Glu Mobile narrows losses with record Q2 bookings

Glu Mobile narrowed its losses in the second quarter, largely down to increasing bookings to a record $99.4 million.

In the three-month period ended June 30, 2018, Glu earned $90.2 million in revenue, up more than 30 per cent over the same quarter last year. It still made a net loss of $4.4 million, though that is a huge improvement from the $23.6 million loss in Q2 2017.

This is down to the quarter's bookings, which were up 20 per cent year-on-year to a record $99.4 million. The majority of that amount (76 per cent) was contributed by three titles: Design Home, Tap Sports Baseball 18, and Covet Fashion.

The single biggest contributor to Glu's record bookings was Design Home, with $38.2 million for the quarter. In a call with investors, CEO Nick Earl told investors was a point of focus for the company.

"It remains the most important title for us, and probably the greatest opportunity to grow and beat our numbers going forward," he said. "We are incredibly focused on its potential."

Looking ahead, one of the most promising new titles in Glu's portfolio is WWE: Universe. However, its release has been delayed due to concerns over its quality. Earl said that

"The core loop is just not getting traction," Earl said. "We just didn't have the fun factor and the metagame, the elder game - in other words what you do weeks or months into the experience was just probably not tuned to where it needed to be a little complex.

"So, we're really going to work on both the core loop, which is what you do second-to-second, right... as well as fine tuning the elder experience, and we think the two of those together is going to get this game to where it needs to be."