Ubisoft Q1: The Division, The Crew 2014 releases narrowed
Ubisoft has reported its Q1 financials for fiscal year 2014, and along with monetary earnings, the firm has also narrowed down the 2014 release windows for The Crew and Tom Clancy's The Division.
The Numbers
For the three months ending June 30, Ubisoft reported sales of €76 million ($99.5 million), which is down by 42% compared to the same quarter last year, when it posted €131 million ($171.5 million).
Ubisoft said the comparable slip was due to the lack of retail releases for the quarter, yet it still outperformed its estimates thanks to a 56% sales surge (€60 million) of its back catalog.
Its digital business also helped its bottom line with a 27% (€34 million) increase during the quarter thanks to the success of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Call of Juarez: The Gunslinger.
"Ubisoft’s teams once again performed remarkably well at this year’s E3 in a very competitive and dynamic environment," said Guillemot in a prepared statement. "The event was an opportunity to fully confirm the potential of the next-generation consoles whose launch in late 2013 is synonymous with a new growth phase for Ubisoft and the industry as a whole.
"With seven acclaimed titles, our games portfolio stood out in terms of both its quality and diversity, and the numerous innovations for the Xbox One and PS4 versions. Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag was very well received and the event enabled us to further boost the excellent momentum behind our new brand, Watch Dogs, and to reveal two eagerly-awaited new creations – The Crew and Tom Clancy’s The Division.
"After years of investing in the technologies, expertise and production capacity required for regularly releasing open world titles and for integrating online and social innovations, Ubisoft is now ideally positioned to continue on its path of winning market share and enhancing its financial performance."
Sales for Q2 FY14 are expected to come in at approximately €200 million, up 35% compared to the same period of fiscal year 2013.
Ubisoft is standing by its previously announced targets for full-year 2014.
In the first five months of calendar 2013, Ubisoft was the number four independent publisher in the US, with a 6.7% market share compared with number four and 7.4% one
year earlier.
During the first six months of calendar 2013, Ubisoft was number three publisher in Europe with an 8.8% market share, compared to number three with an 8.1% market share the prior year.
The Games
During a call to investors, CEO Yves Guillemot said to expect Ubisoft Reflections's The Crew to land during Q1 2014, and for The Division to land closer to the end of calender year 2014.
While speaking of development plans for the firm's studios, the CEO also said more open-world games will be in the works, which is on top of the nine such games released over the last seven years. along with more open-world games, the teams plan on taking advantage of co-op, socials, user generated content, systemic versus natural gameplay mechanics, and making games easier to get into.
Guillemot also said another key to successful games sales would be the addition of providing a "personalized experience through analytics."
He also said that pre-order numbers for PS4 and Xbox One were "two times" that of their predecessors during the same pre-launch periods.
Guillemot also said that Watch Dogs and Assassin's Creed 4: Blag Flag were sitting among the top five of the most pre-ordered games available for the upcoming consoles.
Watch Dogs is also expected to sell around the 6.2 million mark, according to the firm's estimates.
During the Q2 FY14 period, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Rayman Legends will be released.
A breakdown of sales per region and platform are posted below.
