Mobile game maker Huuuge Games has released its latest financial report, showing that the company generated $71.7 million in revenue in Q1 2023, compared to $84 million in Q1 2022, representing a decline of 14.6%.

Despite this decline in revenue, the company’s EBITDA hit an all time high of $27.6 million in Q1, representing a 91.8% year-on-year increase compared to $14.4 million in Q1 2022.

"Our focus on longevity of our core franchises and strong cash generation has resulted in a record high adjusted EBITDA profitability for Huuuge,” saud Huuuge founder and CEO Anton Gauffin. “We believe that our actions, ongoing focus on cash generation and core business fundamentals, as well as our capital allocation decisions such as the announced share buyback (SBB), will be appreciated by our shareholders.”

The plan to buyback $150 million of shares will be acheived through a time-limited Invitation To Sell (ITS).

Breaking down success

Despite the rise in EBITDA, the company saw mixed success elsewhere. Daily Active Users (DAU) fell 33.2% year-on-year, from 701,600 in Q1 2022 to 468,400 in Q1 2023. Daily Paying Users (DPU) also saw significant declines, falling from 25,000 in Q1 2022 to 17,800 in Q1 2023 - a fall of 28.6%.

Despite these declines, the company saw notable increases in several KPI’s. Average Revenue Per Daily Active Users (ARPDAU) rose 27.8% from $1.3 to $1.7, while Average Revenue Per Paying User (ARPPU) in core franchises rose 14.8% year-on-year from $41.5 in Q1 2022 to $47.6 in Q1 2023.

“We reduced sales & marketing expenses by 69% YoY, R&D expenses by 20% YoY, and total operating expenses by 35% YoY,” said Huuuge executive vice president of finance Marek Chwalek. “These efforts exemplify our harvesting strategy in action, and have resulted in significantly improved cash generation. Our Adjusted net result more than doubled compared to the previous year."

Huuuge Games’ annual report, released in march, showed that the company generated $319 million throughout 2022.