Once again, the French publisher has said that Star Wars Outlaws is underperforming, while its cost-cutting program is on track…
Let’s look at the dirty financials first. Their first half results (April-September) were 672 million euros in revenue (-19.6% year-on-year), their net bookings were 642 million euros (-21.9%), their digital net bookings were 527 million euros (-26.5%), and their back catalog game bookings were 494 million euros (-28.95%). So they are in the red everywhere and we are seeing some pretty strong double-digit losses. It’s a bit embarrassing.
Despite this, Ubisoft says that sales of legacy games are solid (+12% q-o-q), demonstrating the strength of their brand portfolio and live service. They are making progress in evaluating their player-centric and gameplay-first approach, and are taking steps to counter the divisive opinions surrounding Ubisoft to protect the publisher’s reputation and maximize its sales potential. Audiences for the Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six franchises are strong, with 30 million unique active white users each. Playtime was up 9% year-over-year and session days were up 6%. Monthly active users were 37 million (+3%), with “nearly 3 million” new user accounts per month.
Let’s look at Guillemot’s statement: “Despite recent setbacks, we continue to deeply transform Ubisoft to restore the level of creativity and innovation that built Ubisoft’s success, while delivering stronger execution and predictability. To succeed, we must redouble our focus on execution and reinforce a player-centric mindset in everything we do. For example, we are improving the quality of Star Wars Outlaws, including actively responding to player feedback with title updates as we prepare for the Steam launch, the first story pack, and the upcoming holiday season. We are also taking the extra time to ensure that the upcoming, very ambitious installment in our flagship franchise, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, is a highly polished, exceptional experience on day one and that it resonates strongly with players.
We also made further progress on our cost reduction plan in the second half of the year, with strict hiring controls, targeted restructuring and reduced external spending. This is the result of a Group-wide effort and I would like to thank the teams as we transform the Company into a more efficient and agile organization. In the first half of the year, we have already achieved annualized savings of more than € 200 million compared to two years ago. There is still work to be done to support robust cash flow generation in the future,” Guillemot said.
The company also revealed the total revenue of its major franchises to date: the Assassin’s Creed franchise has generated around €4 billion over the past decade, Rainbow Six Siege more than €3.5 billion and Far Cry around €2 billion. Including The Division, Ghost Recon and Just Dance, Ubisoft has six brands with consumer spending in excess of €1 billion.
It will be nice to see them get up from here…
Source: Gamesindustry
