Ubisoft's H1 sees a 14% revenue bump

Ubisoft released its first-half earnings report today, posting revenue growth, which the firm attributed to its latest releases and back catalog performances. Here's what you need to know for the company's six months ended September 30.

The numbers

• Revenue: €836 million (up 14% year-on-year)
• Net bookings: €822 million (up 18% year-on-year)
• Operating income: €16 million (compared to a €215 million operating income in last year's first half)

The highlights

Ubisoft's revenue growth was attributed in part to the September launch of racing sim The Crew Motorfest and pre-shipments for the early October launch of Assassin's Creed Mirage.

Ubisoft released its first-half earnings report today, posting revenue growth, which the firm attributed to its latest releases and back catalog performances.

The firm highlighted series record unit sales for the racer, while it said that Mirage has had a solid launch with user numbers in line with Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey.

It also acknowledged the Q2 performance of its back catalog of titles. Rainbow Six Siege, for example, grew its net bookings by approximately 50% during the six months.

In its first-quarter earnings report, Ubisoft provided an outlook for Q2 net bookings of about €350 million, but it wound up reporting net bookings of €547 million for the quarter, up 32.5% year-over-year.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, "Ubisoft delivered an excellent second quarter, well above our expectations. Activity was mostly driven by the performance of our back-catalog, thanks in particular to the remarkable growth of Rainbow Six Siege, in an overall competitive environment for first-person shooter games."

The executive also acknowledged the approval of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft's role. Back in August, it acquired the cloud gaming rights for all Activision Blizzard games to address the CMA's concerns about Microsoft's dominance in cloud gaming.

He said, "October saw the finalization of a major agreement with Activision Blizzard, which will grant Ubisoft the perpetual streaming rights for Call of Duty and all other existing Activision Blizzard console and PC titles as well as those releasing over the next 15 years."

Additionally, Ubisoft described its cost reduction plan as on track; its global staff numbers are 19,410 as of the end of September 2023. Last year, its worldwide employees numbered 20,729. The games firm added that employee retention improved in that year's time.

As for what the publisher has up next, Ubisoft's releases for the fiscal year include Assassin's Creed Nexus VR, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Just Dance 2024 edition, and Prince of Persia The Lost Crown. The firm added that its seafaring title Skull and Bones is poised to launch between January and March of 2024.

Free-to-play titles, Rainbow Six Mobile, The Division Resurgence, and XDefiant, are set to launch by the end of the fiscal year.

Ubisoft aims to earn €610 million in net bookings for Q3.