Ubisoft semi—annual report: revenues fell by 5%, and profits - by 61%

Ubisoft has published a report for the first half of fiscal 2022 (ended September 30). Almost all of the company’s key indicators have fallen compared to last year. Nevertheless, the games themselves produced good results. For example, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has become the second most profitable game in the history of Ubisoft.

Main figures

• Sales for April-September (calculated in accordance with the IFRS standard) amounted to €751.3 million, which is only 0.7% less in annual terms.
• Ubisoft received most of the money from sales in the second fiscal quarter (July-September) — then the company earned €392.1 million. This is 13.7% more than in the second quarter of last year and 15.3% more than the publisher expected.
• Operating profit for the six months fell significantly more — by 61.4% compared to last year. It amounted to €44.1 million.
• Net receipts (net bookings) decreased to €718.2 million. This is 4.8% less than a year ago.
• 77.6% of revenues came from digital sales — €557.4 million. A drop of 15% in annual terms.
• The games released before the reporting period provided the French publisher with 83% of revenues — €596.2 million.
• Consoles have remained Ubisoft’s most profitable platform. PS4/PS5 accounted for the most sales (33%). PC is in second place (21%). This is followed by Xbox consoles (19%) and mobile (11%). Nintendo Switch took the last place (8%).
• The largest market in the first half of the year was North America. She provided 50% of sales. Europe is in second place (32%);
• The audience of the company’s games has grown by 15% over the year. However, Ubisoft did not name the number of active users.

Data on individual games

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is the second most profitable game in the history of Ubisoft. She also “demonstrated record engagement.” As the company notes, this part of the series has overtaken its predecessor Assassin’s Creed Odyssey “in all respects, especially in DARPU”.
• The Crew 2 continues to produce good results. The game’s revenue grew by 53% and engagement by 70% compared to the same period two years ago. In total, there were 30 million active users in the franchise games at the end of September.
• Far Cry 6 showed initial sales “on par with Assassin’s Creed Odyssey”. Ubisoft did not specify how much it is. Users spent 25% more time in the new game than in Far Cry 5 at the start.
• The total circulation of games in the Just Dance series has reached 80 million copies sold;
• The release of the Prince of Persia remake: The company postponed The Sands of Time, as well as Rocksmith+ and Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland for 2022-2023. It’s not clear when Assassin’s Creed Infinity will be released, but it won’t be a free-to-play game.
• In the future, Ubisoft will pay more attention to blockchain games. This corresponds to the latest actions of the company. Recall that the publisher recently invested in Animoca Brands, specializing in NFT.