Ubisoft Sales Up 18%, Assassin's Creed III Sells 12.5m Units - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 15 May 2013 / 7,289 Views

Ubisoft has released its fourth quarter sales, as well as full year sales for the 2012-13 fiscal year, which ended March 31, 2013. Fourth quarter sales increased 8.7 percent year-over-year to €175 million ($225 million), from €161 million ($207 million).

Sales for the full year jumped 18.4 percent to €1.26 billion ($1.62 billion), from €1.06 billion ($1.36 billion) the previous year. Gross profit increased to €913.5 million ($1.18 billion), from €718.1 million ($924.6 million) the previous year. 54 percent of the total sales were in North America, while Europe accounted for 39 percent. The rest of the world accounted for just seven percent. The Xbox 360 accounted for 34 percent of the sales, followed by the PlayStation 3 with 30 percent and the Wii with 15 percent.

€928 million ($1.19 billion) of the total revenue came from games for core gamers. This is a 60 percent increase year-over-year. €328 million ($422.3 million) of the revenue came from the sales of casual games. This is a drop of 32 percent, but did account for 26 percent of the total sales.

Assassin's Creed III was by far the companies biggest title. The game managed to sell more than 12.5 million units at both retail and digitally. Far Cry 3 has sold 6 million units at retail and digitally and Just Dance 4 managed to sell 8.5 million units.

Digital sales accounted 11.7 percent of the companies total sales. Digital sales managed to increase 86 percent year-over-year to €148 million ($190.6 million). Back-catalog sales decreased four percent to €206 million ($265.3 million).

"The success of Far Cry 3 confirmed our strong comeback in the major segment of shooter games," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. "We began fiscal 2012-13 with two major franchises: Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance. Twelve months later, we have substantially extended our reach by establishing Far Cry as another major franchise, building upon the great potential for our newest brand, Watch Dogs, and making our online/digital segment an increasingly significant part of our business."

For the current fiscal year, which ends March 31, 2014, Ubisoft is expecting full year sales to be between €1.42 billion ($1.83 billion) and €1.45 billion ($1.87 billion). Core game sales is expected to increase for the year due to the releases of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Blacklist, Watch Dogs, and two other unannounced titles.

Sales from casual games are expected to continue to decrease and represent less than 20 percent of the total sales. Digital sales are expected to see "sharp growth" due the launch of several free-to-play titles, such as The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, Anno Online and Might & Magic Heroes Online.

"Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance have joined the prestigious club of the 20 best-selling brands for the current generation of consoles, ranking fifth and twelfth respectively," said Guillemot. "This performance was achieved thanks to high quality levels and regular releases – two key characteristics found in each of the highest-performing brands in this console cycle."

"A new console cycle is beginning and it will offer players an unrivaled experience," added Guillemot. "They will see a major leap in quality with an extraordinary level of immersion as well as the incorporation of all of the innovations developed in recent years in online and social games, giving players the opportunity to create their own experiences and share them within their communities."

"In order to reap the full benefit of the strong growth expected from the launch of these new consoles," Guillemot continued," we are integrating into our next blockbusters all of the expertise we have built up over recent years through our online games such as Settlers Online, Trackmania, Howrse and Trials Evolution, as well as our online services platform Uplay which offers us a strategic link with players."

"Our experience in connected gaming, the quality of our brands and our ability to regularly release major titles, will be vital strengths for capturing new market share and will serve as key growth drivers for the coming years," Guillemot concluded.

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