Ubisoft's quarterly revenue has fallen. The company tightens its belts
Last night Ubisoft published a financial report for April-June. Within its framework, it became known that the company is not doing well. She is forced to radically optimize and cut her expenses.
Net receipts for the quarter amounted to €293.3 million. This is 10% less than the company earned in the same period a year earlier. At the same time, receipts from in-game purchases fell by 11.6%, and from the back catalog — by as much as 16.5%.
Apparently, the answer to the decline in revenue was the closure of the development of four games at once: a VR product in the Splinter Cell universe, the Ghost Recon Frontline free-play shooter, as well as two more previously unannounced titles.
In addition, it was announced that two projects were postponed to the next financial year: the expected blockbuster Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and the yet-to-be-announced premium game “on a smaller scale”.
The official reason for the transfer of the game “Avatar” is the desire to optimize the game for the latest generation technologies. However, the Kotaku publication reports that the game developers have encountered difficulties. It got to the point that a lead from another project was recently transferred to the project.
During a report to investors, Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, said that at the moment the company is working on the most diverse line in its history, that it has an unprecedented opportunity to bring its IP to a much wider audience, and also mentioned a promising partnership concerning the mobile segment.
At the same time, almost immediately, Guillemot said that the company was undergoing optimization as part of adapting to the current unstable economic situation.
After the report, Kotaku published an internal letter from Giymo to Ubisoft employees. In it, the wording is less cautious. The head of the company openly declares that:
careful work with finances is now more important than ever;
▫️the company strives to succeed in limiting costs;
the expenses previously customary for the company are subject to revision.
Several employees also told Kotaku that a number of Ubisoft studios were facing hiring cuts and budget freezes.
