The first quarter of fiscal year 2013/2014 ended on June 30th, with Ubisoft reporting €76 million (about $99.4 million USD) in sales, down 42.2% compared to this point last year, which had the release of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. The company had previously set a target of €70 million (about $91.5 million USD).
Here’s a couple highlights from the first quarter:
- 56% increase in back-catalog sales to €60 million, thanks to solid performances by Far Cry 3, Assassin’s Creed III, Just Dance 4, Rocksmith, and Rayman Origins.
- Digital sales up 27% to €34 million, mostly in part thanks to Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon and Call of Juarez: Gunslinger.
As well, here’s some highlights for the rest of fiscal year 2013/2014:
- Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Rayman Legends are their releases during the second quarter of FY 13/14.
- Sales for the second quarter of FY 13/14 are expected to be around €200 million (about $261.64 million USD), up approximately 35% compared to last year.
- The Crew is confirmed for release in Q1 2014.
- An unannounced franchise that was previously scheduled for FY 13/14 will now release in FY 14/15.
- Ubisoft is still standing by their previous FY 13/14 targets of sales between €1.420 million and €1.450 million ($1.857 million USD – $1.896 million USD).
In the first five months of calendar 2013, Ubisoft was the #4 independent publisher in the US, with a market share of 6.7% (compared to #4 and 7.4% last year). In the first six months of calendar 2013, Ubisoft was #3 in Europe, with a market share of 8.8% (compared to #3 and 8.1% last year).
Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, talked about the numbers:
Ubisoft’s teams once again performed remarkably well at this year’s E3 in a very competitive and dynamic environment. The event was an opportunity to fully confirm the potential of the next-generation consoles whose launch in late 2013 is synonymous with a new growth phase for Ubisoft and the industry as a whole.
With seven acclaimed titles, our games portfolio stood out in terms of both its quality and diversity, and the numerous innovations for the XboxOne and PS4 versions. Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag was very well received and the event enabled us to further boost the excellent momentum behind our new brand, Watch Dogs, and to reveal two eagerly-awaited new creations – The Crew and Tom Clancy’s The Division. After years of investing in the technologies, expertise and production capacity required for regularly releasing open world titles and for integrating online and social innovations, Ubisoft is now ideally positioned to continue on its path of winning market share and enhancing its financial performance.
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