Hello and welcome to the Pullup Entertainment second quarter 2025-2026 presentation. For the duration of the call, your lines will be on listen-only mode. However, you will have the opportunity to ask questions at the end of the presentation. This can be done by pressing the blue hand icon to request to speak or by writing in the chat. I will now hand over to your host, Geoffroy Sardin, CEO, and Aurélien Briand , CFO, to begin today's conference. Please, sir, go ahead.
Hello everyone. In Q2, we continued our solid execution, leading to the second-best first semester in Pullup Entertainment history. As we continue to build our organization to progressively integrate our own IP development, we are focused on delivering exceptional value to players with unique and strongly differentiated experiences that are targeting passionate and highly engaged audiences. While the market continues to be challenging with intense competition, we delivered these past six months both new titles acclaimed by players and new updates on our live games, driving a strong increase in the back catalog over the semester. The great quality of our games, combined with the rising benefits of our live operations and with our team's expertise in maximizing the value of our portfolio, are driving increased visibility across our business.
This is a testimony to how far the group has progressed in developing its recurring profile over the past few years. On the new release side, we spread our performance over many titles. We have already released five in the first half, and we aim to release more than five in the second half. Our two latest releases, Transcend World 6 and Absolem, have started on a robust foot. Absolem, in particular, with a Metacritic score of 87 and Steam reviews of 91, is on track for a solid performance. It has regularly ranked in the top 10 biggest sellers on Steam in its first days after release. Both Transcend World 6 and Absolem are owned IPs and are developed or co-developed internally. This demonstrates our progress in internalizing asset value, which is a key strategic pillar for us.
The Transcend World franchise crossed an important milestone recently, generating over EUR 100 million in consumer spending over its lifetime. We could not be happier about our decision to acquire the studio DofTer Games two years ago. A special mention to Dotemu, another acquisition, which has already delivered four titles in five months between May and October, namely Drop Duchy, Abyssus, Ninja Gaiden: RageBond, and Absolem, all receiving excellent players' reviews. That's quite a creative and operational achievement. Dotemu aims to release more games this fiscal year, including Marvel: Cosmic Invasion and Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes. Marvel: Cosmic Invasion will be released before the end of the calendar year. Since last week, players have been testing a demo of the game, and reviews are excellent so far at 91 on Steam. It is nicely building expectations with a notable impact on the game's wish list.
We are also seeing interest from some of the first-party platforms, which shows willingness from them to support the game at launch. A final comment on this year's lineup with a word on Toxic Commando, which will be released in our fiscal Q4. The title had a strong comeback at Gamescom with very positive comments. It was ranked 15th best progression in terms of wish list, according to GameDiscoverCo. At Gamescom, we also unveiled Road Kings, our latest simulation title. Engagement metrics were great. The title ranked sixth best progression in terms of wish list, and its reveal trailer ranked 10th most viewed of the show. Feedback has been very supportive so far. Road Kings will be released next fiscal year. With a solid first half and supportive trends for our upcoming titles, we confirm today our targets for fiscal year 2026 and for the next two fiscal years. I now hand over the call to Aurélien.
Thank you, Geoffroy, and hello everybody. You won't be surprised by our H1 revenue being down year- on- year, as last year benefited from the exceptional release in September of Space Marine 2, which had reached 4.5 million players by mid-October last year. In absolute value, our performance was solid, with H1 revenue of EUR 133 million, the second-best first half in Pullup's history. New releases' revenue of EUR 35 million is mostly driven by the strong performance of Roadcraft, with additional contributions from Abyssus, Drop Duchy, Ninja Gaiden: RageBond, and Transcend World 6, which was released the last day of September. On the back catalog side, momentum continues to be strong, with revenue of EUR 94 million, up 44% year- on- year, and up 48% at constant exchange rates. It is the biggest ever six-month performance for our back catalog.
This reflects Space Marine 2's ongoing success, the depth of our portfolio, as well as our capacity to drive engagement and recurring revenues through live games, with notably updates for Expedition, SnowRunner, Transcend World, and Boy Crew. In Q2, back catalog was up 3% year- on- year and 6% at constant exchange rates to EUR 35.3 million. To be noted that year two of Space Marine started in September, and the related season pass revenue was mostly deferred to upcoming quarters. A quick reminder for you: in the recent first quarter, back catalog stood at EUR 58 million, of which EUR 19 million from deferred revenue.
As Geoffroy said, on the back of a solid first half and positive dynamic for our upcoming titles, we have confirmed our targets, namely fiscal 2026 top line and adjusted EBIT above FY2023 levels, which was our prior record year performance, and adjusted EBIT growth for both fiscal year 2027 and fiscal year 2028. Regarding our third quarter lineup, Dotemu has already released Absolem and will launch Marvel: Cosmic Invasion, and we expect another solid performance from our back catalog. We are now ready to answer your questions.
Thank you. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press the blue hand icon to request to speak or send a question in the chat.
OK, let's start with a question from the web. Can you give us the breakdown of back catalog sales by franchise? Second question from the same person: could you give us the number of players that bought the season two on Space Marine 2? What is the phase of development of Memories in Orbit? Regarding Absolem, could you give us an idea of the number of players? Could you give us an idea of the number of players?
OK, first, the breakdown by franchise, as you may know, we are not providing these kinds of details to you. For the second part of the question, you asked the number of players that bought the season pass for Space Marine 2. What we can say is that we are very happy with the first revenue generated for year two. However, as it can be expected, it is well below last year's revenue. I would like to remind you as well that the revenue will be accounted and spread over this fiscal and FY2027 as well.
For Memories in Orbit, you have to be a little bit patient regarding the announcement of the release date. It means that the game is almost cooked, so be patient on this one.
OK, we'll wait a little bit to see if there is a direct question. OK, next question from the web: what's the contribution of Space Marine 2 to Q2 numbers? Do you expect H2 back catalog revenues to be close to H1 or lower?
Space Marine 2 is a big contributor in back catalog. Don't forget that we have many, many titles in our back catalog. Some of those titles are supported by live content. There is not only Space Marine 2 in the back catalog. We are mentioning SnowRunner. We mentioned Boy Crew as well. Don't forget the previous opus of Transcend World 5. Space Marine 2 will be the top contributor of the back catalog. Sorry, but there is not only Space Marine 2 in our catalog. Regarding H2 back catalog, if you set aside the EUR 19 million of deferred revenue we get from the season pass, the year one of Space Marine 2 season pass, H2 should be in the same order of magnitude as H1.
I think there is a question for the call.
Thank you. We now have a question from the line of Gorinda Marti at TPA Gap. Please, sir, go ahead.
Hello, can you hear me? Yes.
Yes.
Yeah, hi. Thank you for the presentation. Just one question. Is it possible to have a little bit more color on Absolem in terms of what kind of cost did you put into the development? With the current data that we can see on Steam and also some data on Twitch that I found interesting, what kind of turnover you can expect also on this game? I assume really profitable, but if it's possible to have a little bit more color on that.
OK, thank you for your question. As you know, on the Dotemu side, the business model and the CapEx level is very low compared to the AA publishing business. I repeat and remind you exactly the range of investment on this kind of business model is between not almost zero, but EUR 100,000 and EUR 2 million. This is the range globally we could share with you. On Absolem, first of all, we are very pleased with the execution. As you know, our goal is always to offer exceptional value to players with an amazing experience at the right price. What we could tell you is we are in a solid trend regarding the CCU. One week after the launch, it's a big meaning that the CCU is continuing to be quite high on this one. It means that the quality and the world once is quite huge.
You saw regularly the increase of the Steam review players. It's at 91%, but we are seeing that the trend will be at 92% in the next coming days following the trends. What I could tell you is we will reach our target on this one, and the target was quite strong and robust.
OK, thank you. Thank you very much.
OK, we have another question from the web. Back catalog is only growing slightly in Q2 versus Q2 last year. Were there specific factors that would explain why?
The first element is that we continue to build the recurrence of our business, and this is providing great visibility to us. The trend should not be looked at on a quarterly basis, but maybe more on a yearly basis or a 12-month rolling basis, as there can be some one-time impact affecting some quarters and timing of release, like extra content, some deferred revenue as explained many times, and some promotion timing. On a pure quarterly basis, it's quite tough to compare year- on year. I have to mention as well that we have some Forex headwinds this quarter that slightly impact the quarter.
OK, another question. Do you have some updates regarding Carpool?
Yes, thank you for this question again. Carpool, for those who are not aware of, is a veteran studio set up more than two years ago. They joined the group recently. We are working with them on the specific segments. We can't reveal right now because, as you know, we are disclosing the content of what we are creating as soon as the game is cooked to be launched and to be announced to the community. The velocity and the seriousness of what they are delivering is really great. You have to be a little bit patient. Patience is a big word in this industry. Thank you for your patience on that one.
Next question. Can you provide more insight on the current number of wish lists for Toxic Commando? Would you say the game is more likely to launch at the beginning or end of Q4?
First of all, I repeat what we said in the speech and the presentation. Toxic Commando is going to be launched in Q4. We already re-announced the game at Gamescom. You should expect to get more marketing bids to increase the engagement on this one, delivering more assets on the gameplay and on the different features we will unveil in the next coming week. The game is really on a very good track. As you could imagine, on this type of multiplayer game, we are doing a lot of beta tests. Week after week, the improvement points on the gameplay. As you know, we are in an uncompromising gameplay mood. The game is really good. I need to repeat myself on what's happened at Gamescom. It was a huge success in terms of visibility and community feedback. We are confident on what the game could deliver in terms of entertainment to our players.
Another question from the web. Was the first year anniversary promotion of Space Marine 2 successful to attract new players to the game?
Yes, as you may know, we are doing several times some promotion during the year, and especially on Steam and all the biggest platforms, PlayStation 5 and Xbox. If you notice, we are doing great momentum and engagement on this one. As soon as we are promoting the game, the game is entering in the top 20, top 20 in terms of revenue on Steam and on several other platforms, console platforms. There is a big traction as soon as we are delivering new content and supporting the game through promotion and discounts. We will continue in the long run, especially at the end of this year during the Christmas period, with several initiatives and new in-game content to support the game and to engage new players.
There is a follow-up question on Absolem regarding the animated show. Could you elaborate on the animated show of Absolem?
Yes, in fact, we have strong contact and strong desire from a big platform and streaming platform on this franchise. As soon as it will be signed with a nice contract, we will talk more. What I could say is that there is a lot of traction because the lore and the character design are very appealing. That's why we are discussing with some platforms today.
OK, and there is one last question for the time being. Does DofTer have any other projects in the works besides Transcend World?
Yes, indeed. There are several projects. A nice project will be announced in the next coming days. Be patient on this one. It will be a big splash with a nice asset to announce new expertise on the transportation segment. There is another game which will be unveiled to be launched in this fiscal year.
Let's wait a little bit to see all the questions. OK, it appears there is no more question.
Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for your participation. This concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect.