The Scandanavian slot game giant NetEnt released financial reports for Q4 of 2017 last Thursday and revealed a mixed set of results.
The reports showed a 4.7% year on year increase in gaming revenues, from SEK400m in 2016 to SEK419m in 2017, but a 3.9% decline in operating profits, from SEK156m to SEK150m.
Meanwhile, company profits after tax increased overall by a modest 1.5% from SEK150m to SEK 156m from Q4 2016 to Q4 2017.
You might think there weren’t any more slot sites left to pick up NetEnt games, but of course the market continues to grow and new sites continue to launch.
Which is why 11 new casinos featuring NetEnt games went live in the last three months of 2017.
What is more, year on year NetEnt’s full year gaming revenues increased by 11.7% from SEK 504m to SEK 552m from 2016 to 2017.
Overall in 2017 36 new casinos featuring NetEnt games went live.
NetEnt continues to go from strength to strength with new deals struck every month, and as their revenues continue to grow, so too does their status within the industry.
At the Global Gaming Awards, held at the Hippodrome Casino in London in February NetEnt also scooped the Online Casino Supplier of the Year, beating off stiff competition from rivals Playtech and IGT.
Company CEO, Per Eriksson gave his own assessment of the results, published on the NetEnt website: “2017 was another eventful year with profitable growth for NetEnt, even though we had expected a much better outcome. Our strategy to grow on regulated markets remains in place and during 2017 we terminated deliveries of games to operators in Australia, Poland and Czechia, which affected revenues negatively by three percentage points in the fourth quarter.
“In 2018, we are increasing our commercial focus and optimizing our organisation to make sure that revenues grow more than costs. I look forward to a new year with more game releases and product news than ever for NetEnt.”
The good news for slots fans is that NetEnt will undoubtedly continue to develop some really top notch games for their fan base in 2018.
Already this year we have seen the long-awaited game, Universal Monsters ™ – The Phantom’s Curse, and the featured-packed Norse-themed Asgardian Stones.
And meanwhile, at this year’s ICE Totally Gaming trade show in London, NetEnt gave us a glimpse into the future of online slots with their Virtual Reality version of the classic Gonzo’s Quest, complete with Avalanche Reels and an excitable Gonzo character.
Gonzo’s Quest VR is set for general release in summer 2018.
