That's curious that their FY24 guidance is higher - is that mostly based on work for hire or original IP?

Not really a fan of how they capitalise dev costs to get it below the EBITDA line then when they write off those capitalised costs report "normalised" EBITDA with the expense removed. You can't have it both ways!

I'm trying to get my head around how being a labour hire firm for Meta etc will ever make them anything more than a labour hire firm.

The inhouse IP business feels a bit like a movie studio where you just plug away until you hopefully hit the jackpot.

Are these marketing expenses related to the $14.9m in IP revenue?

Shame the meeting was postponed today. I would have been interested in getting a better understanding of the business.

@Strawman same vibe from me, no major surprises in the report. As a whole, when you take a step back and assess the year that has been, the result for me sits somewhere between good and impressive -- perhaps closer to the latter. The revenue growth is exceptional, no two ways about it -- the chart you included from the report demonstrates this. My take is the market isn't happy with the -7m NPAT (again, no surprises here, classic irrational market!)

H2 was particularly impressive, primarily due to the success of the DWTD franchise -- original IP came in at 9.4m (5.6m H1), while WFH was 12.6m (10.9m H1). The DWTD brand is growing in importance for Playside, lets hope they can continue to grow and expand the brand in FY24. I found the below really interesting -- noting follower count has never been higher than this month -- and the brand will likely continue to benefit/grow with DWTS to feature on the Netflix games store, while a VR DWTD title is being developed for Meta Quest devices. If two of the leading tech companies in the world are interested, we should be too.

The Netflix proposition in particular is an interesting one. Playside continue to tell us (and rightly so) that some of the world's hottest properties start as gaming IP -- think Pokemon, Mario, Tetris, The Last of Us etc. This is now more commonly referred to as 'transmedia' -- using a brand across multiple platforms and formats. We are already seeing this with DWTD across the 'gaming' landscape, with expansion to Meta VR, Netflix Games, a card game with Spin Master, battle royale for PC and a console title in concepting phase -- in addition to the original mobile titles. DWTD is now without a doubt Playside's most successful and attractive IP/brand. If I was a betting man, provided the franchise continues to grow, Playside likely envisage a world where Netflix or someone similar take the IP/brand a step further and use it for television and movie titles. Netflix Games is one to watch closely, I think it will be a no-brainer for Netflix if the game is popular on the platform. Even if it isn't, if the brand continues to grow and be widely recognisable, it might be an attractive proposition for them to develop further across multiple formats.

Anyway, I am ranting at this point, but after this year I think DWTD is their (current) potential golden egg. It is difficult to assess or forecast the impact this might have on Playside's top line, which makes the business difficult to value. That said, you only need to look at other brands/companies that go the transmedia path and succeed -- lots of blue sky ahead and the potential for the franchise to be a company maker if they get it right.