CI Games secures €28.6 million credit facility to self-publish Lords of the Fallen II

CI Games SE signed a €28.6 million ($32 million) syndicated credit facility with Erste Bank Polska and Bank Ochrony Środowiska. The facility funds completion, marketing and launch of Lords of the Fallen II, targeted for Q1 2027. Poland's export credit agency KUKE guarantees 80% of the facility, which matures in August 2027. CI Games terminated its Epic Games publishing deal in April and will now self-publish the sequel without issuing new shares.

Erste Bank Polska and Bank Ochrony Środowiska arranged the syndicated facility together.
KUKE's 80% guarantee shifts most of the lenders' default risk onto the Polish state agency.
The facility also refinances all of CI Games' existing bank debt.
CI Games expects to repay the loan primarily from Lords of the Fallen II sales after its Q1 2027 launch.

CI Games secured the full financing without issuing new shares, avoiding equity dilution.
Marek Tyminski, the company's largest shareholder, has committed to hold his entire stake for the full financing term.
"We have secured full financing for the launch of Lords of the Fallen II without issuing new shares. That matters for our shareholders, who keep their full participation in the game's potential success." - Marek Tyminski, CEO and President of the Management Board, CI Games

CI Games terminated its publishing agreement with Epic Games effective April 14, disclosing it more than a month later.
That agreement would have made Epic the PC publisher and kept the sequel exclusive to the Epic Games Store.
CI Games gave no reason for the split and says it will still use Unreal Engine and other Epic tools.
Self-publishing lets CI Games keep the full revenue it would otherwise have shared with an outside publisher.

The first Lords of the Fallen (2023) sold more than 2.5 million copies and reached over 8 million players.
CI Games had disclosed $66.2 million in total costs for that game, its most expensive project to date.
CI Games will announce the sequel's exact release date and launch its main marketing campaign in December 2026.

For Publishers & Developers: Price state-guaranteed bank debt against publisher offers before signing away PC distribution rights.
For Investors & VC: Stress-test repayment against launch slips, since the maturity leaves almost no post-launch cushion.
For Service Vendors: Pitch PC storefront operations and multi-store launch support to studios exiting exclusivity deals.