Ubisoft Reveal Q1 Results And Plans For The Future

Ubisoft have announced their financial and commerical results for Q1 2013-2014, which also includes several details about their future plans. The big news in these results is however, that the Wii U is once again returning disappointing results.

Overall, sales are down 42.2% from this time last year – which Ubisoft accredit to the high-profile release of Ghost Recon Future Soldier in Q1 2012-2013, whereas no triple-A Ubisoft titles have launched this quarter, this year. The sales target had been set at 70 million euros, and despite the 42.2% drop, sales still reached 76 million euros – so their predictions were more or less on-target.

This was down to high sales on back catalogue games such as FarCry 3, Assassin’s Creed III, Just Dance 4 and Rayman Origins – combined with a 27% growth in digital games, with FarCry 3: Blood dragon and Call of Juarez: The Gunslinger performing particularly strongly. Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC all took an even share of sales, but Wii U could only manage 3% of the total games sales for Ubisoft in Q1. The original Wii managed 10%, so this really does show why Ubisoft is reluctant to produce more games on Wii U – the sales just don’t justify the output.

For the next quarter, Ubisoft have high hopes for both Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Rayman Legends, with sales expectations set at around 200 million euros – which would be a 35% increase on Q2 2012-2013. They finished off by confirming that The Crew is set to launch in Q1 2014 and The Division will launch nearer the end of 2014.

There are some big titles on the horizon for Ubisoft, and when you add Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag and Watch Dogs into the mix, the company should enjoy a strong Q2 and Q3. It is just a real shame that the Wii U has sold so poorly so far, so it doesn’t give developers any confidence in developing for the system.