Atari buys publishing rights for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3
Frontier's cash position grew to £23.4 million as of 31st March 2024, up from £19.9m as at 31st December 2023.
Last month, Frontier sold the publishing rights for RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 to Atari Inc ('Atari') enabling Atari to become the sole publisher of all major titles within the Rollercoaster Tycoon franchise. Total consideration for the sale of the publishing rights was US $7m, made up of US $4m of up-front cash and US $3m of deferred cash consideration.
The proceeds of the disposal will be used by Frontier for general working capital purposes.
Cash received during that three month period included the US $4m of up-front consideration due from the sale of the RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 publishing rights and the first tranche of the Video Games Tax Relief cash credit related to the FY23 UK tax returns.
Sales across Frontier's portfolio since publication of its interim results in January 2024 have been in-line with expectations, with the largest contributions provided by Frontier's creative management simulation ('CMS') games, led by Jurassic World Evolution 2 and Planet Zoo.
On 26th March Planet Zoo, which was previously available on PC only, released successfully on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 to positive critical reviews and strong player engagement.
Cash receipts from the March launch of Planet Zoo: Console Edition will be received during April and May. Total sales up to and including the day of release were greater than the sales achieved by Planet Coaster when it arrived to consoles on 10th November 2020.
The Planet Zoo: Console Edition launch was supported by three product options, including an Ultimate Edition which provides access to a Season Pass covering 14 future content packs over the next 12 months.
Strong sales of the Ultimate Edition at launch will generate cash in FY24 but revenue will be split between FY24 and FY25, since a portion of the revenue will be deferred into FY25 as content is delivered in that financial year.
The Board remains comfortable with the financial guidance previously provided for FY24, before taking into account the incremental profit and cash from the sale of the RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 publishing rights. The Board expects to provide an update on the outturn for the financial year in June 2024.