The parent company of ESL and DreamHack, Swedish media conglomerate Modern Times Group (MTG), generated more than $112 million in revenue alone within the first quarter of 2018.
Presented in its quarterly report on April 23, it was revealed that MTG’s single-largest source of revenue was the German-based mobile game studio Innogames. The Tribal Wars developer generated $67 million in revenue during the first quarter of 2018. The studio, which has integrated its game into the ESL Play platform, was acquired by MTG on May 2, 2017.
The continued success of Innogames contributed to more than 220 percent growth for MTG, and the company’s digital ventures now account for roughly 35 percent of its total revenue.
Related: ESL parent company MTG reports record sales in first quarter of 2017
While the company still made a net loss of roughly $1 million, the numbers it put up in 2018 must put MTG at ease. On Feb. 12, a deal to sell MTG to Danish telecom giant TDC for $2.5 billion fell through, which ultimately led MTG to split the company in two. The company is now planning on placing its traditional television and radio-related business under the banner of Nordic Entertainment Group (NEG), while what used to be MTGx (now MTG) will focus solely on esports, online video, and mobile gaming.
MTG is now firmly situated as one of the top distributors driving the growth of esports, as the company reportedly sold online advertisements for $159 million throughout 2017—meaning it occupied roughly 20 percent of the entire esports market.
CEO Arnd Benninghoff told Swedish marketing magazine Resume on May 31, 2017, that 2018 would be the year he expected the company’s digital investments to start turning a profit. With $120 million in the first quarter alone, there seems to be little doubt that MTG will be able to achieve just that.
