Aiming FY2016 Q3 Financial Results

The financial results for the third quarter of the fiscal year ending December 2016 reflect a significant downturn in performance for Aiming, an online game developer operating primarily in the Japanese smartphone market. The company reported a net loss of 679 million yen for the nine-month period ending September 30, 2016, a sharp reversal from the 1.8 billion yen profit recorded during the same period in the previous year. Revenue also declined by 25.9% year-over-year to 6.95 billion yen, while the company posted an operating loss of 436 million yen.

This decline is attributed to an increasingly competitive landscape in the smartphone gaming sector, characterized by rising development costs, longer production cycles, and the necessity for aggressive promotional spending. While the company continued to support its flagship title, "Logres of Swords and Sorcery," and launched new titles such as "Sky and Earth Crossnoah," the overall financial results were negatively impacted by lower-than-expected performance from certain titles. This necessitated asset impairment losses and the reversal of deferred tax assets, further increasing total expenses.

The company’s financial position shows a reduction in total assets to 9.08 billion yen, down from 9.72 billion yen at the end of the previous fiscal year, driven largely by decreases in cash, deposits, and accounts receivable. Conversely, liabilities increased to 2.95 billion yen, primarily due to an increase in long-term debt. Aiming maintains a cautious outlook for the remainder of the fiscal year, projecting a full-year net loss of 673 million yen. Management intends to focus on optimizing the operations of existing titles and ensuring the quality of its development pipeline to navigate the intensifying market competition.