Today Ubisoft announced its financial results for the first half of the fiscal year 2024-2025, including the period between April and September 2024.
In the press release, we learn that net bookings were 642 million Euros, down 22% year-on-year. Digital revenue alone was €527 million, down 27% year-on-year and 82% of total net bookings.
Player recurrent spending (DLC and subscriptions) was €313 million, down 39% year-on-year and 49% of total net bookings. Back catalog sales (including games released in previous fiscal years) were €494 million, down 29% YoY and 77% of total net bookings.
If you’re wondering what Net Bookings are, it’s a semi-recently introduced term to incorporate online sales, and can be approximately identified with sales or revenues.
Net bookings for the second quarter were €352.3 million, which Ubisoft defines in line with its guidance, which was revised downward in September.
IFRS operating income (profits) for the first half of the year was €271.8 million lower than in the previous fiscal year.
The company mentions that playtime during the first half of the year was up 9% and 6% year-on-year for consoles and PC respectively, driven by Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege.
Monthly Active Users were 37 million, up 3% year-on-year, including almost 3 million new accounts per month.
For the the trailing 12 months, Ubisoft boasts 138 million unique players across consoles and PC up 4% year-on-year. The Assassin’s Creed franchise and Rainbow Six Siege enjoyed 30 million unique active users each.
We get the traditional comment from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, who acknowledged recent setbacks:
“Despite recent setbacks, we are continuing to deeply transform Ubisoft in order to restore the level of creativity and innovation that built Ubisoft’s success while delivering stronger execution and predictability.
Even if our first-half performance fell short of our initial expectations, the double-digit growth of our back catalog excluding partnerships reaffirms the quality, uniqueness and value embedded in our brand portfolio and the strength of our Live services. This highlights our potential to deliver more recurring revenue, sustainable growth, and long-term value for our stakeholders.
To succeed, we must redouble our focus on execution and reinforce a player-centric mindset in everything we do. For example, we are improving the quality of Star Wars Outlaws, including actively addressing player feedback through title updates as we get ready for the Steam launch, the first story pack, and the upcoming holiday season. We are also taking the additional time to ensure that the upcoming very ambitious opus in our flagship franchise, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, is a highly polished, exceptional experience on day one and that it resonates strongly with players.
Over the past semester, we also further advanced our cost reduction plan thanks to strict control on recruitments, targeted restructurings and lower external spend. This is the fruit of a group-wide effort, and I would like to thank the teams as we are transforming the Company into a more efficient and agile organization. Over the first semester, we have already achieved more than €200m savings versus two years ago on an annualized basis.
There still remains work to be done to support robust cash-flow generation in the future. The Executive Committee review, aimed at improving our execution focused on a player-centric and gameplay-first approach, is progressing. This notably includes actions aimed at tackling the dynamics behind the polarized comments around Ubisoft so as to protect the Group’s reputation and maximize our game’s sales potential.
We remain committed to making decisions in the best interests of all of our stakeholders. In this context, as we have already indicated, the Company is also reviewing all its strategic options.”
We also hear from Chief Financial Officer Frédérick Duguet.
“Our Q2 net bookings are in line with our revised guidance. We are reaffirming our full-year objectives, with net bookings expected to reach approximately €1.95bn as well as around break-even non-IFRS EBIT and free cash flow.
This outlook reflects robust free cash flow generation in the second half of the year. In addition, we continue exploring the sale of non-core assets as part of our broader strategy to focus on our two core verticals, Open World Adventures and GAAS-native experiences, as well as enhance financial flexibility.”
We also hear that The Crew franchise attracted over 8 million active players during the latest quarter, while The Crew Motorfest in particular has reached 10 million total registered players.
Star Wars Outlaws underperformed compared to Ubisoft’s expectations. The company mentions that its developers are “fully mobilized on implementing changes to enhance game mechanics and overall polish.”
An update defined “the most significant yet” is coming on November 21, including further improvements to combat and stealth. It’ll launch alongside the release of the game on Steam and the first story pack DLC, Wild Card, starring Lando Calrissian.
Ubisoft hopes to “engage a large audience during the holiday season and position the game as a strong long-term performer” thanks to these changes and releases.
The company also boasts its “cost reduction plan” (IE: layoffs) with the workforce having dropped from 19,410 at the end of September 2023 to 18,666 at the end of September 2024. According to the press release, over 2,000 employees have departed over two years.
On the other hand, Ubisoft also boasts developer retention “close to the historical-best levels observed during the 2010-2020 decade” with “hundreds of former Ubisoft employees [who] have rejoined the company, notably at senior levels.”
If you’d like more insight into financial results, other companies have also already announced their financials, including Koei Tecmo, Capcom, and Electronic Arts.
