Autumn has now firmly arrived in Northern Europe, and October, for me, has been a mixture of looking back to share the successes of key partners, and looking forward to the start of the new year and what lies ahead for 5th Planet Games.
2023 marks the 20th Anniversary for two huge brands of our strategic partner Skybound, and we joined them in celebrating the global success that they have achieved with The Walking Dead and Invincible. The Walking Dead has come a long way since the first comic created by Robert Kirkman and Toby Moore was published in October 2003; in the intervening years The Walking Dead has gone on to become one of the most successful and recognizable Entertainment brands in the world, driving over $10 Billion in revenue across comics, TV, merchandise, apparel, board games, live events and of course Video Games, a category in which we now participate.
Invincible was first published as a comic in January 2003 and has been described as “the best superhero comic book in the universe”; building on its 20 year history of success as a comic book, the TV show aired for the first time in March 2021 as many millions of new fans discovered the story of Mark Grayson and his superhero father, Omni-Man; Invincible dominated the recent New York Comic Con which ran from Oct 12-15th, and the trailer for Season 2 of the TV show attracted a staggering 13.1m view in its first 24 hours.
For 5th Planet Games, the opportunity to co-finance new projects based on these global hits is something that we should never underestimate; we are a beneficiary of their pedigree, their proven appeal to global audiences and their ability to successfully deploy across a wide range of media, all of this has been demonstrated very clearly in the month of October.
As well as this reflection on established successes, and understanding how 5th Planet Games can continue to benefit from it, I have been busy considering other, new opportunities for us; this includes not just new product categories for us to consider, but adding new talent, skills and capabilities to the group that will allow us to expand our financing and publishing capabilities; I hope to be able to talk more about all of this very soon and to have new projects to pursue from next year onwards.
Finally, as we move to the close of the year, I am obviously keen to ensure that we finish the year with the same enthusiasm and commitment that we started with, and optimize the results for the business, our partners and our shareholders.
Best wishes to all,
Mark Stanger – CEO 5th Planet Games