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Mail.ru took a $27m impairment charge on Armored Warfare development in Q2

The charge was related to the game's recent poor performance, in a quarter that saw revenues rise but profits halve

Mail.ru's Online Games division saw profits halve in the second quarter, with EBITDA falling from ₽1 billion in Q2 2017 to just ₽530 million this year ($8.4 million).

However, revenue for the three-month period ended June 30, 2018 increased, from ₽3.9 billion to ₽5.6 billion year-on-year ($89 million) - a 44 per cent rise, roughly equivalent to the amount that EBITDA fell.

One of the issues the Russian company faced was the performance of Armored Warfare. In a statement released yesterday, it said that the free-to-play PC game's recent performance has been "below our expectations." It has taken a one-off non-cash impairment charge of ₽1.7 billion ($27 million) against its development.

"We continue to operate the game and already have a series of updates lined up - some have already been announced," the company said. "We are expanding on the console market as we are preparing to launch on Xbox One."

Mail.ru's two biggest games are Warface and War Robots. The former will launch for consoles, as a free-to-play game, in September this year.

Mail.ru has made two key gaming acquisitions this year. In April, it increased its share in BitGames to 51 per cent, having previously held just 2 per cent of the mobile game developer. In January it acquired ESforce, a group of esports companies operating under one brand, for ₽5.7 billion.

The company said that both mobile and esports are key areas for growth in the future.

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Matthew Handrahan avatar
Matthew Handrahan joined GamesIndustry in 2011, bringing long-form feature-writing experience to the team as well as a deep understanding of the video game development business. He previously spent more than five years at award-winning magazine gamesTM.
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