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Ubisoft’s figures for the crucial third quarter are out and the company has everything to be happy about. Sales were up by 36.8 per cent to €725m exceeding the original and revised targets of €630m and €700m respectively.
Assassin’s Creed Origins is "on track to perform twice that of its predecessor" in terms of unit sales, according to Yves Guillemot. Ubisoft claimed it was the third best-selling title in EMEA in 2017 and that average player time was expected to double compared to its last outing.
Guillemot claimed that Far Cry 5 would be the best-selling title worldwide in the first eight months of the year. Though the company’s fourth quarter would be down on last year, as it only had one large release during the period, and that was coming very late in the quarter, at the end of March.
In line with other companies, there are big gains in terms of digital revenue with a 75 per cent rise to €670.3 million. That represents 56.3% of total sales compared with 47.2% last year.
Yves Guillemot, co-founder and CEO, stated: “Our very strong third-quarter performance highlights two areas in which we have made major strides. First, our games’ live operations are making steady progress. This has fueled momentum for digital and back catalogue, which both hit record highs this quarter. Second, the increasingly recurring profile of our business has had a very positive impact on our new releases. By taking additional time to develop our games, we have been able to deliver three top-quality titles since August, including the grand return of Assassin’s Creed.
"These successes demonstrate that our differentiating strategy of combining long-term investment in our talented teams and our multi-studios collaboration model is paying off. This strategy enables us to deliver high-quality blockbusters while keeping our communities engaged through regular major updates. As a result, Ubisoft is perfectly positioned to reach its targets for fiscal 2017-18 and 2018-19"
