Playsimple Games Limited IPO

01At a glance

What the company does — develops and runs 30 live casual mobile games in five categories — search, crossword, anagram, other word games and non-word puzzles — and earns from in-game advertising and in-app purchases (AP p.3).

Who pays it — advertising networks that purchase ad slots in its games, and players who pay for in-game benefits; advertising was 84.83% of 2025 revenue (AP p.3). Most players are in North America, according to data from the ad networks (AP p.4).

Why it is raising money — it is not. The offer is entirely a sale of shares by MTGx Gaming Holding AB, and the company receives none of the proceeds (AP p.1, AP p.6).

How fast it has grown — revenue from ₹18,374 million in 2023 to ₹22,598 million in 2025; profit was ₹149 million in 2023, ₹5,212 million in 2024 and ₹3,590 million in 2025 (AP p.7).

The one thing to understand — a cash-generating games business whose parent has taken large dividends ahead of this sale. It paid ₹11,576.83 million of interim dividends in 2025 and ₹4,118.05 million more between January and April 2026, while spending 63.72% of 2025 revenue on user acquisition (DRHP p.51, DRHP p.53, AP p.9).

02The business, in plain words

A casual-games company makes free games, pays for advertising to attract players, and earns when those players see ads or pay for extras. Profit depends on whether the lifetime revenue from a player exceeds the cost of acquiring that player.

A player in the United States sees an ad for Word Search Explorer → downloads it free → plays daily, watching ads between puzzles and sometimes buying hints → the ad network pays PlaySimple for the ad views, and the app store passes on purchases.

The company cites the Redseer report, using Sensor Tower data, for being first globally in mobile word-game downloads in 2025, with about 14% of some 731 million downloads (AP p.3).

Earnings equation: Profit ≈ daily active users × revenue per user × 365 − user-acquisition spend − staff and platform cost. In 2025 average daily users were 4.62 million and revenue per daily user ₹13.35 (AP p.9).

03Where the money comes from

Source: AP p.3, AP p.4.

Source: AP p.4, AP p.10. The ad networks are not named.

04The growth record

Source: AP p.7, AP p.8, AP p.9.

Adjusted EBITDA adds back fair-value losses on optionally convertible preference shares, employee reward and incentive plans, and a one-time 2025 bonus (DRHP p.287). The gap between the two EBITDA measures was ₹3,877 million in 2023 (our arithmetic).

05What the growth is made of

Downloads more than doubled in 2025, to 150.18 million, as non-English games grew from 18.33 million downloads to 74.04 million (AP p.9). Daily users rose from 3.17 million to 4.62 million, but revenue per daily user fell from ₹15.88 to ₹13.35 (AP p.9). User-acquisition spend rose 60.13% to ₹14,399 million (AP p.9). So revenue grew 20.40%, while adjusted EBITDA fell from ₹7,092 million to ₹4,952 million (AP p.8, AP p.9).

06Earnings quality

Operating cash flow has exceeded profit in each year (AP p.8). The previous auditor qualified the 2023 accounts over the deferral of revenue from virtual-coin sales and related commission, and over weaknesses in IT and internal financial controls; the restated figures needed no adjustment (AP p.12). There are also CARO and audit-trail remarks (AP p.12).

07The balance sheet

Source: AP p.7.

Equity fell by more than half in 2025 because of the ₹11,577 million dividend (AP p.7, DRHP p.51). The company has no borrowings (AP p.7).

08What the money is for

Source: AP p.1, AP p.6.

09Who is selling

Source: AP p.1.

10Promoters

The promoters are MTGx Gaming Holding AB, a Swedish company incorporated in 2016, and its parent Modern Times Group MTG AB (publ), which is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (AP p.5, AP p.6).

11Who already owns it

Source: AP p.6, AP p.7.

12What changed just before the IPO

• Dividends — ₹11,577 million paid in 2025 and ₹4,118 million in early 2026 (DRHP p.53).
• User acquisition — spend up 60% in 2025 (AP p.9).
• Non-English games — downloads up fourfold (AP p.9).
• Margins — adjusted EBITDA margin down from 37.79% to 21.91% (AP p.9).

13Capacity and expansion

A software business with no plant; growth depends on game launches and marketing spend (AP p.3, AP p.9). The top three games provided 56.95% of 2025 downloads (AP p.9).

14Market size and industry structure

The Redseer report cited in the offer document estimates the global mobile games market outside China at $136–146 billion in 2025 and projects $181–200 billion by 2030 (AP p.5). Those projections are Redseer's, and newboard has not tested them.

15Competitive position

What the document claims, and what it rests on:

• Leadership in word games by downloads, citing Redseer and Sensor Tower (AP p.3).
• The largest Indian pure-play casual-games company by FY25 revenue, citing Redseer (AP p.3).

Against that: a few hit games, dependence on a handful of ad networks for both revenue and user acquisition, and falling revenue per user (AP p.9, AP p.10).

16Peers the company named

Source: DRHP p.100. Nazara's P/E uses its price on 30 March 2026.

No P/E is possible for the company until a price band is set.

17Risks, in plain words

• Hit dependence. A decline in the top games' popularity (AP p.10).
• North America. Most players are there (AP p.10).
• Ad networks. One network provided 37.76% of ad revenue; the top five ad vendors take 91.75% of acquisition spend (AP p.10).
• Acquisition cost. User-acquisition spend was 63.72% of revenue (AP p.9, AP p.10).
• Regulation. Gaming laws in India and abroad (AP p.10).

18Litigation and regulatory matters

Source: AP p.12, AP p.13.

19Related-party transactions

Dividends to the parent were ₹11,577 million in 2025 and ₹4,118 million in early 2026 (DRHP p.53). Other related-party transactions were not read for this study.

20What the offer document does not say

In the sections read for this study, the document does not give:

• The names of the ad networks, which it withholds for lack of consent.
• What the criminal proceedings against three directors concern, in the pages read.
• Returns on user-acquisition spend by cohort, in the pages read.
• The dividend policy after listing.
• The price band, lot size or issue dates, which is normal at DRHP stage.

21Five questions for management

1. How long does it take to recover the cost of acquiring a player, and has that lengthened?
2. Why did revenue per daily user fall from ₹17.51 in 2023 to ₹13.35 in 2025?
3. What dividends will the company pay after listing?
4. What do the criminal proceedings against three directors concern?
5. How much of revenue comes from Word Search Explorer alone?

2Sources and cited facts

This study was read from 2 documents the company filed. The 27 figures it cites are listed under the document each came from, with the page and the sentence as printed.