In an earnings call yesterday, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reported that the company had a strong third quarter. In addition, he also spoke about the company’s decision to make The Division 2 exclusive to Uplay and the Epic Games Store.
Ubisoft reported that their net bookings for the first nine months of the fiscal year are up 13.5%, reaching a total of 1.351 billion euros ($1,494,236,950.) The company credits their success despite fierce 2018/19 competition to strong sales of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Far Cry 5. The two games also contributed to a 58.1% increase Ubisoft’s PC business last year.
What might be more interesting to the average customer is what Guillemot had to say about their decision to have The Division 2 skip Steam for Uplay and the Epic Games Store. As it turns out, it’s not entirely about the smaller cut Epic takes (12% as opposed to Steam’s 30%) or any other incentives Epic is offering to claim big-name titles for their new store. Ubisoft saw an opportunity to promote their own store while supporting a partner that provides better terms. While they won’t be getting space and advertising from Steam, the long-time go-to platform for PC gaming, Guillemot feels the pros outweighs the cons.
So far, his assumption seem to be correct. According to him, pre-orders for The Division 2 are up from the original The Division and are six times higher on Uplay, Ubisoft’s own online store. There’s no word on sales for The Division 2 on the Epic Games Store, but Guillemot seems happy to have more copies of a Ubisoft game be sold through the Ubisoft store, which means more money goes directly to Ubisoft instead of the owners of a third party store.
The Division 2 won’t be the only Ubisoft game to only sell out of the Epic Games Store. Ubisoft signed multi-game agreement with Epic, so Steam lovers will have to be willing to branch out if they want to play some of Ubisoft’s upcoming titles.