Ubisoft Lost €65.7M in First Half of Fiscal Year, Assassin's Creed Sales Down

Ubisoft has released its earnings report for the first half of the fiscal year, which ended on September 30th. Revenue fell 57 percent to €207.3 million and a net loss of €65.7 million was recorded.

There were no major releases during the six month period. However, back catalog sales jumped 53.1 percent. Digital sales accounted for over 48 percent of total sales, compared to 27.8 percent a year ago.

"The quality of our back-catalog and the growing digitization of our business enabled us to deliver a solid performance in the first half of the year, even though - as planned - we did not release any major titles during the period. The fact that more than 80 percent of our annual sales are expected to be generated in the second half of the year mechanically weighed on our earnings for the first six months," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot.

"The outlook for our industry continues to be very promising, with a return to growth, a healthier competitive environment, and the favorable impact of digital. Against this backdrop, Ubisoft has unique value-creating potential. We are ideally positioned in open-world games, whose market share is increasing. We also own our brands and have the in-house skills and expertise to create them. These two significant characteristics offer our shareholders an unrivalled level of long term visibility and security.

In addition, the release of numerous multi-player games such as For Honor, Ghost Recon Wildlands, Rainbow Six Siege and The Division represent a major opportunity to develop players' engagement and grow our highly-profitable digital segment. And lastly, we are pioneers in leveraging our brands in areas beyond video games, as demonstrated by the agreements we have signed with the most powerful international partners such as Columbia, Fox New Regency, Nickelodeon and Warner.

We continue developing Ubisoft's business with the aim of becoming one of the highest-performing groups in the video game industry and a leader in the overall entertainment sector. In doing so, we are offering our shareholders significant value- creation potential for the coming years."

Expectations for the second half are more favourable, thanks to the anticipated launch of five major titles: Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Far Cry Primal, Just Dance 2016, Rainbow Six Siege, and The Division.

Sales for the third fiscal quarter are nonetheless expected to be down 26 percent year-over-year to €600 million. However, the full year outlook is set to be flat thanks to a strong fourth fiscal quarter.

During the earnings call Ubisoft also confirmed that launch sales for Assassin's Creed Syndicate were down compared to Unity. However, sales picked up in the second week off the back of strong word of mouth.