Trion Worlds has managed to make a hit out of their first title Rift, built on investments from Time Warner, Comcast, Fidelity Investments and ACT II Capital. However, now that they have a steady cash flow, they’re considering an IPO at some unspecified date in the future.
“As we build scale and become more profitable, (an IPO) is clearly on our horizon at some point,” said CEO Lars Buttler. “We’ve had a lot of bankers coming to us recently. We keep all of our options open at this point. We definitely have enough substance and enough skill to be a public company at the right time.”
Rift has sold well over a million copies and also generates money from monthly subscription fees, though the current number of subscribers is a secret right now. “Rift is vastly profitable. It is profitable every single week and every single month,” said Buttler.
Not only do they have the hit game, but they recently announced their Red Door publishing platform for online games. “It’s a software platform and it evolves and gets better all the time. It’s a huge revenue opportunity,” said Buttler.
Of course, long term prospects for the company will be tied to the platform along with Defiance, a game ties to release with the TV show of the same name on the Syfy Channel. “If you have a game in that level and it doesn’t do well, you stand to lose a lot of money. The stakes are much higher with failure,” said Billy Pidgeon, an analyst for M2 Research.
Source: Reuters
