Ubisoft Loses $73.8m in FY 3/2011, 29% of Revenue is Dance Games - News
by VGChartz Staff , posted on 12 May 2011 / 7,549 Views
Financial results for Ubisoft have just arrived. The French publisher lost 52 million (52m) Euros or $73.8m in the year to March 2011, on revenues of 1.039b Euros ($1.475b). In the March 2010 year, Ubisoft revenues were 871m Euros ($1.236b) with losses at 43.7m Euros ($62.1m). Ubisoft had forecast revenue of 1.020b Euros ($1.445b) for the fiscal year, so it beat its revenue projection slightly. However, Ubisoft had also projected to break-even on profit / losses basis for the fiscal year at 1.02b Euros, and the company still lost money. During the January to March 2011 quarter, Ubisoft projected revenue of 159m Euros ($225.8m) but actual revenue came to 178m Euros ($252.8m), down 15% from the previous March quarter. During the April to June 2011 quarter, Ubisoft expects revenues to reach 90m Euros ($127.8m) on Michael Jackson for X360 & PS3, Child of Eden for X360, and Might & Magic Clash of Heroes for XBLA & PSN.
In the year to March 2012, Ubisoft projects revenues will reach 1.04b - 1.08b Euros ($1.48b to $1.53b). Profit margins are forecast to increase by 1-2% as well for the fiscal year, which likely indicates a smaller loss if all goes according to plan. Ubisoft expects significant revenue growth and profit in the March 2013 year on new hardware and a stronger line up of titles than it has had recently.
Ubisoft also provides a break down of its performance by platform and region. A couple of totals for major titles are provided as well. Highlights are listed below.
- In the March 2011 year, 55% of Ubisoft's revenue was from North America ($811m), 39% was from Europe ($575m), and 6% was from the rest of the world ($88m). During the March 2010 year, 49% of revenue was from Europe ($606m), 43% was from North America ($531m), and 8% was from the rest of the world ($99m). Ubisoft's increased revenue for the fiscal year then can be entirely attributed to the North American market.
- During the March 2011 quarter, the revenue split was 47-47-6 between Europe ($119m), North America ($119m) and the rest of the world ($15m). That compares to a 52-40-8 split in favor of Europe ($155m) and North America ($119m) over other regions ($24m) in the previous March quarter.
- During the March 2011 year, Wii was Ubisoft's lead platform (38%) on a revenue basis at $560.5m. The X360 (27%) followed at $398.25m. PS3 was 19% or $280.25m of Ubisoft's revenue for the fiscal year. Following the three main contributors to Ubisoft were DS at $73.75m (5%), PC at $59m (4%), 3DS at $50.56m (3.4% - see below), PSP at $29.65m (2%) and 'other' at $14.82m (1%).
- In the year to March 2010, Wii was Ubisoft's lead platform (26%) with revenue of $321.4m. PS3 (23%) and X360 followed (22%) at $284.3m and $271.9m respectively. DS was still 14% of Ubisoft's revenue, $173m, in the March 2010 year. PC (8%), PSP (4%), and 'other' (2%) accounted for the rest of the money, at $98.9m, $49.4m, and $24.7m respectively.
We can see from these results that Ubisoft has benefited from targetting the mass market - X360 sales were up $115m on Kinect, Wii sales were up $240m on the dance boom. PS3 sales were flat (down $4m) - even with the PS3 base growing by 14m-15m units in the fiscal year - because Ubisoft did not have a big 'casual' hit. The DS contraction (down $100m this fiscal year) is for a similar reason - the DS market for games like the Imagine series has completely dried up in the past two years.
- During the March 2011 quarter, Wii was Ubisoft's largest platform with 37% of revenue for the quarter ($93.5m). In a somewhat surprising second place was 3DS at 20% of revenue ($50.56m). PC followed at 17% of quarterly revenue ($43m). The remainder of the money came from X360 (9%), PS3 (7%), DS (5%), 'other' (3%), and PSP (2%) during the quarter. That means X360 revenue was $22.7m for the quarter, with PS3 at $17.7m, DS at $12.6m, 'other' at $7.6m, and PSP at $5.1m.
- In the previous March quarter, Wii was 41% of Ubisoft revenue ($122m), followed by PC at 17% ($50.6m), DS and PS3 at 13% ($38.7m each), X360 at 9% ($26.8m), PSP at 4% ($11.9m) and 'other' at 1% ($3m).
- Ubisoft revenue for the quarter was down nearly across the board (Wii, X360, PS3, DS, PSP, and PC) but the 'other' category grew, and 3DS softened the blow by adding $50m in revenue.
- The Just Dance franchise is now at 14m units according to Ubisoft's data - which something like 13m of those units from Just Dance 1 & 2 alone and the remainder from Just Dance Kids. Ubisoft shipped 10m Just Dance games during the March 2011 year.
- Assassin's Creed is now a 29m franchise, and the latest game has shipped over 7m units since launching late last year.
- Michael Jackson: The Experience shipped over 3m units in the March 2011 year.
- Move, Kinect, & 3DS revenue came to 80m Euros in the fiscal year - about $113m or about 8% of Ubisoft's revenue.
- Dancing games were about $425m in revenue for Ubisoft during the year - 29% of Ubisoft's revenue.
- Digital / Online revenues were $54m for the fiscal year.
Overall, Ubisoft is starting to see good results from investing heavily in 3DS, Move and Kinect early on - especially as the dancing genre continues to explode.
Contact VGChartz at jmazel@vgchartz.com
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I never would have thought they would lost money ! Which one will reach 10M first (if ever) : Just Dance 2 or AC:BH or AC3 ?
Is Assassin's Creed II the best selling (multiplatform) Ubisoft game ever ? (9.02M). Did Ubisoft release a press release saying it was their most successuful multiplatform game ever ?
It makes me smile when I see showelware maker number 1 losing money like this.
Just Dance 3 is already confirmed. The 3DS revenue is surprising this early on, along with the fact the lost money with such strong legs on JD2.
@Rainbird For every sucessful game they make, there are a dozen flops you never here about due to the sheer level of fail.
It could happen of course but I don't see it confirmed anywhere.
and Kinect, but there is no specific mention of "Just Dance"
Carl I've seen people saying that but I don't see it in their data - they say they're bringing "dance games" to Move
How can they keep losing money like that? Dance games aren't exactly known for their huge budgets...
Just Dance Kinect will be out this Year :-)
They should do a late 70's dance-themed Assassin's Creed game. Boogie!
Sooo..... More dance games for 2011??
Sooo..... More dance games for 2011??
You would think they could dance by now then. O.o
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