Don’t Nod 2022 Financial Results

Key insights

5 takeaways

01
Don’t Nod is facing an existential liquidity crisis, with only €8 million in cash reserves as of July 2026 and operations projected to cease by January 2027 without external financing.
02
The studio’s financial performance collapsed from a record €30 million in revenue and €2.55 million in net income in 2022 to a €4.3 million loss in the first half of 2026.
03
To address mounting deficits, including a €10.3 million loss in the second half of 2025, the company is planning to lay off approximately 90 employees, representing nearly half of its workforce.
04
The company is abandoning its multi-project strategy in favor of a single-game development model to stabilize operations and reduce overhead.
05
The current crisis follows an aggressive 2022 expansion phase where development costs increased by 42% to €23 million to support a pipeline of eight titles through 2025.

Summary

Don't Nod reported record operating revenue of €30 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, marking a 12.5% increase from 2021 and the highest in the company's history. The French studio achieved an operating EBIT of €3.12 million, a significant turnaround from an operating loss of €3.54 million in 2021. Net income reached €2.55 million, compared to a €3.25 million net loss in the previous year. Back catalog sales and revenue from the published title Gerda: A Flame in Winter contributed €900k. The company increased its production costs, including those for games in development, by 42% to €23 million.

CEO Oskar Guilbert stated that 2022 concluded a two-year cycle focused on building a robust intellectual property lineup, with 2023 initiating an "unprecedented cycle of releases" aimed at generating profitable and sustainable growth. Don't Nod plans to launch two games in 2023: Harmony: The Fall of Reverie and the action RPG Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden, the latter to be published by Focus Entertainment. The studio has eight titles in its pipeline until 2025 and intends to continue investing in the action RPG segment due to its perceived strong sales potential.

However, a separate, later report indicates a severe financial downturn for Don't Nod in the first half of 2026. Revenue for this period was €6.1 million, resulting in a €4.3 million loss. This follows a €2 million loss in the first half of 2025 and a €10.3 million loss in the second half of 2025. By the end of July 2026, the studio had only €8 million in cash reserves, raising doubts about its ability to continue operations past January 31, 2027, without external financing. In response, Don't Nod is implementing drastic cost-cutting measures, including focusing on one game project at a time and considering layoffs that could affect approximately 90 employees, potentially halving its workforce from its 2022 headcount of around 320.