Publisher and developer Ubisoft has published results for the first half of the current financial year. The past quarter was marked by failures for the company’s open-world action-adventure Star Wars Outlaws.
Image source: X (YannS_974)
In all major financial indicators, Ubisoft has seen a decline compared to the results of the first half of the last fiscal year:
- Sales fell 19.6% to €672 million;
- Net revenues decreased by 21.9% to €642 million (the result specifically for the second quarter showed a 12% increase);
- Digital revenues fell 26.5% to €527 million;
- Revenues from sales of games from the catalog dropped by 28.9% to €494 million.
Ubisoft also reported attracting 138 million (4% more than a year ago) players on PC and consoles, as well as increasing its monthly audience to 37 million people (up 3%).
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot admitted that sales of Star Wars Outlaws did not live up to expectations, despite positive reviews. The company is hoping the fourth major patch and the game’s release on Steam (November 21) will boost sales.
According to Guillemot, to achieve success, Ubisoft needs to pay increased attention to quality of execution and focus on players: that is why the company took on the fix of Star Wars Outlaws and transferred Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
The free-to-play shooter XDefiant doesn’t live up to Ubisoft’s expectations either (image source: Ubisoft)
«Despite recent setbacks, we are continuing the deep transformation of Ubisoft with the goal of restoring the level of creativity and innovation on which Ubisoft’s success was built,” Guillemot added.
In parallel, Ubisoft continues to implement a cost-cutting program (as part of the initiative, the company has already laid off 2 thousand people) and fight against “the dynamics behind the controversial comments around Ubisoft.”