Playtika dips after warning of second-half weakness

Games company Playtika Holding Corp. (Nasdaq: PLTK) returned to profit in the second quarter of 2026, after reporting a loss for the previous quarter. The Herzliya-based company reported second quarter revenue of NIS 731.1 million, 5% more than in the corresponding quarter of 2025.

In comparison with the first quarter of this year, however, revenue was down 1.8%. Playtika posted a net profit $48 million, which compares with $33.2 million in the corresponding quarter. For the first quarter of this year, Playitka posted a loss of $57.5 million. For the first half of 2026, the company posted a loss of $9.5 million, which compares with a profit of $63.8 million in the first half of 2025.

The company’s profit on regular operations also improved. Operating profit in the second quarter of this year was $134.6 million, up 23% from $109.7 million in the corresponding quarter. Expenses totaled $596.5 million, slightly up in relation to revenue.

Playtika’s share price fell 4.19% yesterday to $3.89. In today’s session so far, the share price is down 15.4% at $3.29, giving the company a market cap of $1.253 billion.

One of Playtika’s main growth engines was Disney Solitaire, developed by Israeli games company SuperPlay. Revenue from the game reached $142.4 million in the second quarter, almost four times the figure for the second quarter of 2025. In comparison with the first quarter, revenue from the product grew by 15.5%.

Playtika said that SuperPlay, which it acquired in September 2024 for $690 million cash, had started to contribute to profit in the second quarter, after large investment in marketing Disney Solitaire weighed on the results of the previous quarter. In the second quarter Playtika cut back spending on marketing of the game, but revenue from it continued to grow.

By contrast, Bingo Blitz, Playtika’s biggest generator of revenue in the quarter, weakened. Revenue from it totaled $145.1 million, representing a decline of 9.5% in comparison with the corresponding quarter and of 5.6% in comparison with the first quarter. Revenue from June’s Journey totaled $74.7 million, 8.1% more than last year, but 1.7% less than in the previous quarter.

Revenue from direct sales to players reached $268.9 million, up 63.1% within a year. Instead of purchases being made through the app stores of Apple and Google, Playtika enables players to make them through its own platforms and websites, thereby saving on the commissions it pays to the technology giants. In comparison with the first quarter, direct sales declined by 1.7%.

Alongside the rise in revenue, however, user numbers continued to fall. The average daily number of active users in the second quarter was 8 million, which compares with 8.8 million in the corresponding quarter. The average number of daily paying users fell by 2.9% to 367,000.

RELATED ARTICLES

Nevertheless, the percentage of users making purchases from within games rose from 4.3% to 4.6% and average daily revenue per active user grew from $0.87 to $1.01. In other words, Playtika had fewer users, but managed to derive higher revenue from each of them.

Playtika reiterated its 2026 guidance of $2.75-2.85 billion revenue and $750-790 million adjusted EBITDA, but added that “based on current trends, including a more cautious view of consumer spending and the planned step-down in second-half marketing investment, we currently expect full-year results to finish toward the lower end of both ranges.”

At the end of June, Playtika had $438.5 million cash, versus long-term debt of $2.37 billion. In the first half of this year the company made a payment of $350 million in connection with a previous acquisition. This payment was one of the causes of the fall in its cash balance. “Our second quarter results demonstrate what has always been at the heart of Playtika, we build games that keep players engaged for years, not quarters,” Playtika CEO Robert Antokol said. “Disney Solitaire grew again this quarter even as we reduced our marketing investment and our margins expanded meaningfully. These results reflect the durability of our model and the discipline of our execution.”

The growth of Disney Solitaire strengthens SuperPlay’s status as Playitka’s main growth engine while its older games are weakening. The agreement with SuperPlay included additional payments to its founders in accordance with its performance. This means that the more that SuperPlay succeeds the more it contributes to Playtika’s revenue, but it also raises the amounts that Palytika has to pay for it.

The release of the current financials comes at the same time as Playtika is examining options for the future with the aid of investment bank Morgan Stanley. The company is reportedly in talks on the sale of SuperPlay to Chinese games giant Tencent at a valuation of up to $1.5 billion. In its quarterly report Playitka provided no new information on this.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on August 6, 2026.

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.