Ubisoft Loses $73.8m in FY 3/2011, 29% of Revenue is Dance Games
by Jacob Mazel, posted on 12 May 2011 / 4,398 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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