Kayac Inc. raised its full-year profit forecast for the second time this year after hyper-casual mobile games drove record quarterly downloads and pushed the Japanese developer’s cumulative installs past 1.5 billion.
The Kamakura-based company now expects operating profit of ¥1 billion ($6.5 million) for the year ending December, up 43% from its August projection, according to a statement released Wednesday. Revenue guidance increased 5.3% to ¥20 billion ($129 million), while net income projections jumped 75% to ¥700 million ($4.5 million).
The upgraded outlook follows a third quarter in which Kayac released three new titles—Spring Lancer, Grapple Hook Hero and ChainHavoc—contributing to a 14.8% sequential increase in downloads to approximately 98 million, the highest on record. The company’s hyper-casual portfolio has maintained momentum even as competitors like Voodoo and Homa have shifted focus toward hybrid-casual formats.
For the nine months through September, Kayac reported revenue of ¥14.22 billion ($92 million), up 18.8% from a year earlier, while operating profit surged 249% to ¥704 million ($4.6 million). The gaming entertainment segment, which accounted for 56% of sales, grew 19.3% as legacy titles Park Master and Ball Run 2048 continued generating downloads four and three years after launch, respectively.
The company maintained its annual dividend at ¥3.90 per share.
