Ubisoft is reporting strong numbers for its third quarter of 2014-2015.
Sales for the third quarter of 2014-15 came to €809.7 million, up 55.8% (or 49.5% at constant exchange rates) compared with the €519.7 million recorded for third-quarter 2013- 14.Ubisoft attributes this to a number of factors among them increases in market share and sales of its titles. Notably, Assassins Creed Unity and Assassin's Creed Rogue sold a combined 10 million copies. It is notable because Unity was plagued by launch issues and mixed reviews. The game's launch was blamed for the tumbling of Ubisoft's stock and even the CEO of Ubisoft admitted there were issues. Yet the game's sales boosted Ubisoft's quarter.The third-quarter sales figure was higher than the target of approximately €730 million announced when Ubisoft released its first-half 2014-15 results.
Other titles with Ubisoft also sold very well, among them Farcry 4, The Crew, and Just Dance.
Another title that sold well, but was again riddled with issues (primarily on the PC) and mixed reviews upon launch was Watch Dogs
The continued success of Watch Dogs®, with 10 million units sold (sell-in) since its release. Watch Dogs is the biggest launch ever of a new IP in the EMEA region and the second largest launch in the United States.From Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer
In 2014, Ubisoft offered gamers the most diversified line-up in the industry, with titles such as Assassin’s Creed Unity, Child of Light, Far Cry 4, Just Dance 2015, The Crew, Trials Fusion and Frontier, Valiant Hearts and Watch Dogs. This uniquely varied offering was also recognized for its overall quality2. As a result we achieved a third-quarter performance that was well above target and we expect to generate a record level of free cash flow for 2014-15.The note on overall quality comes from a footnote
2 Ubisoft was ranked the leading independent publisher for its overall game quality in the Metacritic Game Publisher Rankings issued on January 27, 2015, and was the only video game publisher to receive a prize at the Annie Awards.Assassin's Creed Unity won the Annie Award for Best Character Animation. Here is the link to the Metacritic report.
Overall, Ubisoft is projecting a strong finish for the year, but expects sales for the fourth quarter to be down.
So what is your opinion? Does it surprise you that Ubisoft did well despite the launch issues of its big titles? Does quality matter in a game's sales numbers? Is singling out some titles unfair to the whole? Sound off below in our comments section.