Ekaterina Bespyatova

Earnings of €1 billion and revenue growth from the back catalog are the main thing from the Ubisoft report (and analysts’ tweets)

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The third fiscal quarter of last year was an outstanding one for Ubisoft (it ended for it on December 31). During this time, the company earned more than €1 billion for the first time and increased MAU to 40 million users. The French publisher shared such results in the latest report and during a conversation with investors.

Assassin’s Creed ValhallaBasic figures

  • Ubisoft’s revenue increased by 120% compared to the third quarter of 2019 (then it was €455.5 million);
  • the lion’s share of the company’s earnings came from digital sales — €588.4 million. The annual growth was 67.6%;
  • a lot of money was also brought to the publisher by already released games. The back catalog was responsible for €306.1 million. For comparison, in October-December 2019, the revenue from such games was €252.2 million;
  • in the third quarter, the number of users in Ubisoft projects reached a record level. The total MAU of the company’s games amounted to 40 million people.

Ubisoft’s financial performance
According to Ubisoft, major recent releases and the ongoing CODID-19 pandemic helped it achieve such results.

Thanks to the launch of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs: Legion and Immortals Fenyx Rising, the publisher has seriously strengthened its presence on new generation consoles. The French company has become the second largest publisher for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. But on other platforms, Ubisoft turned out to be the most successful third-party publisher in terms of the circulation of games.

Games and sales

  • The release of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the best in the franchise. In addition, the initial sales of this title in the “figure” became the largest for Ubisoft as a whole.;
  • Valhalla also took second place in sales on the next gen;
  • The DAU of the new game from the Assassin’s Creed line has doubled compared to the DAU of Odyssey at the same time;
  • The shift in focus on the RPG component of Valhalla led to a record increase in engagement in the previous parts of the series – Odyssey and Origins;

  • Rainbow Six Siege has reached 70 million players. Released six years ago, the game has added 15 million new gamers over the past year. She compensated for the negative effect of the canceled esports events with a release on the next-generation console, a combat pass and updates;
  • Ubisoft noted that it is possible to change the name of Rainbow Six Quarantine. However, the company still did not promise this;

  • Watch Dogs: Legion took the fourth place in the list of the best-selling games on the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S;
  • she showed herself well on the next gene and Immortals Fenyx Rising. The game got the seventh place in the top. She’s also doing well on the Nintendo Switch. How good — Ubisoft did not explain;

  • Just Dance 2021 became the eighth best-selling game on Switch and the most popular part of the series among users. The success of the project was ensured by advertising in TikTok and promotion for the Nintendo console;
  • in the Ubisoft back catalog, Far Cry, Anno and The Crew are particularly successful;
  • The publisher confirmed that the game in the “Star Wars” universe is still at an early stage. It is planned to develop it on the Snowdrop Engine;

  • Massive Entertainment will continue to create new content for The Division in both 2021 and 2022. Working on a Star Wars title won’t hurt the studio;

  • Massive plans to release the Avatar game before the Star Wars game;

Forecast

  • in the next quarter (January-March 2021), the French publisher does not expect such good results. Ubisoft expects that the company’s earnings will be approximately 450-500 million euros.;
  • at the same time, the publisher’s annual revenue can reach approximately €2.2 billion.

We told you more about Ubisoft’s plans for the next financial year in this article.

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