Shares of video game maker 11 bit studios slump after 'Frostpunk 2' release

11 Bit Studios SA

23/09/2024 08:56

GDANSK, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Shares in Polish video game maker 11 bit
studios  11B.WA  slumped 38% on Monday to the bottom of Poland's mid-cap index
 .mWIG40  after the number of players of the company's flagship game "Frostpunk
2" failed to meet market expectations shortly after its release. 
    Frostpunk 2, the sequel to BAFTA-nominated society survival city-builder
Frostpunk, was released on Friday evening.
    The highest number of concurrent players of the game on the Steam platform
reached 35,533 on Saturday.
    "We expected a significantly higher players peak in the 80,000-100,000
range, so we consider 35.5k as a negative surprise," said Erste Group analyst
Piotr Bogusz, citing "relatively poor" player reviews and the possibility that
some potential gamers could be accessing Frostpunk 2 via Microsoft's "Game Pass"
subscription service as reasons affecting the peak number on Steam.  
    "Nevertheless, given Frostpunk 2's almost 8x larger wishlist than Frostpunk
at launch, we expected a higher players peak," Bogusz added, referring to those
who had expressed an interest in the game's release. 
 

    

 (Reporting by Adrianna Ebert; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
 ((Adrianna.Ebert@thomsonreuters.com; +48 58 769 65 88;))