In the first half of the current financial year, Ubisoft suffered declining results. Despite growing player numbers, the publisher is struggling with disappointing sales results and challenges in the market.
The decline in net bookings and revenue is related to the performance of the August 2024 release “Star Wars Outlaws”. It has achieved “solid ratings and user ratings”. However, they stayed Sales figures “below expectations”..
Ubisoft's transformation is set to continue
The publication of the half-year figures shows a significant reduction in revenue: Sales fell by 19.6 percent year-on-year to 672 million euros, while net bookings fell by 21.9 percent to 642 million euros.
What's the difference? While revenue only includes the funds actually earned and realized, net bookings include future revenue that is contractually guaranteed but cannot yet be recorded as revenue.
Digital net bookings in particular recorded a decline of 26.5 percent. Despite these losses, Ubisoft points to positive developments in the second quarter, in which net bookings increased by twelve percent compared to the previous quarter.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot made it clearthat the difficult market environment is forcing the company to make further adjustments: “Despite the recent setbacks, we continue to work on the deep transformation of Ubisoft to restore the level of creativity and innovation.”
Cost savings and polarizing comments
Ubisoft is focusing on efficiency measures and comprehensive cost reductions. According to the company, this led to savings of more than 200 million euros in the last six months. The global number of employees fell again by over 2,000.
Guillemot assured that further measures will be taken “to address the dynamics behind the polarizing comments about Ubisoft, to protect the group's reputation and to maximize the sales potential of our game.” Examining a “player-centered and gameplay in “Foregrounding approach” by the Executive Committee would also move forward.
Successes can already be measured: game time and session days increased by nine and six percent year-on-year, respectively, with MAUs (monthly active players) at 37 million, an increase of three percent year-on-year, representing “almost three million” new accounts per month includes.
For the coming months, Ubisoft plans to improve the quality of “Star Wars Outlaws” to further increase and launch the game on the Steam platform. At the same time, the company is preparing for Christmas sales and the release of “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” designed to meet high expectations. The adventure set in Japan was recently released postponed until next year.
Further news about Ubisoft:
Billion euro franchises in the portfolio
In the latest annual report, Ubisoft also focuses on the sales and access figures for entire game series: The “Assassin's Creed” and “Rainbow Six” series continue to be among the company's strongest brands, each with over 30 million active users.
Since the franchise's launch, “Assassin's Creed” has generated around four billion euros, while “Rainbow Six Siege” has generated around 3.5 billion euros and “Far Cry” has generated 2 billion euros in sales.
Further news about Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft.
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