Stillfront’s net revenue declines 14% to $143.9m, but Big Farm: Homestead drives organic growth

• Stillfront’s DAUs fell from 7.8m to less than 7m Y/Y.
• D2C rose to 44% of all bookings during the quarter.

Swedish games group Stillfront generated SEK 1.3 billion ($143.9 million) in net revenue during its first quarter of the new financial year.

This marked a 14% decline year-over-year from almost SEK 1.6bn ($166.8m) in Q1 2025, as the company saw drops across daily active users and monthly active users. Stillfront significantly reduced investment in games outside its "key franchises", meaning organic growth for certain titles was offset by declines in other games.

Overall, Stillfront’s total DAUs fell from 7.8m to less than 7m Y/Y, while monthly players fell from 41.3m to 35.5m.

Gross profit also fell from SEK 1.3bn ($135m) in Q1 2025 to SEK 1.1bn ($121.2m) in Q1 2026. Adjusted EBITDA fell by 23% to SEK 311m ($33.6m).

However, a rising share of direct-to-consumer bookings did help elevate Stillfront’s gross margin to 84%, up from 81% last Q1. Though D2C did fall 1% quarter-over-quarter, it continued to account for 44% of all bookings in the first three months of this new financial year, a rise from 36% in Q1 2025.

Notably, a move to D2C has contributed to the declining net revenue but is a benefit to gross profit. Many companies are selling items at lower prices from their web shops to encourage players away from in-app purchases, therefore avoiding Apple and Google’s fees.

Big hits and UA investment

Stillfront’s fall in net revenue came as declines were recorded across the BitLife, Empire and Albion brands. Developer Jawaker also declined, having generated SEK 191m ($20.6m) in net revenue, down from SEK 221m ($23.9m) one year earlier. Development at Jawaker was negatively impacted by challenges in the Middle East, Stillfront claimed.

Exceptions to the decline were the Supremacy and Big franchises, which both recorded rising net revenues and organic growth. Supremacy made SEK 247m ($26.7m) during the quarter, up 9% Y/Y with a 15% organic growth rate.

Meanwhile, Big’s continued momentum with Sunshine Island and the successful scaling of new release Big Farm: Homestead drove a 78% rise in net revenue to SEK 178m ($19.2m). This reflected organic growth of 88%.

Big Farm: Homestead is now Stillfront’s most successful launch of all time, though rises in its Big segment have been supported by higher investments in user acquisition. Overall, Stillfront spent 34% of net revenue on UA during the quarter, primarily driven by investments in Big and Supremacy.

"The focus during the quarter was on scaling the current portfolio while continuing new game development," Stillfront said of Big in its financial report.

Stillfront CEO Alexis Bonte commented: "Our key franchises grew organically by 12% in the quarter, demonstrating the strength of the portfolio we are building around a select number of strategically important franchises. Our strategic focus remains on building scalable franchises supported by strong player communities."

Towards the end of the quarter, Stillfront announced changes to its Nomination Committee following the resignation of Roger Storm.