Playtika Holding Corp (PLTK) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Playtika Q1 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Now I would like to hand the conference over to our speaker today, Tae Lee, SVP of Corporate Finance, and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

歡迎來到 Playtika 2023 年第一季度財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。現在我想把會議交給我們今天的發言人，公司財務和投資者關係高級副總裁 Tae Lee。請繼續。

Welcome, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for the First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call for Playtika Holding Corp. Joining me on the call today are Robert Antokol, Co-Founder and CEO of Playtika; and Craig Abrahams, Playtika's President and Chief Financial Officer.

歡迎大家，並感謝您今天加入我們參加 Playtika Holding Corp 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。今天和我一起參加電話會議的有 Playtika 的聯合創始人兼首席執行官 Robert Antokol； Playtika 總裁兼首席財務官 Craig Abrahams。

I'd like to remind you that today's discussion may contain forward-looking statements including, but not limited to, the company's anticipated future revenue and operating performance. These statements and other comments are not a guarantee of future performance, but rather are subject to risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond our control. These forward-looking statements apply as of today, and you should not rely on them as representing our views in the future. We undertake no obligation to update these statements after this call. For a more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties, please see our filings with the SEC. We have posted an accompanying slide deck to our Investor Relations website, and we will also post our prepared remarks immediately following the call.

我想提醒您，今天的討論可能包含前瞻性陳述，包括但不限於公司預期的未來收入和經營業績。這些陳述和其他評論不是未來業績的保證，而是受風險和不確定性的影響，其中一些是我們無法控制的。這些前瞻性陳述適用於今天，您不應依賴它們代表我們未來的觀點。我們沒有義務在本次電話會議後更新這些聲明。有關風險和不確定性的更完整討論，請參閱我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件。我們已經在我們的投資者關係網站上發布了隨附的幻燈片，我們還將在電話會議後立即發布我們準備好的評論。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Robert.

有了這個，我現在將把電話轉給羅伯特。

Good morning, and thank you, everyone, for joining our call today. Building our momentum from last quarter, we achieved sequential growth across both casual and social casino-themed titles. I'm proud of our incredible global talent for our achievements and for setting the pace for the rest of the year. We are on track to meet our financial guidance provided on our last quarterly call, and we are excited about our content roadmap slate this year. Overall, we generated revenues of $656.2 million and credit adjusted EBITDA of $222.7 million.

早上好，謝謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。憑藉上一季度的勢頭，我們在休閒和社交賭場主題遊戲中實現了連續增長。我為我們令人難以置信的全球人才感到自豪，因為我們取得了成就，並為今年餘下的時間設定了步伐。我們有望實現上一次季度電話會議上提供的財務指導，我們對今年的內容路線圖感到興奮。總體而言，我們創造了 6.562 億美元的收入和 2.227 億美元的信用調整後 EBITDA。

Several months ago, we took meaningful steps to further focus on our core strength of live operation. Our leadership position in mobile gaming was built on a best-in-class live game operation services, which enable us to provide innovate and personalized content to our players at optimal point in their game journeys.

幾個月前，我們採取了有意義的步驟，進一步專注於直播運營的核心優勢。我們在移動遊戲領域的領先地位建立在一流的現場遊戲運營服務之上，這使我們能夠在玩家遊戲旅程的最佳時刻為玩家提供創新和個性化的內容。

This quarter, we took positive strides towards further developing and implementing our AI technology in our Digital Studio. Our proprietary technology platform, combined with evergreen nature of our titles, has allowed us to successfully drive engagement and monetization year after year. Our technical capabilities allow us to deliver an improvement, more personalized experience to our loyal community of players. And I truly believe there is a lot of more growth potential across all our games. To summarize, I am confident we will strengthen our position within industry this year and that we will outperform our peers in the mobile gaming sector.

本季度，我們在數字工作室中進一步開發和實施人工智能技術方面取得了積極進展。我們專有的技術平台，結合我們產品的常青性，使我們能夠年復一年地成功推動參與度和貨幣化。我們的技術能力使我們能夠為我們忠實的玩家社區提供更好、更個性化的體驗。我真的相信我們所有的遊戲都有更多的增長潛力。總而言之，我相信今年我們將加強我們在行業中的地位，並且我們將在移動遊戲領域超越我們的同行。

I will now turn it over to Craig.

我現在將把它交給克雷格。

Thank you, Robert. We are pleased with our performance to start the year. We saw continued positive revenue trends that we started to see in Q4 across all of our games. Our top 9 games grew revenue per day sequentially quarter-over-quarter. In addition, we are starting to see the flow through from our focus on efficiency and changes that we have made to how we allocate capital.

謝謝你，羅伯特。我們對年初的表現感到滿意。我們看到我們所有遊戲在第四季度開始看到持續的積極收入趨勢。我們排名前 9 的遊戲每天的收入環比增長。此外，我們開始看到我們對效率的關注以及我們對資本分配方式所做的改變所產生的影響。

For the quarter, we generated $656.2 million of revenue, up 4% sequentially and down 3.1% year-over-year. Q4 last year marked a stabilization point for our portfolio, and we're encouraged by the organic sequential growth we experienced to start the year, particularly the strength within our casual games. We made the strategic decision to shift more of our user acquisition spend to our casual growth titles.

本季度，我們創造了 6.562 億美元的收入，環比增長 4%，同比下降 3.1%。去年第 4 季度標誌著我們產品組合的穩定點，我們對年初經歷的有機連續增長感到鼓舞，尤其是我們休閒遊戲的實力。我們做出了戰略決策，將更多的用戶獲取支出轉移到我們的休閒增長游戲上。

Our focus on higher margin growth is evidenced in our financials this quarter, generating strong credit adjusted EBITDA. Credit adjusted EBITDA was $222.7 million, up 9.9% sequentially and 12.8% year-over-year.

本季度我們的財務數據證明了我們對更高利潤率增長的關注，產生了強勁的信貸調整後 EBITDA。信貸調整後 EBITDA 為 2.227 億美元，環比增長 9.9%，同比增長 12.8%。

Our credit adjusted EBITDA margin was 33.9% compared to 32.1% in Q4 '22 and 29.2% in Q1 '22. Net income was $84.1 million, down 3.9% sequentially and up 1.1% year-over-year. We generated $151.5 million of revenue from our direct-to-consumer platform, up 0.9% sequentially and down 0.6% year-over-year. Our direct-to-consumer platform is comprised of all of our social casino-themed titles; and Bingo Blitz, our only casual title on the platform. As a result, direct-to-consumer platform revenues were slightly down year-over-year, given the decline in our social casino-themed titles, offset by strength in Bingo Blitz. Looking ahead, we're excited to introduce Solitaire Grand Harvest and June's Journey to the platform starting in the second half of 2023.

我們的信用調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 33.9%，而 22 年第四季度為 32.1%，22 年第一季度為 29.2%。淨收入為 8410 萬美元，環比下降 3.9%，同比增長 1.1%。我們從直接面向消費者的平台產生了 1.515 億美元的收入，環比增長 0.9%，同比下降 0.6%。我們的直接面向消費者的平台由我們所有以社交賭場為主題的遊戲組成；和 Bingo Blitz，我們在該平台上唯一的休閒遊戲。因此，直接面向消費者的平台收入同比略有下降，原因是我們社交賭場主題遊戲的減少被 Bingo Blitz 的實力所抵消。展望未來，我們很高興從 2023 年下半年開始在平台上推出紙牌大豐收和六月之旅。

Turning now to our business results for the quarter. Revenue across our casual-themed games grew 7.1% sequentially and 4.1% year-over-year. This growth was driven by strength in Bingo Blitz, Solitaire Grand Harvest and June's journey. Our casual games now represent 56.3% of total revenue. Bingo Blitz revenue was $159.2 million, up 2.6% sequentially and up 13% year-over-year. We are extremely proud of our Bingo Blitz team for another quarter of record revenue. Bingo Blitz is a game that we acquired over a decade ago and is still one of our fastest-growing titles.

現在轉向我們本季度的業務結果。我們休閒主題遊戲的收入環比增長 7.1%，同比增長 4.1%。這一增長是由 Bingo Blitz、Solitaire Grand Harvest 和 June's journey 的實力推動的。我們的休閒遊戲現在佔總收入的 56.3%。 Bingo Blitz 收入為 1.592 億美元，環比增長 2.6%，同比增長 13%。我們為 Bingo Blitz 團隊的另一個季度創紀錄的收入感到非常自豪。 Bingo Blitz 是我們十多年前收購的一款遊戲，至今仍是我們增長最快的遊戲之一。

In the quarter, we saw strong results from content packs and promotional features surrounding the Super Bowl, Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day celebrations. We also introduced new mini games and rolled out the new pets feature, which has received positive feedback from our players. We experienced tangible benefits from Digital Studio's AI capabilities in Bingo Blitz. We are now able to identify new segments of top layers much earlier in their player journey. And as a result, we're able to provide these players with personalized content, which led to an uplift in revenue for the studio.

在本季度，我們看到圍繞超級碗、情人節和聖帕特里克節慶祝活動的內容包和促銷功能取得了強勁的成果。我們還推出了新的小遊戲並推出了新的寵物功能，得到了玩家的積極反饋。我們在 Bingo Blitz 中從 Digital Studio 的 AI 功能中體驗到了實實在在的好處。我們現在能夠在他們的玩家旅程中更早地識別頂層的新部分。因此，我們能夠為這些玩家提供個性化內容，從而提高工作室的收入。

The success of this program has encouraged us to roll out these capabilities to additional studios this year. Solitaire Grand Harvest revenue was $85.5 million, up 17.4% sequentially and 29% year-over-year. We are encouraged by this level of growth at such a large-scale studio. On our last call, we spoke about the strong momentum that we're seeing in Solitaire. This past quarter, we introduced changes into the game, giving our players expanded game mode selection, which increased player engagement. In addition, we increased the number of levels by over 3x, driving retention and improving satisfaction amongst our community of players. Finally, we introduced our biggest meta feature to date with the new farm that is helping increase player engagement. Solitaire Grand Harvest is a game that we acquired over 4 years ago and the continued success of this franchise is a testament to our proven capability to drive meaningful organic revenue growth.

該計劃的成功鼓勵我們今年將這些功能推廣到更多工作室。 Solitaire Grand Harvest 收入為 8550 萬美元，環比增長 17.4%，同比增長 29%。如此大型工作室的這種增長水平令我們感到鼓舞。在上次通話中，我們談到了我們在紙牌遊戲中看到的強勁勢頭。上個季度，我們對遊戲進行了更改，為我們的玩家提供了更多的遊戲模式選擇，從而提高了玩家的參與度。此外，我們將關卡數量增加了 3 倍以上，從而提高了玩家社區的保留率並提高了滿意度。最後，我們推出了迄今為止最大的元功能以及有助於提高玩家參與度的新農場。 Solitaire Grand Harvest 是我們在 4 年多前收購的一款遊戲，該特許經營權的持續成功證明了我們已證明有能力推動有意義的有機收入增長。

Shifting to our social casino-themed games. Social casino-themed games revenue was up 0.3% sequentially and down 11% year-over-year. The year-over-year decline was driven primarily by lower results in Slotomania. Slotomania revenue was $146.6 million, down 1.7% sequentially and 12.1% year-over-year. From Q3 2022 to Q4 2022, Slotomania's revenue per day declined by 0.6%. From Q4 2022 to Q1 2023, revenue per day increased by 0.4%. We are encouraged to see Slotomania revenue stabilize for the second consecutive quarter, and we're pleased to see the positive trends in average daily paying users in the studio.

轉向我們的社交賭場主題遊戲。社交賭場主題遊戲收入環比增長 0.3%，同比下降 11%。同比下降的主要原因是 Slotomania 的業績下降。 Slotomania 收入為 1.466 億美元，環比下降 1.7%，同比下降 12.1%。從 2022 年第三季度到 2022 年第四季度，Slotomania 的每日收入下降了 0.6%。從 2022 年第四季度到 2023 年第一季度，每天的收入增長了 0.4%。我們很高興看到 Slotomania 收入連續第二個季度穩定，我們很高興看到工作室平均每日付費用戶的積極趨勢。

Turning now to specific line items in our P&L for the first quarter. Cost of revenue decreased 0.6% year-over-year and operating expenses decreased 13.9% year-over-year. R&D decreased by 9.1% year-over-year. The lower R&D expenses were largely driven by the reduction in force that we announced at the end of the fourth quarter. Sales and marketing decreased by 20% year-over-year. Like last quarter, savings in sales and marketing expenses were driven by the timing of some of our offline campaigns and the reduction of user acquisition expenses in Redecore and new games.

現在轉向我們第一季度損益表中的特定項目。收入成本同比下降 0.6%，運營費用同比下降 13.9%。研發同比下降 9.1%。較低的研發費用主要是由於我們在第四季度末宣布的裁員。銷售和營銷同比下降 20%。與上一季度一樣，銷售和營銷費用的節省是由我們的一些線下活動的時間安排以及 Redecore 和新遊戲的用戶獲取費用減少推動的。

In addition, we had savings driven by the reduction in force. G&A expenses decreased by 6.7% year-over-year. This was largely due to an increased focus on cost reduction across the organization that we began to implement in the first half of 2022. As of March 31, we had approximately $767.2 million in cash and cash equivalents. Looking at our operational metrics. Average DPU increased 4.2% sequentially and 0.9% year-over-year to $326,000. Average DAU increased 3.4% sequentially and decreased 9.9% year-over-year to $9.1 million. ARPDAU increased 2.6% sequentially and 8.1% year-over-year to $0.80.

此外，由於裁員，我們節省了開支。 G&A 費用同比下降 6.7%。這主要是由於我們在 2022 年上半年開始更加關注整個組織的成本削減。截至 3 月 31 日，我們擁有大約 7.672 億美元的現金和現金等價物。查看我們的運營指標。平均 DPU 環比增長 4.2%，同比增長 0.9% 至 326,000 美元。平均 DAU 環比增長 3.4%，同比下降 9.9% 至 910 萬美元。 ARPDAU 環比增長 2.6%，同比增長 8.1% 至 0.80 美元。

Finally, we are reaffirming our full year guidance to deliver full year revenue in the range of $2.57 billion to $2.62 billion and credit adjusted EBITDA in the range of $805 million to $830 million.

最後，我們重申我們的全年指導目標，即實現全年收入在 25.7 億美元至 26.2 億美元之間，信貸調整後 EBITDA 在 8.05 億美元至 8.3 億美元之間。

We continue to expect capital expenditures between $115 million to $120 million. With that said, we'd be happy to take your questions.

我們繼續預計資本支出在 1.15 億美元至 1.2 億美元之間。話雖如此，我們很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Stephen Ju from Credit Suisse.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自瑞士信貸的 Stephen Ju。

So Robert and Craig, so can you update us on your stance toward new game development right now and how that might be evolving? And also talk about your ongoing M&A efforts. It seems like it's an ongoing difficult environment, particularly for the smaller studios. So are you seeing an increased number of assets come up for sale?

那麼羅伯特和克雷格，您能否向我們介紹一下您現在對新遊戲開發的立場以及這可能會如何發展？並談談您正在進行的併購工作。這似乎是一個持續困難的環境，尤其是對於較小的工作室而言。那麼，您是否看到越來越多的資產待售？

So thank you for the question. Regarding -- first regarding the M&A, we see today more opportunities coming to the market. As we said last year, the market is going to be tough for new players, for small players. And the company that will have an issue with -- and like understanding with the operation, will find themselves depending on the marketing effort. And if you depend on marketing effort, it's really hard to grow the business. So we as a company that leading the operations in the gaming industry, this is a big advantage for us to help small companies to grow their business. So yes, we see more opportunity in the market. We see more companies approaching us. And we think that this year is going to be a very positive year.

謝謝你的提問。關於 - 首先關於併購，我們今天看到更多的機會進入市場。正如我們去年所說，對於新玩家、小玩家來說，市場將變得艱難。那些有問題的公司——就像理解運營一樣，會發現自己依賴於營銷工作。如果你依賴於營銷努力，那麼業務真的很難發展。所以我們作為一家領先遊戲行業運營的公司，這是我們幫助小公司發展業務的一大優勢。所以是的，我們在市場上看到了更多機會。我們看到越來越多的公司接近我們。我們認為今年將是非常積極的一年。

Regarding new games, as we said last year, we decided to focus of investing in start-ups, investing in the game that we are promising, let's say, dependent of the internal development of new games. We believe this is the right approach to a company like Playtika. Until now, we see very good results in this direction.

關於新遊戲，正如我們去年所說，我們決定專注於投資初創企業，投資於我們有前途的遊戲，比方說，依賴於新遊戲的內部開發。我們相信對於像 Playtika 這樣的公司來說，這是正確的方法。到目前為止，我們在這個方向上看到了非常好的結果。

Our next question comes from Matt Cost from Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Matt Cost。

I have 2. The first is just on the stabilization that you're seeing with Slotomania, and I guess with the casino portfolio more broadly. Can you just give a little more detail about what's driving that? And sort of your view on how sustainable that -- the acceleration is from here. The second question is just about generative AI. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about some of the opportunities that you have to drive efficiencies using those tools, but also are there any risks to your business that you would highlight as those tools preliterate?

我有 2 個。第一個是關於您在 Slotomania 看到的穩定性，我猜是在更廣泛的賭場組合中。您能否更詳細地說明是什麼原因造成的？以及您對這種可持續性的看法——加速來自這裡。第二個問題只是關於生成人工智能。我想知道您是否可以談談使用這些工具提高效率所必須的一些機會，以及您的業務是否存在任何風險，您會強調這些工具已經過時了嗎？

So thanks for the question. So regarding Slotomania, we said, I think, 2 quarters ago that we have a target. And now we're starting to stabilize Slotomania. And actually, we did very well in the last 2 quarters, especially in this quarter. I think the difference was our approach, we are focusing on the core games by focusing on the thing that's really important to the players. We are bringing more paying users to the circles of paying users in Playtika. It's working very well for us. We are very optimistic about the future. And the -- I think we will keep seeing Slotomania and not only Slotomania, the social casino-themed games is stabilized, and we are even optimistic of growing them. What was the second question?

所以謝謝你的問題。所以關於 Slotomania，我認為，我們在 2 個季度前說過我們有一個目標。現在我們開始穩定 Slotomania。事實上，我們在過去兩個季度做得很好，尤其是在本季度。我認為不同之處在於我們的方法，我們通過專注於對玩家真正重要的事情來專注於核心遊戲。我們正在為Playtika的付費用戶圈子帶來更多的付費用戶。它對我們來說效果很好。我們對未來非常樂觀。而且 - 我認為我們將繼續看到 Slotomania，而不僅僅是 Slotomania，社交賭場主題遊戲已經穩定下來，我們甚至對發展它們持樂觀態度。第二個問題是什麼？

The second question was around generative AI.

第二個問題是關於生成人工智能的。

So as you know, we are investing in AI already a few years. We always believe in AI. Today, everyone is speaking about AI. It became like a buzz word. But Playtika always believed in this. And our first investment was around 2017, 2018. We are happy to announce that I can say in this quarter, we see very good results, especially in Bingo Blitz. We saw the growth of Bingo Blitz. We saw what's happening with the game that, as Craig said in the call, we launched this game -- we acquired this game 10 years ago. And with the help of AI, we see a very promising growth.

如您所知，我們已經投資人工智能幾年了。我們始終相信人工智能。今天，每個人都在談論人工智能。它變成了一個流行語。但 Playtika 始終相信這一點。我們的第一筆投資是在 2017 年、2018 年左右。我們很高興地宣布，我可以說在本季度，我們看到了非常好的結果，尤其是在賓果閃電戰中。我們見證了 Bingo Blitz 的成長。正如克雷格在電話中所說，我們看到了這款遊戲正在發生的事情，我們推出了這款遊戲——我們在 10 年前獲得了這款遊戲。在人工智能的幫助下，我們看到了非常有前途的增長。

And by the way, we're going to take this learning and this experience to our games. And the AI is here to stay and AI is not going -- I always say, AI is not going to replace employees. It's going to help them to grow the business with lesser mistakes with more promising things. And for us, we are not looking at efficiency. We're looking at growth right now with the -- all around our Digital Studios.

順便說一句，我們將把這種學習和這種體驗帶到我們的遊戲中。 AI 會一直存在，不會消失——我總是說，AI 不會取代員工。這將幫助他們以更少的錯誤和更有前途的事情來發展業務。對於我們來說，我們不看效率。我們現在正在關注我們數字工作室周圍的增長。

Our next question comes from Douglas Creutz from Cowen & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Cowen & Company 的 Douglas Creutz。

If I just take your Q1 results and annualize them, a touch above the top end of your guidance range on revenue and pretty significantly above it on EBITDA. I understand it's early in the year, but is there anything that you've seen in kind of early Q2 that suggests to you that your run rate you achieved in Q1 is slowing down? And/or are you guys looking at any sort of increase in your cost base as the year goes on?

如果我只是把你的第一季度結果進行年度化，那麼在收入指導範圍的頂端略高於 EBITDA，並且大大高於它。我知道現在是今年年初，但是您在第二季度初看到的任何事情是否表明您在第一季度實現的運行率正在放緩？和/或你們是否正在考慮隨著時間的推移成本基數會有所增加？

Doug, thanks for the question. So in terms of our guidance, we just gave guidance just a couple of months ago as part of the reporting for the fourth quarter. And obviously, we executed very well in terms of sequential growth with 9 of our top titles all growing sequentially per day. I feel very good about where we are, but it is still early in the year. And so I think given the macro environment, I felt it best to keep guidance there on top line. I think in terms of costs and expenses, we're looking at opportunities to ramp marketing throughout the year as well as some expenses are getting deferred to later in the year. So I don't think you can just look at run rate in Q1. So we decided to keep guidance at this point.

道格，謝謝你的提問。因此，就我們的指導而言，我們只是在幾個月前作為第四季度報告的一部分給出了指導。顯然，我們在連續增長方面表現得非常好，我們的 9 個頂級遊戲每天都在連續增長。我對我們所處的位置感覺很好，但現在還為時過早。因此，我認為鑑於宏觀環境，我覺得最好將指導放在首位。我認為就成本和費用而言，我們正在尋找全年加強營銷的機會，並且一些費用被推遲到今年晚些時候。所以我認為你不能只看第一季度的運行率。所以我們決定在這一點上保持指導。

Our next question comes from Aaron Lee from Macquarie.

我們的下一個問題來自麥格理的 Aaron Lee。

Congratulations on the results. I just wanted to -- there's a nice pickup in the DAUs and especially the DPUs, which you called out. Can you talk about how trends look as you move through the quarter from January to March and how things have looked in early Q2?

祝賀結果。我只是想 - 在 DAU 中有一個很好的回升，尤其是 DPU，你提到了這一點。你能談談從 1 月到 3 月這個季度的趨勢如何以及第二季度初的情況嗎？

Sure. So we don't discuss kind of out-of-quarter results. I would say that we performed well throughout the quarter in terms of Q1. We have been focused, as we talked about on prior calls on DPU. DPU is the best metric for us in terms of monitoring the health of our user base. And Q1 typically has higher marketing spend. And so you will see some top of the funnel growing as a result, but we continue to focus on live ops and conversion and driving that DPU number going forward.

當然。所以我們不討論季度外的結果。我想說的是，就第一季度而言，我們在整個季度都表現良好。正如我們在之前的 DPU 電話會議上談到的那樣，我們一直很專注。就監控用戶群的健康狀況而言，DPU 是我們的最佳指標。第一季度通常有更高的營銷支出。因此，您會看到一些漏斗的頂部因此而增長，但我們繼續專注於實時操作和轉換，並推動 DPU 數字向前發展。

Got you. And just in terms of macro and the health of the consumer, can you talk about what sort of macro impact you might be seeing on your players and how that's changed in recent months? Obviously, the first quarter results were very nice. Does it seem like you're still finding against macro? Or has that improved a bit?

明白了就宏觀和消費者的健康而言，你能談談你可能會看到對你的玩家有什麼樣的宏觀影響，以及最近幾個月這種影響是如何變化的嗎？顯然，第一季度的結果非常好。看起來你還在反對宏嗎？還是有一點改善？

I think what we've seen since kind of middle of the fourth quarter last year is that the environment has been doing well, and we see kind of a healthy environment for mobile gaming. And obviously, it's represented in our results. And so given -- we have -- last year, we had 9 titles in the top 100. I think we have a very good sense of the health of the overall mobile gaming system and feels pretty good right now.

我認為自去年第四季度中期以來我們所看到的是環境一直表現良好，我們看到了手機遊戲的健康環境。顯然，它體現在我們的結果中。因此，鑑於 - 我們 - 去年，我們有 9 個遊戲進入前 100 名。我認為我們對整個移動遊戲系統的健康狀況有很好的了解，現在感覺非常好。

Our next question comes from Eric Handler from ROTH MKM.

我們的下一個問題來自 ROTH MKM 的 Eric Handler。

Craig, just sort of looking at your expenses, R&D has come way down as you've taken some costs out of the equation. I assume that's all people cost. As you look at how you're staffed across your studios and corporate, is that $102 million sort of a relatively stable number you see going forward? Or will that increase as the year progresses? What can you tell about -- tell us about that?

克雷格，看看你的開支，研發已經大幅下降，因為你已經從等式中扣除了一些成本。我想這就是所有人的成本。當你審視你的工作室和公司的員工時，1.02 億美元是你認為未來相對穩定的數字嗎？還是會隨著時間的推移而增加？你能告訴我們什麼 - 告訴我們嗎？

I think from -- I guess what I'll comment is from a headcount perspective, we feel like things should be pretty consistent where we are. We obviously made a difficult decision last year to make some changes as we focus on efficiency. But now we're seeing a more efficient organization and one that is able to make quick decisions and move quickly. And so we feel good about the direction we're headed and feel the expense structure is in a good place.

我認為 - 我想我要評論的是從員工人數的角度來看，我們覺得事情應該與我們所處的位置非常一致。顯然，我們去年做出了一個艱難的決定，在我們專注於效率的同時做出一些改變。但現在我們看到了一個更高效的組織，一個能夠快速做出決策並迅速行動的組織。因此，我們對前進的方向感到滿意，並且覺得費用結構處於一個好的位置。

Okay. And just as a quick follow-up. And looking at your CapEx was quite low in the first quarter. Can you maybe talk about how that ramps as we progress through the year to get to your $115 million, $120 million outlook?

好的。就像快速跟進一樣。看看你的資本支出在第一季度很低。您能否談談隨著我們在這一年中取得 1.15 億美元、1.2 億美元的前景，它是如何增加的？

Sure. So it's just timing of when purchases were made. So we still expect it to be in the range of guidance, but nothing specific from quarter-to-quarter that we're going to provide.

當然。所以這只是購買的時間。因此，我們仍然希望它在指導範圍內，但我們將提供的每個季度都沒有具體內容。

Our next question comes from Colin Sebastian from Baird.

我們的下一個問題來自 Baird 的 Colin Sebastian。

This is [Reese] on for Colin. I was just curious if you guys could provide an update on the localization strategy? And then another question is, how are you guys thinking about kind of the future of the mobile landscape potentially as Google makes changes next year? So it would be great to hear that.

這是 Colin 的 [Reese]。我只是想知道你們是否可以提供有關本地化策略的最新信息？然後另一個問題是，隨著谷歌明年做出改變，你們如何看待移動領域的未來？所以很高興聽到這個消息。

Sure. So I'll take localization. And then Nir, our CMO, will talk about the broader landscape in terms of mobile advertising. In terms of localization, we continue to see opportunities to localize our games in different markets. We just had some successful campaigns with Bingo Blitz in Europe, and we're looking at some other opportunities as well in some other jurisdictions. So I think we keep seeing that leveraging our 360 approach with television combined with performance is working well as we're launching these new markets and changes in local CRM as well as local languages making a difference. So we'll continue to push on that opportunity as well.

當然。所以我會進行本地化。然後，我們的 CMO Nir 將討論移動廣告方面的更廣闊前景。在本地化方面，我們繼續看到在不同市場對我們的遊戲進行本地化的機會。我們剛剛在歐洲與 Bingo Blitz 開展了一些成功的活動，我們正在尋找其他一些機會以及其他一些司法管轄區。因此，我認為我們不斷看到，利用我們的 360 度電視方法與性能相結合，效果很好，因為我們正在推出這些新市場，並且本地 CRM 和本地語言的變化會產生影響。因此，我們也將繼續抓住這個機會。

It's Nir Korczak, Playtika's CMO. So regarding, I would say, the privacy area around Android. So I think that we learned a lot from, obviously, from the IDFA. We have a very close relationship with Google as a strategic partner of us. So I assume that most of the things that we have learned, we can implement in the new area, and we are working with them step by step to be ready to whatever that will come.

我是 Playtika 的首席營銷官 Nir Korczak。因此，關於 Android 的隱私領域，我想說。所以我認為我們顯然從 IDFA 中學到了很多東西。作為我們的戰略合作夥伴，我們與穀歌有著非常密切的關係。所以我假設我們學到的大部分東西，我們都可以在新領域實施，我們正在逐步與他們合作，為即將到來的一切做好準備。

Our next question comes from Eric Sheridan from Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 Eric Sheridan。

Maybe if I could get 2 in. First, I know you talked about AI broadly and the investments you made over a number of years. Can you talk a little bit about how that might factor into long-term content and game creation costs and how to think about the potential to drive efficiencies on that side of the business over the medium to long term? And then second, always interested to hear any updated thoughts on capital allocation and how you guys are thinking about the broader M&A landscape out there in terms of potentially allocating capital against inorganic growth?

也許如果我能得到 2。首先，我知道你廣泛地談論了 AI 和你多年來所做的投資。您能否談談這可能如何影響長期內容和遊戲創作成本，以及如何考慮在中長期內提高業務這方面效率的潛力？其次，總是有興趣聽到關於資本配置的任何最新想法，以及你們如何考慮更廣泛的併購前景，即潛在的資本配置以對抗無機增長？

Cool, thank you. I will answer regarding the AI and Craig will take the M&A. So as I said in the beginning of the call, we always believe in AI, and it took us time to really understand how to use this magnificent tool. I think the first implement and the first effect that we see for working with AI is more optimization of our current feature and current product because we need to remember there are products that we develop 5, 6, 7 years ago in our games. And now with the AI tools, we can optimize them much better to do segmentation to understand how to provide this product to the players to learn from this, to be more ready for new players that entering the game. And I think this is a very, very big change in actually how we're thinking of building a product from scratch, it's changing how we are thinking to approach to a customer, it's a game changer, I can say. But still, there is a lot of work to do. And the good news for Playtika is that we are using this really in one game, and we see -- and it's going to be implemented in all our games, and it's a very big key success in our future.

很酷，謝謝。我將回答有關 AI 的問題，Craig 將負責併購。所以正如我在電話會議開始時所說的那樣，我們始終相信人工智能，我們花了一些時間才真正了解如何使用這個強大的工具。我認為我們看到的與 AI 合作的第一個實施和第一個效果是對我們當前功能和當前產品的更多優化，因為我們需要記住我們在 5、6、7 年前在我們的遊戲中開發的產品。現在有了 AI 工具，我們可以更好地優化它們來進行細分，以了解如何向玩家提供此產品以從中學習，從而為進入遊戲的新玩家做好更多準備。而且我認為這是一個非常非常大的變化，實際上我們正在考慮如何從頭開始構建產品，它正在改變我們思考如何接近客戶，它是遊戲規則的改變者，我可以說。但是，還有很多工作要做。對於 Playtika 來說，好消息是我們真的在一款遊戲中使用了它，而且我們看到了——它將在我們所有的遊戲中實現，這是我們未來的一個非常重要的成功。

Eric, it's Craig. In terms of capital allocation, I think we're pretty consistent with our messaging over the last couple of calls in terms of M&A being an area of focus and priority for us, especially given the changes we made in terms of our pipeline in new games, M&A continues to be a core part of our strategy in terms of bringing on new franchises. I know we've talked about it earlier, but I think the additional recent consolidation in the industry just plays into the fact that mobile gaming entertainment is one of the most attractive categories within the broader entertainment landscape, and we expect consolidation to continue. And so with that, I think there's going to be opportunities for us to continue adding franchises under our portfolio.

埃里克，我是克雷格。在資本配置方面，我認為我們與過去幾次電話會議的信息非常一致，併購是我們關注和優先考慮的領域，特別是考慮到我們在新遊戲的管道方面所做的改變, 就引入新的特許經營權而言，併購仍然是我們戰略的核心部分。我知道我們之前已經討論過這個問題，但我認為該行業最近的額外整合恰恰說明了移動遊戲娛樂是更廣泛的娛樂領域中最具吸引力的類別之一，我們預計整合將繼續下去。因此，我認為我們將有機會繼續在我們的投資組合中增加特許經營權。

Our next question comes from Franco Granda from D.A. Davidson.

我們的下一個問題來自 D.A. 的 Franco Granda。戴維森。

Craig, you pointed out the success you're seeing in shifting more of your budget over to your casual growth titles. Can you perhaps talk a little bit more about your own practices in terms of what is working, what is not and what kind of return on ad spend assumptions you have embedded into the guide for the year? And then for my second question, how should we think about the mix of online versus offline marketing for this year?

克雷格，你指出了你在將更多預算轉移到休閒成長游戲上所取得的成功。您是否可以更多地談談您自己的做法，比如哪些有效，哪些無效，以及您在今年的指南中嵌入了什麼樣的廣告支出回報假設？然後是我的第二個問題，我們應該如何考慮今年線上和線下營銷的組合？

Sure. So I would say, broadly, we're investing in the titles where we see the most potential for future growth, and we have the best return on ad spend. And the 3 fastest-growing titles in the portfolio are Bingo Blitz, Solitaire Grand Harvest and June's journey. And so those titles are all seeing increased budgets associated with that. I think in terms of the tactical specifics, we just don't share that publicly. But in terms of the types of things we're doing, you can see some of it on TV, and then that's backed up by continued performance marketing efforts. And so combined with localization and opportunities to bring our games to new markets as well. So I think it's consistent with previous strategy. I just think we're leaning in more towards our biggest and fastest-growing titles.

當然。所以我想說，從廣義上講，我們正在投資我們認為未來增長潛力最大、廣告支出回報率最高的遊戲。組合中增長最快的 3 個遊戲是 Bingo Blitz、Solitaire Grand Harvest 和 June's Journey。因此，這些標題都看到了與之相關的預算增加。我認為就戰術細節而言，我們只是不公開分享。但就我們正在做的事情的類型而言，你可以在電視上看到其中的一些，然後通過持續的績效營銷努力來支持。因此，結合本地化和將我們的遊戲推向新市場的機會。所以我認為這與之前的策略是一致的。我只是認為我們更傾向於我們最大和增長最快的遊戲。

And we're constantly evaluating as we've made product changes throughout the rest of the portfolio opportunities to ramp marketing there as well for growth.

我們一直在評估，因為我們在整個投資組合的其餘部分機會中進行了產品更改，以加強那裡的營銷以及增長。

And our last question comes from Omar Dessouky from Bank of America.

我們的最後一個問題來自美國銀行的 Omar Dessouky。

So I was -- I'm happy to hear that Bingo Blitz has improved, it seems like partly because of the AI technology. And I wanted to double-click into that. We've had a couple of questions on AI on this call so far. But I wanted to know specifically whether the difference and the timing of this improvement came from models, AI models that were recently released or AI models that have been around for a long time and that you just started to use them? And when I say recently released, I'm really talking about the ones that were released by OpenAI and have been discussed very frequently in the media and in the technology ecosystem.

所以我 - 我很高興聽到 Bingo Blitz 有所改進，這似乎部分是因為人工智能技術。我想雙擊它。到目前為止，我們在這次電話會議上提出了幾個關於 AI 的問題。但我想具體了解這種改進的差異和時機是來自於模型，最近發布的 AI 模型還是已經存在很長時間並且您剛剛開始使用它們的 AI 模型？當我說最近發佈時，我實際上是在談論由 OpenAI 發布並且在媒體和技術生態系統中被頻繁討論的那些。

No. So I think just to be, I guess, give more clarity, this is all tied to our Digital Studio efforts. Our Digital Studio efforts are providing tools to our studios to help improve their games and make better decisions. And so in terms of the product feature we referenced in the script as it relates to Bingo Blitz, it was really about using segments to really personalize the experience to our players. And that personalization and better segmentation tools really helped that game. I don't think we -- I don't have more technical answers in terms of specifically what did it, but this is all part of our broad Digital Studio efforts, which is something we've been developing internally for some time.

不，所以我想只是為了更清晰，這都與我們的數字工作室工作有關。我們的數字工作室努力為我們的工作室提供工具，以幫助改進他們的遊戲並做出更好的決策。因此，就我們在腳本中引用的與 Bingo Blitz 相關的產品功能而言，它實際上是關於使用細分來真正為我們的玩家提供個性化體驗。這種個性化和更好的細分工具確實幫助了這款遊戲。我不認為我們 - 我沒有關於具體是什麼的更多技術答案，但這是我們廣泛的 Digital Studio 努力的一部分，這是我們已經在內部開發了一段時間的東西。

But I want to add something to make things clear. Our growth in Bingo Blitz is not coming only from the AI capabilities and AI effort is helping us. The growth is coming from an amazing job that the teams and the new products and the new features they are launching. So of course, we are speaking about a thing that can help us to grow in the future, but it's to make things clear, this is not what is growing dramatically the growth of the business, it's helping the growth.

但我想添加一些內容來說明問題。我們在 Bingo Blitz 中的增長不僅僅來自 AI 功能，而且 AI 的努力正在幫助我們。增長來自於團隊以及他們推出的新產品和新功能的出色工作。因此，當然，我們談論的是可以幫助我們在未來發展的事情，但要明確的是，這並不是業務增長的顯著增長，而是有助於增長。

Sure. And so have you -- has Playtika started using the large language models and the models that OpenAI has commercialized?

當然。你也一樣 - Playtika 是否開始使用大型語言模型和 OpenAI 已經商業化的模型？

Yes. I don't -- it's not -- I can follow up with that. It's not something that I'm aware of in terms of the types of tools that the team is using my belief, it's mostly focused on our own proprietary tools.

是的。我不——不是——我可以跟進。就團隊使用的工具類型而言，這不是我所知道的，我相信它主要集中在我們自己的專有工具上。

Thank you. All right. That concludes the Q&A session. Thank you all for participating in today's conference call. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。好的。問答環節到此結束。感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。這確實結束了程序。您現在可以斷開連接。