Next Game’s Blade Runner: Rogue available in the first main market

In the UK, the game immediately reached top rankings in downloading charts for the RPG genre

HELSINKI - 28th April 2021

Next Games has published Blade Runner: Rogue in its first main market: the United Kingdom. Publishing the game in the UK supports the company’s refined strategy as presented during Capital Markets Day 2020, by strengthening the company’s position as a top publisher of turn-based RPG games.

"I'm so proud of our team’s achievements. The game has been developed with ambition and care to ensure that players enjoy the captivating atmosphere of the film from start to finish. Releasing this game in the United Kingdom is an important step for us, as we are now but one step away from a release in the United States. Though our results in the UK are preliminary, they are promising, ” says Teemu Huuhtanen, CEO of Next Games.

The gradual scaling of Blade Runner: Rogue to various markets will continue as planned in 2021. The Company’s Outlook for 2021 can be found here, a change to the outlook is always announced via separate stock exchange release.

ABOUT THE GAME AND MARKET

The game is a roguelike turn-based tactical RPG set in a neo-noir, dystopian future Los Angeles. This visually stunning game is based on the iconic sci-fi movie directed by Ridely Scott "Blade Runner” and the follow up "Blade Runner 2049” directed by Denis Villeneuve. While hunting down notorious rogue replicants and deciding their fate, as a player you are faced with a multi-branched path of different cases to be solved. On top of the traditional RPG-mechanics, the game introduces unique elements such as a captivating narrative and strong social elements to connect the Blade Runner fan audience.

The turn-based RPG market is approximately $ 2.6 billion in size based on revenue over the past 12 months. The largest markets for turn-based RPG’s in terms of revenue are Japan (# 1), the United States (# 2), Germany (# 3) and the United Kingdom (# 7). Blade Runner: Rogue is Next Game’s second turn-based RPG game. The company’s hit game The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land, with lifetime revenues exceeding EUR 120 million, is also a turn-based RPG game that has gained widespread popularity in the same markets as those above.

Blade Runner: Rogue is now available to download for free in the Apple App Store and Google Play stores in the UK.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS AND PLAYER FEEDBACK FROM THE UK

• Ratings 4.1 stars (out of five stars)
• Player reviews:
  

"The Ambience is amazing, you have that feel of a futuristic thriller whilst playing. No voice acting, it's all text read, which, for me is a dream come true, as it allows imagination to take hold a little more.”

"This free to play mobile game is a much better cyberpunk game than cyberpunk 2077”

"Excellent turn based strategy game, very addictive”

"I am a big fan of the Blade Runner movies – this game is great as well!”

"Enthralling, mesmerizing, enchanting. Blade Runner Rogue truly captures the tense electrifying flow of the futuristic cybernetic world of Blade Runner. The music, scenery and characters are expertly interfaced in this high grade premium PvP battle app. Recommended.”

MARKETING STRATEGY AND THE UNITED STATES

Top rankings on the RPG download charts in the Google Play Store have been achieved with very moderate marketing investments. Investments have not been geared towards actively seeking a high ranking position yet, and at this stage the company is not attempting a permanent position on the charts. The game is set to bring new updates still before the summer, after which it will be marketed more widely in the UK and other European RPG markets. After the summer the game is set to be released in the United States. A possible release in Japan would take place no earlier than the end of the year. It is typical for turn-based RPG genre games that a strong ARPDAU (Average Revenue per Daily Active User) will build over time, and thus the plan to moderately increase marketing investment and build the daily active users (DAU) throughout 2021 remain. A Black Lotus anime based on the world of Blade-Runner is expected towards the end of the year, as well as more comics in the Blade Runner universe. These will also serve as opportunities for marketing the game.
        
DEVELOPMENT BACKGROUND

Blade Runner: Rogue (former Blade Runner Nexus) was moved back to production at the end of 2019, and a new Rogue game mechanic was added to the game. With the revision, the title of the game was also changed. The game has been available for download in Australia, Finland, Canada and Poland. These markets are not main markets for turn-based RPG titles, and thus the game has never been actively promoted there. Next Games has never before brought the game to its main markets (like the United States and the United Kingdom).

BLADE RUNNER IP

Alcon Entertainment, produced Blade Runner 2049 a sci-fi thriller directed by Denis Villeneuve and executive produced by Ridley Scott. The story is by Hampton Fancher who co-wrote the screenplay with Michael Green. The sequel has Harrison Ford reprising his role as Rick Deckard, also starring Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, and Robin Wright amongst others. Blade Runner 2049 is set thirty years after the events of the first film. A new blade runner, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. Blade Runner is particularly popular in the United States and the United Kingdom.

General Enquiries

Next Games

Annina Salvén, CFO
+358 (0) 40 588 3167

investors@nextgames.com

Press Enquiries

Miltton

Tuuli Ekman
+345 (0) 45 345 5022

press@nextgames.com

About Next Games
Next Games (Helsinki Nasdaq First North: NXTGMS) is the first publicly listed mobile game developer and publisher in Finland, specializing in games based on entertainment franchises, such as movies, TV series or books. The developers of the critically acclaimed The Walking Dead titles redefines the way franchise entertainment transforms into highly engaging service-based mobile games. Next Games employs over 100 people and is based in Helsinki, Finland.www.nextgames.com

About Alcon Entertainment
Co-founders and co-CEO's Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson founded Alcon Entertainment in 1997 with partner Frederick W. Smith, the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FedEx.

Alcon has financed and produced or co-financed and co-produced 35 films to date including the Academy Award Best Picture nominee The Blind Side; the critically acclaimed Blade Runner 2049 starring Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford which won 2 Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Best Visual Effects and received an additional 3 nominations; The Book of Eli starring Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman; and many others. Alcon is currently in post-production on Lullaby, the horror feature from director John R. Leonetti (Annabelle).

Alcon Television Group is currently in production on their hit sci-fi series The Expanse, a critically acclaimed space thriller which debuted on Amazon in December and boasts a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes; and the animated children’s series Pete the Cat, a co-production with Amazon Studios based on the best-selling children’s book series currently available on the streaming service.

Alcon Television Group’s past projects include the Grammy-winning and Emmy-nominated four-part documentary The Defiant Ones, originally developed for HBO, which chronicled the divergent roots and unlikely partnership of Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine and the Emmy-nominated HBO documentary Sinatra: All Or Nothing At All from Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney which remains one of HBO’s most successful shows in the 50+ demographic.

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