation of games consoles, in addition to the further development of new streaming platforms, content demands for virtual and augmented reality, and the underlying drivers of growth across the video games market.
"Whilst we are seeing some operational disruption to the provision of our services due to the COVID19 pandemic, with some of our service lines and locations affected more than others, the underlying drivers of growth across the video games market remain intact. It has also been encouraging to see our clients turning to us for support in these difficult times and our teams responding with extreme agility to support them, whilst rapidly implementing our own contingency plans.
"There will be some further challenges ahead, but we are well financed, with a global footprint, a unique position in a resilient market and a strong team to manage the business through these unprecedented times. We are, therefore, confident that the Group is well placed to emerge in a robust position in order to deliver on the pent-up demand across its client base when the operating environment normalises."
This story first appeared on PCGamesInsider.biz.
