INVESTOR STORY
A LIFETIME OF PLAY
Team17 Group is a leading global indie games label developer and publisher of premium video games and apps.
The Group was founded in 1990, and Team17’s Games Label successfully launched in 2014. Subsequently, the Group has completed the business acquisitions of StoryToys in 2021, astragon and The Label in 2022, and Independent Arts Software GmbH by astragon in 2023, along with the IP acquisitions of two key titles: Golf With Your Friends and Hell Let Loose.
Today, the Company employs over 350 people across 8 locations in 5 countries, and operates across three divisions – Team17 Games Label, StoryToys and astragon.
The business generates 73% of sales from its back catalogue, with 35% of sales come from its owned first-party IP. Our games appeal to a wide range of gamers, from 2 to 60 years of age and across over 100 games.
In FY2023, the Group delivered revenues of £159.1m (2022: £142.3m), gross profit of £57.5m (2022: £69.5m) and adjusted EBITDA (excluding title impairments) of £41m (2022: £48.8m),alongside launching 17 new games and apps in the period.
Our business today has three complementary divisions that create value for the Group:
Games Label
Games Label is a leading games publisher with a clear focus on developing and launching pioneering indie games that players around the world will love for a lifetime, whatever their gaming preferences.
We launch a mix of internally developed and published indie games across all major platforms, including mobile, serving and growing a community of gamers of all ages and tastes. In addition to generating our in-house IP, we are partners to new and returning independent developers around the globe. Working with studios ranging from one developer through to much larger established outfits overseas, the Games Label helps deliver games both through publishing and development assistance, providing end-to-end support in the game creation process which is tailored and adapted to suit the skill-set of the teams we are working with.
Games Label boasts a vast portfolio with over 100 high-quality games, and over 900 individual digital revenue lines. Back catalogue games, new releases and new content for existing games drive the Games Label’s revenues. Maintaining this balance between new releases and back catalogue games provides a predictable revenue stream that underpins the business.
StoryToys
StoryToys is a world-class developer and publisher of educational entertainment apps for children. StoryToys brings the world’s most popular characters, worlds and stories to life for children, making apps to help them learn, play and grow.
StoryToys acquires licenses for popular kids’ brands and creates engaging mobile apps and games featuring these brands. The apps are free to download and access basic content. Parents and caregivers can unlock additional content through a recurring subscription or one-time in-app purchases.
We form strategic partnerships with brand owners to license popular kids’ brands and have a diverse portfolio of brands and licensed partners, including The Walt Disney Company, The LEGO® Group, Penguin Books, Sesame Workshop, Apple, Amazon, and Google.
• Our apps enable children to enjoy fun screen time while developing healthy digital habits at a young age.
• Our best-in-class interactive experiences are created by a diverse team of writers, artists, musicians, programmers and designers.
• We bring magical worlds to life, sparking curiosity and stimulating imagination at the touch of a fingertip through engaging digital activities
StoryToys’ apps have been downloaded over 185 million times worldwide, and its educational entertainment apps are produced in as many as 28 different languages.
astragon
astragon is a leading games publisher, developer and distributor of sophisticated working simulation games, targeting a broad audience from young enthusiasts to technical experts and casual gamers. Next to our own IP brands, we act as the go-to partners for third-party publishing and title distribution.
Our well-known IPs include Construction Simulator, Police Simulator, Bus Simulator and Firefighting Simulator, all of which focus on non-violent cooperative gameplay with detailed, technical, and realistic environments across PC, console and mobile devices.
We take pride in our ability to cater to the varied preferences of our audiences, offering a rich and inclusive gaming experience that not only resonates with the seasoned experts but also welcomes newcomers.
We remain focused on developing engaging content to expand our audience, strengthening our existing IPs, and securing new licensing partnerships.
Strategy and business priorities:
Our vision is to create pioneering and captivating experiences that enrich and inspire players around the world
We are experts in identifying, developing, publishing, distributing & licensing a mix of first-party and third-party IP games
We support our unparalleled diverse indie back catalogue with world class lifecycle management capabilities
Genre and platform agnostic games and apps
Premium games portfolio with over 100 titles across all platforms
Team17 Group remains a differentiated and compelling investment proposition within the games industry.
Alongside the development of high-quality, engaging games and apps, the Group has a track record of consistently leveraging the strength of its back catalogue to drive additional, reliable revenue streams from our existing content portfolio.
In addition, the Group benefits from a distinct divisional structure, wherein each of the distinct business offerings is headed by talented industry leaders who are all experts in their respective fields.
As Team17 moves forward, it will be focused on five core strategic pillars, namely:
• Building relationships; to be the leading indie publisher, nurturing world-class partnerships with developers, platforms or licenses.
• Creating evergreen brands; to focus on our original first-party IP games while fully leveraging our lifecycle management skills.
• Powering up; to foster greater collaboration between teams and divisions, fully harnessing our collective skills and strengths to optimise efficiencies.
• Attracting talent; to deliver our strategic and financial ambition by nurturing a culture that enables ambition, creativity and belonging.
• Leveraging our pioneering minds; to drive growth into new markets, audiences & IP organically and through M&A.
We have a strong pipeline of new games and apps scheduled for launch across 2024 and beyond, and we will continue to develop and launch additional content across the existing portfolio.
The Group plans to continue to grow revenue and profit, which includes increasing the proportion of revenues from first-party IP over time, sharpening our greenlight process, developing more innovative marketing and publishing models, while pursuing an active M&A agenda.
