Another win for East Side Games, says Eight Capital

The hits keep coming for East Side Games Group (East Side Games Stock Quote, Chart, News TSX:EAGR), according to Adhir Kadve of Eight Capital. In a report to clients on Thursday, Kadve reviewed EAGR’s latest announcement, a deal to deliver a free-to-play mobile game based on Star Trek: Lower Decks.

Vancouver-based game studio East Side Games has a portfolio of free-to-play, casual mobile games, including Archer: Danger Phone, Bud Farm Idle Tycoon, Cheech & Chong Bud Farm, The Goldbergs: Back to the 80s, It’s Always Sunny: The Gang Goes Mobile, Trailer Park Boys Grea$y Money, RuPaul’s Drag Race Superstar and The Office: Somehow We Manage.

East Side Games announced on Wednesday an intellectual property deal to develop Star Trek: Lower Decks as part of a multi-year partnership with ViacomCBS, becoming the fourth game in East Side’s Super Marquee lineup after RuPaul’s Drag Race Superstar, The Office: Somehow We Manage, and Doctor Who, which is expected to launch in the second half of 2022.

“ESGG has now secured partnerships with NBCUniversal, BBC Studios and now ViacomCBS, which we believe the company could leverage in the future for ongoing celebrity/TV Show based game development and serve as strong reference customers for new IP holders looking at ESGG as a potential development partner,” Kadve said.

According to Kadve, the game will be based on storylines and characters from the Star Trek: Lower Decks series, though the company notes that they will have access to the full portfolio of titles in the Star Trek universe, including nine movies and nine TV series.

The game will be a co-development between East Side and Australian developer Mighty Kingdom Games under the Idle Game format. The game is presently in soft launch in select markets of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, with anticipated worldwide launch later this year.

“The Star Trek franchise has had an unmistakable influence on adults and children alike for over 50 years. Being able to bring such a storied franchise to mobile in our trademark idle-game style is an honour for us here at ESGG,” said Darcy Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of East Side Games Group in the company’s February 23 press release. “We’re looking forward to sharing this new experience in the Star Trek franchise with everyone from new audiences to Star Trek super fans. This new mobile game is another top tier IP franchise that will only add to an already exciting launch slate in 2022.”

Kadve said the deal also gives East Side a prominent IP partner in the form of ViacomCBS Consumer Portfolio, which controls licensing and merchandising for the ViacomCBS portfolio including CBS, ComedyCentral, Paramount Pictures, MTV, Nickelodeon and Showtime.

“We believe that with this partnership in place, there exists opportunities for ESGG to leverage ViacomCBS’s broader portfolio of IP for gaming titles in the future,” Kadve said.

East Side’s stock price has dropped by 18.5 per cent over the last 12 months, with a 9.1 per cent loss since the start of 2022. May 3 of last year saw East Side hit a 52-week high of $4.70/share, only to drop to a 52-week low of $2.30/share on November 11. With his report, Kadve reiterated his “Buy” rating and $7.50/share target price on EAGR, which at press time represented a 12-month projected return of 130.8 per cent.

Disclosure: East Side Games is an annual sponsor of Cantech Letter.