Ubisoft announced its financial results for the first half of fiscal year 2025-2026 (between April and September 2025), and explained the whole kerfuffle that caused the delay of said announcement.
While the sudden delay and trading halt sparked all sorts of rumors, as it often means an acquisition or similar situation, this time it’s much less consequential, at least for customers.
Basically, according to the documents provided by the company, it “did not comply with its leverage covenant ratio under certain existing financing agreements at September 30, 2025.” In layman’s terms means that the company violated the terms of a loan agreement, causing it to have to restate its financial results for the previous fiscal year.
While this is certainly not a non-issue financially, it’s definitely not the apocalyptic scenario that the rumors painted, and Ubisoft says that this is being addressed. Basically, it was much ado about nothing, at least in terms of gaming news.
This should likely be considered as a cautionary tale about the importance of ignoring speculation and rumormongers, or at least taking them with a rather abundant dose of skepticism. Rumors may be fun for some, but they’re often spread maliciously and misleading.
Going back to business as usual, net bookings (you can pretty much consider them a semi-equivalent of revenue) for Q2 of the fiscal year (between July and September) were €490.8 millio, up 39% year-on-year.
This was above the company’s expectations, and driven by stronger-than-expected partnerships supported by “robust” back-catalog sales, related to games released before the current fiscal year.
Net bookings for the first half of the fiscal year (between April and September) were €772 million, up 20% year-on-year.
IFRS operating income was a loss of €120.2 million, mostly due to the repayment of loans mentioned below, while Non-IFRS operating income (unaffected by the hoopla mentioned above) was €27.1 million.
We also learn that the transaction with Tencent announced in March is on track to close “in the coming days” as all the conditions have been fulfilled.
When closed, the €1.16 billion investment is expected to improve Ubisoft’s debt situation, enabling the early repayment of loans amounting €286 million. It will also accelerate the growth of the new subsidiary Vantage Studios, which focuses on major franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six, on top of supporting investment opportunities across the rest of the group and the ongoing reorganization.
The full structure of the new operating model based on Creative Houses will be finalized by the end of the year and announced in January 2026. Cost reductions are also continuing, on track with the company’s objectives.
The previously announced financial targets for the full fiscal year have also been confirmed.
As is tradition, we get a comment from CEO Yves Guillemot.
“The closing of our strategic transaction with Tencent – which will see Tencent become a minority shareholder in our new subsidiary, Vantage Studios – is now imminent, as all conditions precedent have been satisfied.
This marks a pivotal milestone in Ubisoft’s transformation, significantly strengthening our financial position by bringing in €1.16 billion of cash, enabling the Group to deleverage, as planned. It will also empower Vantage Studios to accelerate the growth of our three flagship IPs under a dedicated leadership team.
In a highly competitive market, Ubisoft delivered net bookings above guidance, on the back of stronger-than-expected partnerships that underscore the appeal and reach of our brands. Our portfolio showed contrasting dynamics this quarter, with softer trends for Rainbow Six Siege, reflecting a phase of evolution for the game in an intense FPS environment, offset by strong performances across the rest of the catalog. The Assassin’s Creed franchise exceeded our expectations, confirming its positive momentum and ability to engage players over time. The Division 2 also continued to perform strongly, benefiting from the momentum of the Battle for Brooklyn DLC, with the game’s first semester already exceeding last year’s annual bookings. Additionally, the progress we’ve made in addressing our fixed cost base brings with it confidence that we can continue to drive structural efficiencies across the organization that, together with top line growth, will contribute to ensure a return to strong cash generation in the coming years.
Vantage Studios represents a key element of the transformation of the company towards a new operating model built around Creative Houses. We will have finalized the design of this new organization by the end of the year. These Creative Houses will be autonomous, efficient, focused and accountable business units, each with its own leadership, creative vision and strategic roadmap. This Group-wide transformation reflects our ambition to renew how we create and operate in order to deliver great games for our players and lasting value for our partners and shareholders. The full details of this new operating model will be unveiled in January.”
Ubisoft boasted 34 million monthly active users and 88 million unique users for the semester, which were slightly down due to XDefiant going the way of the Dodo.
The Assassin’s Creed franchise performed strongly, and both Assassin’s Creed Shadows and the rest of the franchise overperformed.
Sessions for the franchise during the past 12 months were up 35% compared to the average of the last two years.
The launch of the New Game+ mode for Assassin’s Creed Shadows was beneficial, and the Claws of Awaji expansion re-engaged players.
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege X‘s level of acquisition of new players doubled year-on-year. Unique players were stable quarter-on-quarter and up double-digit year-on-year. Session days and playtime also increased.
Yet, a “temporary surge in cheating” impacted activity and consumer spending, making them drop below what the company expected.
The Division 2 benefited from the momentum of the Battle for Brooklyn DLC and regular content updates, and enjoyed a record second quarter in terms of Session Days since 2021. Net bookings for the semester are already higher than the full annual net bookings for the previous fiscal year.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora also performed strongly following the announcement of the third-person update. The game is also said to have regained momentum with the announcement of the expansion, From the Ashes.
Lastly, Ubisoft stresses the strong critical and player reception for Star Wars Outlaws on the Nintendo Switch 2, which expanded the game’s audience
If you’d like to compare today’s results with historical data, you can check out the results for Q1, presented in July.
Other gaming companies have already announced their financial results this quarter, including Koei Tecmo, Electronic Arts, Capcom, Microsoft, Konami, Marvelous, Nintendo, Square Enix, Take-Two, Sega, Sony, Nexon, and Shift Up.
