MSM Corp flags Apple Arcade distribution boost for new game title

Mobile gaming company MSM Corporation (ASX:MSM) has received a distribution boost for the launch of its new game title.

The company said the Dubai-based Riva Group, in which MSM has an investment, has successfully launched its latest game title, Zombie Rollerz: Pinball Heroes.

The game was developed by Riva subsidiary Firefly Games Inc in conjunction with Zing Games Inc.

MSM said the Zombie Rollers game was the first it has released on Apple Arcade, the video-game subscription service run by global tech giant Apple.

In addition, the Zombie game has been “given a feature by Apple on the main Apple Arcade page”, the company said.

Riva Group chairman Paul Roy said the company was “extremely pleased by the positive feedback to the game and especially honoured that Apple has featured the game globally”.

Revenue outlook

Shares in MSM got a boost in morning trade as they pushed back towards the 5c mark.

Since falling below 1c at the height of the COVID-19 selloff in March, the stock stabilised and has traded at or near 5c for most of the 2021 financial year.

MSM is one of a small cohort of ASX-listed stocks trying to build out their business models in esports and mobile gaming.

The company is the best esports performer so far in 2020, with two other companies also posting triple digit gains this year.

MSM has a 10 per cent shareholding in the Riva Group which in turn is the majority shareholder in J&D Holdings Limited (J&D) — the company which has sole legal rights to all the game titles released on Firefly Games.

Via a secured debt-funding arrangement, MSM also has the right to receive profit distributions from Riva in connection with all gaming revenue generated by Firefly Games.

The company anticipates that “all working capital requirements going forward will be met by these waterfall loan note repayments, as gamification revenue is generated by Firefly Games”, MSM said.

MSM files monthly 4C statements with the ASX (as opposed to quarterly).

Monthly statements for September and October showed the company booked no receipts from customers, but received cash inflows from financing activities of $67,000 and $72,000 respectively, via the loan repayments from Riva Group.

MSM finished the month of October with $150,000 in the bank.