Cambridge-based games firm Frontier Developments has had a rather good year, reporting a revenue increase of 240 per cent year-on-year.
The Elite Dangerous maker revealed revenue of £64.7m ($83.9m), compared to just £19m ($24.6m) the year before. Operating profit also rose 27 per cent to £17.2m ($22.3m). The developer and publisher now also has £39.5m ($51.2m) in the bank, as of November 30th, 2018. No doubt this will support the company's ambitions to publish third-party games.
All of the above is a sign that Frontier's decision to move into self-publishing and away from work-for-hire was a positive one, with the company now boasting three successful IP in Elite Dangerous, Planet Coaster and Jurassic World Evolution.
The former has sold three million copies since its 2014 launch, while the latter two theme park management titles have shifted two million units each. Incidentally, Jurassic World Evolution is Frontier's fastest-selling game to date - we caught up with assistant marketing director Zac Antonaci to find out why this title had such a strong performance.
But CEO David Braben (pictured) says that the firm has plans for a fourth IP that will be announced shortly. We knew that Frontier was working on a new franchise - as well as two others that were in "early development" back when it issued its annual financial report for the fiscal year ending May 31st, 2018.
"In January we celebrated our 25th anniversary, and I am very proud of all of our achievements during our first 25 years," Braben said.
"In the last five years we have successfully transitioned from a trusted 'work-for-hire' developer to an established self-publisher with a portfolio of three released games franchises, a substantial and world-class team, and strong partnerships. It's particularly pleasing that our most recent launch, Jurassic World Evolution, has been our biggest to date.
However, I believe we are still at the start of our journey; we have a lot of exciting opportunities ahead of us driven by our resources, capability and experience, our strong partnerships, and the widening opportunities for games companies within the ever-changing entertainment industry."
