Dundee games developer Outplay Entertainment is looking to grow the business after turning a £9 million profit last year.
Newly filed accounts show the Dundee studio’s revenue fell from £19.1m in 2019 to £10.4m for the year ending December 31 2020.
However, despite the 46% decline in turnover, pre-tax profits increased by £7.6m to £8.9m.
Chief executive Douglas Hare said the decline in sales was due to the disposal of subsidiary company Mobile Gaming Studios to Miniclip in March 2020.
However, the £12m sale was also behind the almost seven-fold increase in company profits.
The games boss said he is planning to use the profit to acquire one or more developers to grow the company further.
He says: “I don’t think we’ll close transaction this year, but it’s being worked on right now.
“We’ll work on continuing to grow the business from a revenue perspective.
“Last year was a step back from the year before at a group level.
“We’ll be looking to grow over the course of the coming months and years, and beyond that we’re looking at new game development for next year.”
Outplay Entertainment profit to grow firm
Outplay Entertainment is the largest independent mobile developer in the UK.
The company launched three new games in 2020 and took on 30 new staff to the now 127 person team.
The past 18 months they have all worked remotely as the games industry has grown.
Mr Hare says: “The game industry is one of the fortunate industries that has thrived and grown as a result of the pandemic, with people looking for ways of entertaining themselves.
“We really do recognise that there’s quite a few types of entertainment, like film or television, where the appetite is still there, but it’s a lot harder to release movies and series in lockdown.
“Whereas for us, we’ve launched multiple games and concluded a deal with Miniclip.
“We just can’t believe how fortunate we are.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, many people discovered mobile games for the first time, leading to an industry wide growth in gaming.
In January this year, the firm released a game with famous chef Gordon Ramsay.
Gordon Ramsay’s Chef Blast has been a big driver of growth and increased the firm’s global reputation.
Outplay Entertainment launched another game, Mystery Match Village, in April.
Mr Hare said: “We believe we can grow Gordon Ramsay’s Chef Blast into being our biggest success yet.
“We plan to continue to add new features to the game, promote the game and see the growth.
“This year is about continuing to grow the business.”