2024 was a good year for 11 Bit Studios. With a generated revenue of PLN 140.54 million (£28.21 million), an 168.9% increase year on year, "marking the highest sales in the company's history". Mostly thanks to the release of Frostpunk 2, according to an investor report. So it's no wonder that the biggest takeaway from all of this is that there needs to be more Frostpunk games.
"The sharp increase in 11 Bit Studios’ revenue in 2024 was primarily driven by new game releases during the period, led by Frostpunk 2," the report says. "By the end of December, we sold 592,000 copies of the game, generating revenue of PLN 69.73 million (£14 million)," Przemysław Marszał, president of the management board of the company, adds.
But it has to be said that all this success isn't solely down to Frostpunk 2. Legacy games like Frostpunk and This War of Mine apparently also performed well. Together, they accounted for PLN 35.75 million (£7.18 million) in revenue, a 13.7% increase from 2023. But Frostpunk was probably helped along by Frostpunk 2 hype.
With this success in mind, the studio confirmed that it will be carrying on support for Frostpunk 2 with upcoming DLCs and a couple of new features, as well as teasing the next Frostpunk game: "We intend to diversify both the scale of our projects and their development timelines. This also means capitalising on near-term, financially attractive opportunities. This underlies our decision to initiate production on the next project set in the Frostpunk universe, which we plan to launch as early as 2027."
However, despite the success of Frostpunk 2 and the exciting prospect of yet another game in the pipeline, 11 Bit Studios still failed to meet expectations. The sales growth did not translate into a corresponding increase in margins as the company recorded an operating loss of PLN 2.84 million (£570,000).
"2024 was a year marked by hard work, significant challenges, and tough business decisions," Marszal says. "It was also a year of achievements that we are proud of. We experienced failures as well, which we are confident we have learned from. We are entering a new year that we firmly believe will bring notable improvements in both our operational and financial performance."
It's undoubtedly a tough market out there, but even still, the news of a next Frostpunk game is very exciting. I loved my time in Frostpunk 2, even if all my citizens ended up hating me. So I can't wait to do it all again and see what trials and tribulations 11 Bit Studios has waiting for me in a few years.
