Mighty Kingdom loses third CEO in two years

David Yin has stepped down as CEO of Adelaide-based game studio Mighty Kingdom, just eight months after taking the helm. His departure marks the third full-time CEO exit in two years, continuing a pattern of instability that has plagued the company since its IPO in 2021.

Yin, a former Google Play executive, was appointed in March 2024 to steer Mighty Kingdom through its latest financial and governance crises.

Leadership turbulence began in January 2023 when company founder Philip Mayes stepped down after more than 12 years in the job, citing “unacceptable” financial results through 2022.

Mayes was succeeded by Imagination Entertainment and Gamestar Studios founder Shane Yeend, once Mighty Kingdom’s largest shareholder.

Yeend’s tenure as CEO was short-lived and he resigned in September 2023 amidst mounting governance disputes.

Simon Rabbitt, then-chief financial and operations officer, served as interim CEO before Yin’s appointment.

Speaking to SmartCompany in June, Yin spoke of a brighter future off the back of failed game launches, shareholder infighting, and mounting losses. This included the establishment of an AI Gaming Lab and an ambitious promise to return the company to profitability by FY25.

But just five months later, Yin has departed, leaving Mighty Kingdom’s future direction in serious doubt.

In a statement to SmartCompany, Mighty Kingdom’s board confirmed Yin’s resignation, citing personal reasons.

“Out of respect for his privacy, we will not be commenting further on this matter,” the Mighty Kingdom board said.

“Mighty Kingdom remains confident in the strength and resilience of its studio-level leadership and talented team which has always supported the core business, and the Executive Leadership Team.

“During this interim period, the Board of Directors will support the team in running the day-to-day operations of the company while exploring options for future leadership.”

Promises of stability go unfulfilled

Yin spoke candidly about the difficulties facing Mighty Kingdom back in June, including its turbulent history of leadership changes, financial instability, and morale issues among remaining employees.

“The last three years have been exceptionally challenging for the company. Let’s not kid ourselves,” Yin said at the time.

“What’s more important is looking at specifically Mighty Kingdom and looking at where our strengths and our assets are. So we have a very, very good and very high-margin work-for-hire business that’s going really, really well.”

Off the back of an $8.2 million raise from investors in April, Mighty Kingdom had announced plans to become a more commercially focused studio.

According to Yin, this included work-for-hire projects and contracts to develop games for clients like Google and Spin Masters. 

The pivot away from in-house original games was seen as a necessity to stabilise cash flow and create a foundation for profitability. 

“Every single dollar that we’ve raised, or every single dollar that we’ve spent, has to be allocated to either a revenue-generating activity that is profitable or has a very, very strong chance of being profitable,” Yin said.

“We’ve had too many chances in the past. We’ve got to get this right, and the commercial acumen has to be there.”

Despite his optimism, Yin acknowledged the challenges of restoring trust within the company after years of layoffs, boardroom infighting, and shareholder unrest. Back in May, Mighty Kingdom had announced it was cutting 28% of its workforce to save $2.1 million annually. 

“Any sort of right-sizing… or redundancies – there’s always a significant impact on the staff morale when you leave the existing staff. Let’s not kid ourselves. Let’s be open about that,” Yin said. 

He emphasised the importance of fostering a culture rooted in the company’s core values of respect, creativity, innovation, and team-building.

The AI Lab: Mighty Kingdom’s hope for the future now in doubt

Yin also spoke about the potential of the company’s AI Gaming Lab, a project he hoped would differentiate Mighty Kingdom in a crowded and volatile industry. 

According to Yin, the initiative was led by Mighty Kingdom’s CTO Grant Osborne, who left the company in October 2024.

It was envisioned as a way to use AI to streamline game development, improve operational efficiency, and eventually generate revenue through a SaaS model. 

“The key focus for us in the short term is to conceptualise, scope out, and figure out prototypes that initially help us with our game development process,” Yin said. 

He went on to explain the second phase would be revenue generating and involve taking software tools and bringing them to thousands of game studios in the world

However, Yin was realistic about the timeline, emphasising that the lab wouldn’t contribute to short-term revenue. 

With both Osborne and Yin’s departures, the fate of the AI Gaming Lab, and whether it remains a priority for Mighty Kingdom, remains unclear.

Persistent instability at Mighty Kingdom and questions about its future

Yin’s exit is only the latest chapter in a long history of upheaval at Mighty Kingdom, where boardroom power struggles and financial issues have become recurring themes. The troubles began to surface in earnest after Mighty Kingdom’s IPO in 2021, when its share price plummeted from $0.28 to just $0.017 earlier this year. 

At the time of writing, that price is sitting at $0.045 amongst a voluntary trading suspension.

The company has also been mired in boardroom battles, most notably involving former major shareholder and short-lived CEO Shane Yeend.

In late 2023, Yeend orchestrated a campaign to remove former ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie as chair, accusing her of failing to control the company’s financial losses. Guthrie, in turn, alleged that Yeend’s investment company, Gamestar Studios, had breached financial commitments, withholding $2 million from a share purchase agreement.

Guthrie eventually stepped down while taking “full responsibility for the past unsustainable cash burn”.

However, there continued to be ongoing friction, culminating in a series of leadership changes and a fractured board.

The company’s initial promise of becoming a globally significant gaming force was also quickly overshadowed by missed revenue targets, failed game launches, and former allegations of intellectual property theft.

More recently, Mighty Kingdom has requested multiple extensions to its voluntary trading suspension on the ASX, citing challenges with its capital-raising initiatives.

Initially imposed on November 6, 2024, the suspension was extended multiple times as the company struggled to finalise planned transactions. 

“These capital raising initiatives are critical to the company’s continued financial viability,” Mighty Kingdom said in an ASX update on November 22.

“In the company’s opinion, the continued trading of its securities is likely to be materially prejudicial to complete the capital raising initiatives.”

Despite this, and the company’s current leadership predicament, the Mighty Kingdom board has reiterated its financial turnaround remains its top priority. 

“The company’s FY25 profitability goals remain a priority. While adjustments may be made to accommodate the current transition, the company’s focus on achieving profitability is unwavering,” the board said to SmartCompany.

“Mighty Kingdom remains steadfast in its commitment to producing high-quality work and delivering value to all its stakeholders and appreciate the understanding while we work through next steps.”

Yin’s departure raises fresh questions about Mighty Kingdom’s ability to execute the turnaround plan he championed. His June remarks about the need for stability now ring bittersweet in the wake of his exit.

 “The last three years have been exceptionally challenging,” he said. “But what’s more important is looking forward—to how we grow this company over the next two to three years,” Yin said at the time. 

Just five months later, that vision appears more distant than ever. Mighty Kingdom’s challenges: financial instability, trading suspension and leadership turnover, threaten to overwhelm the company once again.

The author owns a small portion of shares in Mighty Kingdom.

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