Sawt Falasteen - Ubisoft revenue drops after game flops, 'Assassin's Creed' delays

“Assassin’s Creed Shadows” has been twice delayed, now pushed back to March 20 from its initial launch date of November 15.

Also sapping the pre-Christmas period were underwhelming sales for “Star Wars Outlaws”, a hoped-for blockbuster set in the universe of the beloved sci-fi movies.

Third-quarter income fell by almost half -- 47.5 percent -- to 318 million euros ($332 million), Ubisoft said in a statement, while over the first nine months of its financial year revenues were down by just under one-third.

“Net bookings”, Ubisoft’s preferred revenue measure which excludes deferred income, fell more than half in the third quarter and almost 45 percent in the financial year to date.

The company had issued a profit warning in January ahead of the results.

Bad financial news for Ubisoft comes as workers are on strike demanding an end to layoffs and better conditions throughout the games industry in France -- where the group employs around 4,000 of its 18,000-strong global workforce.

Ubisoft nevertheless hopes “Shadows” will be a financial boon to round out its year.

“Pre-orders for the game are tracking solidly, in line with those of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, the second most successful entry of the franchise,” the company said.

New downloadable content for popular first-person shooter “Rainbow Six Siege” should also tempt fans.

Ubisoft plans to stick to its schedule of releasing new products “each year” tied to the money-spinning “Assassin’s Creed” universe, finance chief Frederick Duguet told reporters in Paris.

The company said it would top its target of finding 200 million euros of cost reductions this year and will continue the effort in 2025-6.

Chief executive Yves Guillemot noted “difficult but necessary choices”, after Ubisoft announced closures in its global network of studios including in the United States, Japan and Britain.

The company also shut down its online shooter “XDefiant” for lack of players, killing off what was once billed as a challenger to rival publisher Activision’s omnipresent “Call of Duty” series.

Ubisoft did not say anything new about rumours the company as a whole could be sold off, with a “strategic review” it announced in January still under way.

M.AlAhmad--SF-PST