Ubisoft Sales Down 35 Percent

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Ubisoft Sales Down 35 Percent


Ubisoft says things are going about as well as can be expected in a console transition year but sees better things ahead with the coming launch of Watch Dogs.

Ubisoft released its third-quarter financial results today, announcing sales for the three-month period ending December 31, 2013 of €520 million ($709.3 million), down more than 35 percent from the €802 million ($1.09 billion) in sales over the same period in the previous year. Sales for the first nine months of the year are down nearly 25 percent, from €1.08 billion ($1.47 billion) to €813 million ($1.11 billion).

"Over the short term, the high quality of our titles - which is unanimously recognized by gamers - has enabled us to achieve our third-quarter sales target depite the transition period currently affecting the market," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in a statement. "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag performed particularly well, reinforcing the franchise's long-term potential and therefore its upcoming iteration."

Ubisoft said Assassin's Creed IV shipped ten million units, which "bears witness to both the high quality of the game and the franchise's strong dynamic with gamers," although the previous game, Assassin's Creed III, shipped 12 million copies over the same period despite being on fewer platforms. Other numbers of note: Rocksmith 2014 had lower-than-expected sales with just one million units shipped, digital sales shrunk by four percent for the quarter but remain 12 percent up overall and "back catalog" sales for the quarter were down 21 percent over the previous year, which Ubisoft also blamed on the console transition period.

Despite the hefty loss for the quarter, Ubisoft has high hopes for its 2014-15 fiscal year, which it expects to start very strongly with the release of Watch Dogs in the first quarter, putting it somewhere between April and the end of June of this year.

Source: Ubisoft [https://www.ubisoftgroup.com/comsite_common/en-US/images/01ubisoft%20q3%20fy14%20english%20finaltcm99128073.pdf]


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octafish

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Apr 23, 2010
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Ubisoft not blaming pc gamers for poor sales? Something fishy is going on here.
 

BrotherRool

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Oct 31, 2008
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Black Flag lost out on sales compared to 3? That's pretty worrying, considering almost everyone says it's the better game. I don't really understand the software depression at the start of a new console cycle, so I guess it could be that, otherwise this might be the signs of some Assassins Fatigue
 

Hawkeye21

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Oct 25, 2011
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It's a shame, even with Uplay bullshit, Ubisoft is decent enough publisher (which is as good as it gets those days). Far Cry 3 is probably my favorite game from the past 2 years, and Black Flag is up there too.
 

Rush Syks

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Jan 29, 2013
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I imagine a lot people lost some faith into the AC series after 3. I know I did. And to be honest, although ACIV is a great game, if you're after stabbing people and running through nice cities in your AC games, then 4 just isn't the right thing.
 

deathmothon

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Nov 30, 2013
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Rush Syks said:
I imagine a lot people lost some faith into the AC series after 3. I know I did. And to be honest, although ACIV is a great game, if you're after stabbing people and running through nice cities in your AC games, then 4 just isn't the right thing.
They're paying for a combination of AC fatigue, and AC3 disgust. It's hard enough keeping a yearly iteration going, much less when the previous one was a boring mess. In the end, I wonder what happens if Watch Dogs flops? Could it be another THQ situation?
 

Furism

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Sep 10, 2009
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I just bought Splinter Cell Blacklist on Steam. And yet it still launches UPlay when I want to play. Why? Screw your UPlay, it's BS. Next time I want to buy a Ubisoft game, I'll make sure it's NOT using UPlay AT ALL, otherwise I won't buy it, because it's just useless.

What's wrong with Steam or Origin? You should have come up with the idea, now it's too late.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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BrotherRool said:
Black Flag lost out on sales compared to 3? That's pretty worrying, considering almost everyone says it's the better game. I don't really understand the software depression at the start of a new console cycle, so I guess it could be that, otherwise this might be the signs of some Assassins Fatigue
Could be people playing 3, realizing it's not great, and passing on Black Flag because of it.

Hell, it's what I did until a few weeks ago.
 

GAunderrated

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Jul 9, 2012
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Irridium said:
BrotherRool said:
Black Flag lost out on sales compared to 3? That's pretty worrying, considering almost everyone says it's the better game. I don't really understand the software depression at the start of a new console cycle, so I guess it could be that, otherwise this might be the signs of some Assassins Fatigue
Could be people playing 3, realizing it's not great, and passing on Black Flag because of it.

Hell, it's what I did until a few weeks ago.
That did it for me. I was deep into AC around AC 1&2, filler games fatigued me and 3 just put the last nail in the coffin. I'll check out ACIV when its $5 or less on steam. I have all the time in the world to wait as I just don't care about the series anymore.

Sad thing was that was the only series left that I cared for that Ubisoft made.
 

shiajun

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Jun 12, 2008
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My sale of Rayman Legends is not happenning because of UPlay. I absolutely loved Rayman Origins, and would like more in that vein, but I refuse to install yet another program that want so manage my games. It's DRM layered on DRM:
 

balberoy

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Aug 19, 2011
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I am just happy that South Park - The Stick of truth does not utelize U-Play. Thanks to THQ it seems it was impossible to implement this shit afterwords. I really don't know if I bought this game with U-play.

Now only this crap first DAY DLC, wich all publishers do, gets a little bit of my happiness.
 

Muspelheim

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Apr 7, 2011
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Well, I thought you didn't want my money. I am a man who keeps his word.

Furthermore, Uplay sounds like some sort of illegal practice when you say it.
 

thewatergamer

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Aug 4, 2012
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Maybe I'd buy your games if I had interest in them and if you removed Uplay, its not as bad as Origin but I don't think I should have to go through Uplay as well as steam...

Also enough with the massive sequel factories already!
 

Evil Smurf

Admin of Catoholics Anonymous
Nov 11, 2011
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I'd buy the assassin's creed games in a heartbeat if they had no UPLAY. I suspect many would.