Ubisoft has reported their financial results for for the first quarter of their 2019-2020 fiscal year which ended on June 30. Overall, the company finished the quarter with over $407 million USD in net sales and over $352 million in net bookings. While both these numbers were down 9.2% and 17.6% year-over-year respectively, net bookings exceeded the company’s initial expectations of $303.19 million USD. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot commented on the company’s successful first quarter:
Our first-quarter net bookings came in well above target, thanks to the very robust performance of our games ‒ notably Rainbow Six Siege and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey ‒ and a very strong increase in player recurring investment for PCs and consoles, led by record-high engagement levels per player.
What is most impressive about this is the fact that the company exceeded expectations without a major release during their first quarter. Thus, the company found this success thanks to their back catalog of games. Specifically, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Rainbow Six: Siege performed extremely well during this past quarter.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is outdoing its predecessor, Assassin’s Creed Origin, in total daily player engagement along with sales at the same point in their respective lives. Engagement has continued for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey thanks to the continued support from Ubisoft with the last major DLC episode for the game releasing yesterday as well as Story Creator mode releasing back during E3.
On the other side of things, Rainbow Six: Siege has been one of Ubisoft’s biggest successes since releasing all the way back in 2015. The game saw more player engagement compared to the same time last year. Ubisoft has continuously been supporting the game by adding a plethora of new operators, fixing issues with the game, and by adding new modes.
Though the first quarter was down, but better than expected, Ubisoft still has plenty down the line for the remainder of their fiscal year 2019-2020. The company has a major release in Ghost Recon: Breakpoint launching at the beginning of October. Then, to round out the fiscal year at the beginning of 2020, the company has trio of games releasing including Rainbow Six: Quarantine, Gods and Monsters, and Watch Dogs Legion. The company also has Uplay+, their game subscription service, launching on PC this September.