Ubisoft released its sales figures for the third fiscal quarter of 2017-18. The report shows that the sales have surpassed the targeted amount. Ubisoft expects the sales form the fourth quarter to come in at approximately £398.76 million.
It's that time of year again. The cosy holidays are behind us and the cold hard truth that the games we might not even like that much have made more money in one quarter than we'll ever see in our entire lives.
Ubisoft released its sales figures for the third fiscal quarter of 2017-18, that ended on 31 December 2017.
Ubisoft
Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, stated that their "very strong third-quarter performance highlights two areas in which [they] have made major strides." The first area he's talking about is their games' live operations and the fact they are "making steady progress".
The second is the "increasingly recurring profile" of their business that has had a "very positive impact on our new releases". Guillemot underlined the fact that they are now taking more time to develop their new games referring to Assassin's Creed Origins' sales performance.
Ubisoft's sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2017-18 amounted to £643.87 million, which is higher than the targeted amount of £621.93. The sales are up 41.0 percent at constant exchange rates, compared with £470.80 million for third-quarter 2016-17.
Ubisoft
During the first nine months of fiscal 2017-18 the sales totaled £1057 million, up 50.1 percent at constant exchange rates on the £720.52 million recorded in the corresponding prior-year period.
Ubisoft chose to stand by its targets for the full year 2017-18, namely sales of around £1456.65 million and non-IFRS operating income of approximately £239.79 million.
The fourth quarter of 2017-18 looks like it will be fun as Ubisoft expects the sales to come in at approximately £398.76 million, compared with £576.02 million for the same period of 2016-17. Fourth quarter of 2017 will see the release of Far Cry 5, Assassin's Creed Origins DLC, Rainbow Six Siege DLC and South Park: The Fractured But Whole DLC.
Ubisoft
Now for the more distant future - targets for 2018-19. Ubisoft is standing by their targeted number of around £1864.84 million for sales, non-IFRS operating income of around £390.73 million and free cash flow of approximately £266.41 million.
The four upcoming AAA titles are expected to sell 23 million units combined (compared to 28 million units as previously announced). This reduction took into consideration the upcoming release of The Crew and the postponement of an unannounced franchise to beyond the fiscal year.
The lower number of expected sales is also due to a lower exposure to new releases because of the back catalogue which Ubisoft hopes will make up more than 45 percent of total sales. The company's digital revenue is expected to account for around 60 percent of total sales (compared with the previous target of over 55 percent).
Ubisoft
