As stated above, we have revised our full-year operating results forecast. The Pachislot and Pachinko Machines business is performing strongly and sales and ordinary profit are expected to exceed the previous forecast. On the other hand, as the Consumer area in the Entertainment Contents business is expected to perform below the previous forecast, due to the recording of structural reform losses in European bases as extraordinary losses, profit attributable to owners of parent is expected to fall short of previous forecast.

As for the details of each business, the Entertainment Contents business faced rapid changes in the business environment surrounding the Consumer area, especially in Europe, such as a reactionary decline from the stay-at-home demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, an economic downturn due to inflation, and other factors. As a result, the profitability of the business has been lowered. In response to this, we resolved to implement a structural reform of our European bases centered on Creative Assembly Ltd. and other, as announced on September 28, 2023. We also revised downward our full-year operating results forecast for the Consumer area in light of the recent market environment and sales situation. However, in order to promote global branding of existing IPs we plan to conduct a simultaneous worldwide release of new titles, etc. for our mainstay IPs, such as “Sonic,” “Persona” and “Like a Dragon,” across multiple platforms, and will strive to steadily sell them. Though we have already implemented certain actions in terms of structural reforms, we will continue to consider any necessary measures.

In the Pachislot and Pachinko Machines business, sales of pachislot machines are going well, due to the hit of Smart Pachislot Hokuto No Ken and other machines and we expect to implement additional sales of Smart Pachislot Hokuto No Ken and Pachislot Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. In addition, we have rescheduled the launch of some titles from FY2024/3 to FY2025/3 in consideration of their approval status. In contrast to smart pachislot, the penetration of smart pachinko has been sluggish. Going forward, however, I believe that smart pachinko will become more popular due to the emergence of some smart pachinko machines with high utilization and the review of regulations. The pachislot and pachinko machines market environment continues to be favorable in terms of regulations and the procurement of parts is also improving. As our short-term goal during the period of the Medium-Term Plan (FY2022/3-FY2024/3), we will aim to become No. 1 in total utilization of pachislot and pachinko machines while continue to aim to win the “triple crown”: top share in utilization, installation and sales for long-term.

With regard to growth investment, in the Consumer area, Rovio Entertainment Corporation, which is the developer of Angry Birds and possesses high development and operational capabilities in global mobile F2P games, has now become a Group company and incorporated in our consolidated financial statements since this September. In addition, as an investment in the Gaming area we announced the acquisition of GAN Limited, a SaaS provider for casino operators in the United States and the B2C online gaming operator in Europe and South America. The closing of the acquisition is subject to approval from GAN shareholders at its general shareholders’ meeting, the receipt of regulatory approvals in relevant jurisdictions, and the satisfaction of other customary conditions. Although it will take some time until the closing, we will continue to steadily work on it. As such, our growth investments are progressing steadily, but our investment capacity is also increasing so we will continue to consider investments for future growth based on economic rationale.

We have entered the second half of the final year of our Medium-Term Plan. Although we have so far exceeded our consolidated Medium-Term Plan goals, we will strive to ensure that the revised full-year forecasts announced this time will be achieved and lead to further improvements. From now on, we will continue to aim to be “constantly creating, forever captivating”, and pursue initiatives towards the sustainable growth of our corporate value. We hope that we can continue to count on the ongoing support of each one of stakeholders.

On November 8, 2023, we announced a revision to our full-year operating results forecast as follow.

For more information, please refer to the link below.

In the medium-term plan, the Pachislot and Pachinko Machines business targets “becoming No. 1 in total utilization of pachislot and pachinko machines” and “maintaining stable earnings,” with “creating hits” and “improving business efficiency” as key strategies. In this fiscal year, Sammy’s pachislot machines are maintaining solid performance and driving our business performance. Since both sales and ordinary income are exceeding our initial forecast, we have revised our operating results forecast upward for the business.

Unit sales of Smart Pachislot Hokuto No Ken had already surpassed 60,000 units as of the end of July 2023, and demand remained high due to continued strong utilization. In response to this, we conducted additional sales during the third quarter and achieved the total unit sales of 80,000 units (as of the end of November 2023). This is the largest unit sales for Sammy’s No. 6 model machine.