One month after launching a restructure, Playside's co-founder walks out the door

By Jonathon Davidson, The Market Online, Australia [published on HotCopper] Monday 5th May 2025.

Playside Studios (ASX:PLY) has confirmed its co-founder Gerry Sakkas has quit the company as Creative Director, also walking off the Board.

While 90% of his shares will remain escrowed for twelve months, he’s allowed to sell off 6M shares before then.

Considering 1Y returns are down -80% YoY as the price sits at 16.5cps on Monday 5 May, it’s probably that shareholders can expect to see that happen sooner rather than later.

But it’s the backgrounding to this story that makes Sakkas’s move of interest.

Just last month, Playside revealed it was undertaking a restructure in the face of 1HFY25 revenues down -21% to $28.5M and a series of deferrals on key revenue-generating pipeline contracts.

(To date, those contracts are still expected to be snatched up “later in … 2025.”)

The Aussie gaming outfit, currently spearheading a Game of Thrones PC game title and also putting out work under the kids’-favourite Dumb Ways to Die IP, already saw its share price tank in October of last year when FY25 guidance came in strongly underwhelming.

So, zooming out, the fact co-founder Sakkas has left the building today could be a sign of more pain to come.

• In October, Playside released underwhelming FY2025 guidance, sending investors to the exit doors
• In April, Playside stated it was undertaking a restructure
• At the same time, the company effectively said it was unable to confirm when exactly it would secure its next batch of keystone contracts
• At the start of May, the company’s co-founder has now left the building

But perhaps most concerning is that the company won’t be replacing Sakkas – meaning it’s now going ahead without a Creative Director.

“Given the work completed in advance of his decision to step down as CEO in March 2025 and the successful completion of the Company’s restructure, the Company will not seek a replacement for his role,” Playside wrote on Monday.

In restructures, typically, the highest-paid non-core roles are often the first to go. So perhaps it isn’t entirely surprising, assuming this isn’t a happy or willful exit for Sakkas.

But if that’s meant to reassure Playside investors, it will likely only reassure those most unmotivated by situational awareness.

PLY last traded at 16.5cps.

--- ends ---

Source: https://hotcopper.com.au/news/asx-news/151819/one-month-after-launching-a-restructure-playsides-co-founder-walks-out-the-door/

They last traded at 16.5 cps on Friday. On Monday they dropped another -18.18% to close at 13.5 cps after going as low as 10.5 cps during the day.

oof... yeah hard to see any positives in this.

My take here is that the new CEO has a very large options and rights package (10m options, 5.3m rights). He has little industry experience, that is to say he has no experience whatsoever in the gaming industry, but does have a financial background (analyst at Cannacord). The broad problem at PLY is that Sakkas has taken the money they make from WFH and has spent it trying to win the lottery by developing OIP. The CEO's incentive package really only requires him to present the WFH business as growing and profitable, and he will make bank. Sakkas likely has little interest in being involved in the day to day of running a labour hire firm.

I note the announcement says they are not hiring another creative director which I infer as meaning OIP is on the way out.

So if I was a betting man, I'd say that the next 12 months is about stabilising the business financially, getting growth back into the WFH business, not directing any more funds at OIP, and then selling the business.

That to me is why they have a guy from Cannacord with no hands on experience running anything as CEO.

That's not to say it will work out as they plan, but I believe that is the plan.