Evolution CEO Martin Carlesund hailed the studio’s latest live casino game show, Lightning Storm, as “the biggest launch ever” for the company following its Q2 report for 2024.
Although Carlesund remarked that “nothing but perfection is enough for this game”, Lightning Storm witnessed a slight delay before being launched exclusively with Evolution’s partners. This saw the game released at the beginning of Q3 2024, rather than its planned date at the end of Q2.
Carlesund commented: “We have been working on Lightning Storm for a long time, and I dare say it’s some of our best work yet, building on so many things that we have learnt from previous games. I look forward to bringing it to players in the coming months.”
Evolution’s Q2 update also revealed that a large number of payouts on Crazy Time, the studio’s flagship game show, contributed to a slower rate of growth across the period.
Crazy Time handed out over €35m to over 5,000 players in Q2, heralded by the CEO as the largest payout from one game in online casino history.
Other live casino titles that did meet their Q2 release dates include Balloon Race Live, Lightning Dragon Tiger Live and Lightning Sic Bo Live.
The supplier group reported operating revenues of €508.4m, representing a 15.3 per cent increase on the corresponding period in 2023, while EBITDA climbed by 10.9 per cent to €345.8m.
EBITDA margin was 68 per cent, down from 70.7 per cent in Q2 2023. However, it maintained full-year guidance at a 69 – 71 per cent margin.
“I see the financial result in the quarter as solid although not fully reflecting our operational performance,” Carlesund explained.
“There are some clear reasons, one reason being that we had the largest payout ever in an online casino game during the quarter with Crazy Time. Large player wins are part of the game and positive for our games’ attractiveness to players, but it does affect us through lower revenue share in the period.”
Looking into the company’s slot production, Carlesund outlined that there are “exciting things ahead” for Evolution’s RNG roster with plans for over 100 games throughout the remainder of 2024.
Revenue from live casino increased by 18 per cent year-on-year in Q2 2024, while the RNG segment saw just 2 per cent growth.
Carlesund expressed his confidence that “incremental improvements” to the RNG business, largely in the form of games launches, would support improved growth.
“We have a high pace of fantastic game-delivery in 2024, even better than in 2023, and we are planning for over 100 new releases,” added Carlesund.
“Although one of our bigger launches – Lightning Storm – has been pushed into Q3, we are overall on track with our release plan for the full year. The release of Lightning Storm will be one of the biggest releases ever in the industry. We have taken some extra time to make sure we release something spectacular that the market has never seen before.
“In Q2 we saw the very successful release of Balloon Race, a latest-generation online live slot game combining game-show features with a simple and easy-to-play slot game, a game that was very well received by end users. Also, Lightning-versions of our popular SicBo and Dragon Tiger games came to market.
“On the RNG side, we have released 26 titles in the quarter – all fabulous games with the distinct trademark of quality and innovation of our four individual RNG-brands: Red Tiger, Nolimit City, NetEnt and Big Time Gaming.”
Across the quarter, Evolution’s game rounds activity increased by 37 per cent year-over-year, with the company’s game round index coming in at 376 (Q2 2023: 275).
Other activity during the quarter saw Evolution prepare to launch its new Prague-based studio. The “relatively small” studio will soon open its doors, while the supplier also outlined plans to open between one and two studios ahead of 2025.
The company also expanded with the acquisition of Galaxy Gaming, announced last week. The acquisition hopes to strengthen Evolution’s position in the US market through Galaxy’s established presence as a table game provider.
“We are constantly looking for new ways to strengthen our position as the leading supplier of online casino games and have announced an offer for Galaxy Gaming. With the acquisition, we accelerate and solidify our presence in the US market where Galaxy is licensed in 28 states,” Carlesund said.
“Through Galaxy we gain a relationship with regulators in states that are not yet open for online and fast-track all future licensing. Galaxy holds over 130 licences in total world-wide. Galaxy has a diverse portfolio of great games that further will strengthen Evolution’s games-portfolio and secure access to the fantastic titles that our future players are accustomed to already today.”