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Frontier has now achieved four out of four successful game launches, with Elite Dangerous (December 2014), Planet Coaster (November 2016), Jurassic World Evolution (June 2018) and now Planet Zoo (November 2019) since IPO in 2013. All four titles continue to perform well, supported by Frontier's strategy of evolving gameplay, free and paid content, price promotions and active community management.
Elite Dangerous, which launched in December 2014, continues to expand and develop. Frontier is developing a major new paid-for release for the iconic space simulation which will dramatically expand gameplay and mark the beginning of a new era for Elite Dangerous. Targeted for launch at the end of 2020, this major new release on multiple platforms will fall into financial year 2021 (the 12 months ending 31 May 2021).
We have started calendar 2020 in a great position. We're bringing Planet Coaster to console players and significantly expanding the Elite galaxy this year, and developing two major games for release in the same financial year (FY22) for the first time as a self-publisher.
Frontier is a leading independent creator of self-published videogame franchises founded in 1994 by David Braben, co-author of the iconic Elite game. Based in Cambridge, Frontier uses its proprietary 'COBRA' game development technology to create innovative games, currently focusing on videogame consoles and personal computers.
All four titles contributed materially to revenue in the period. Frontier's strategy of launching and then supporting games to achieve multi-year earnings continues to deliver, with over half of the total revenue in the period being generated by Elite Dangerous, Planet Coaster and Jurassic World Evolution. H1 FY20 revenue included just 26 days of sales (plus pre-order sales recognised at game release) of Planet Zoo, which launched exclusively on PC on 5 November 2019. In comparison, revenue in H1 FY19 (the six months ended 30 November 2018) of £64.7 million included almost a full six months of sales of the multi-platform Jurassic World Evolution, which also benefited from a major IP licence with a simultaneous movie launch in June 2018.
For Elite Dangerous, a major paid-for series of expansions called Horizons was launched in 2015. Four years later, the overall Horizons attach rate to lifetime unit sales of the base game is around 50%, demonstrating the strong ongoing engagement by the Elite Dangerous community to additional content. Frontier is developing a major new paid-for release for the iconic space simulation which will dramatically expand gameplay and mark the beginning of a new era for Elite Dangerous. Targeted for launch at the end of 2020, this major new release on multiple platforms will fall into financial year 2021 (the 12 months ending 31 May 2021). In addition to major expansion packs, Elite Dangerous has a strong back catalogue and future roadmap of in-game personalisation items. This rich customisation model has been further enhanced by the launch of an in-game virtual currency called ARX in September 2019, which has smoothed the purchasing process for players whilst also rewarding regular engagement with the game. ARX can be purchased in packs ranging from £2.99 to £44.99 and then spent in-game on a wide range of items.
Gross profit of £21.4 million was recorded in the period (H1 FY19: £39.3 million, H2 FY19: £15.4 million) with gross margin at 67% (H1 FY19: 61%, H2 FY19: 61%). The six percentage point increase in gross margin in H1 FY20 versus the comparative periods reflected an increased proportion of revenue from own-IP sales (Planet Zoo, Planet Coaster and Elite Dangerous) versus licenced-IP sales (Jurassic World Evolution), following the launch of Planet Zoo in the current period compared with the launch of Jurassic World Evolution in FY19, and a reduction in commission on the Steam PC platform for revenues over US $10m since October 2018 on a per-title basis.
Capitalisation of development costs on franchise assets and other intangibles accounted for £9.8 million in the six months to 30 November 2019 (H1 FY19: £5.1 million, H2 FY19: £8.3m). The percentage of gross research and development costs which were capitalised was 79% in the period, which was similar to the 80% recorded for H2 FY19, and in line with Frontier's normal expectations of capitalising between 70-90% of gross development spending. The comparative figure for H1 FY19 was much lower at 52%, which mainly resulted from a large number of staff working on free updates for both Elite Dangerous and Jurassic World Evolution in that period. Whilst costs for those activities were not capitalised during the period as they were developments of existing released products rather than new products, Frontier believes that investment in free updates is an important part of its overall strategy in supporting and nurturing games after launch to maximise their potential.
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