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Puzzle & Dragons publisher GungHo switches to global development approach as profits fall by 43.4%

10 games currently in development

Puzzle & Dragons publisher GungHo switches to global development approach as profits fall by 43.4%

GungHo Online Entertainment (TYO:3765) has released its financials for its Q3 FY16 for the three months ending September 30th 2016.

It posted revenues of $246.7 million, down 29.6% year-on-year. Its profits also decreased to $93.4 million, down 43.4% year-on-year.

While it didn't break out individual numbers, GungHo did mention the launch of Puzzle & Dragons Radar as helping to maintain users for its flagship smartphone title.

It also said that it would be adding in-app purchase elements and a battle mode to the spin-off title in the future.

GungHo highlighted its publishing partner venture, noting that the Japanese release of Gameloft's Disney Magic Kingdoms saw one million downloads in less than a month of launch.

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Looking ahead, the studio said that it will be changing its development policy with an eye to reaching the global market more quickly.

It has previously developed games for local markets before slowly expanding them worldwide. This led to a four-year delay between launching Puzzle & Dragons in Japan and China.

GungHo will instead develop and publish games with a universal appeal, and try to target as many markets as possible at the same time.

It currently has 10 games in development, including the upcoming smartphone RPG Seventh Rebirth, due to launch by the end of 2016.


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