According to their latest financials, although Ubisoft saw a moderately succesful year elsewhere, mobile has faltered in the company's portfolio.
Ubisoft has released its quarterly financial report for the three months ending on June 30 - Q1 of the 2023-2024 fiscal year - showcasing the company’s performance, and despite seeing 267.7 million euros ($298 million) in net bookings, mobile proved to be a relatively weak contender in the company’s portfolio, accounting for just 10% - around $29.8 million. This represents a slight fall compared to 12% in Q1 2022.
Despite being just one part in Ubisoft’s larger ecosystem, much attention has been drawn to the company’s performance on mobile, with mobile giant Tencent notably purchasing a 49.9% stake in parent company Guillemot Bros last year.
Co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot highlights the potential for mobile, stating, “Our test phases for our free to play titles during the quarter provided key data to our teams as they are getting the games ready for release. We also announced that Level Infinite will be publishing Assassin’s Creed Codename Jade on mobile. It reflects the powerful appeal of our brands and the significant value creation our shareholder agreement with Tencent is delivering. This publishing partnership greatly enhances our medium-term mobile footprint while delivering significant financial value to the benefit of Ubisoft and its shareholders.
“As we look to the future, we are confident that our sharp focus on our biggest opportunities coupled with significant cost reductions will result in meaningful progression of revenue, earnings and cash-flow generation over the coming years.”
The future is bright
Assassin’s Creed Jade is highlighted as a particular boon for the company’s mobile gaming presence. The collaboration with Level Infinite is identified as “one of the biggest publishing deals signed in the industry.
“It reflects the strength of our brands in a context of scarcity of high-quality IPs and, as such, our capacity to increasingly value our IPs. With Tencent being one of the industry’s leaders of the massive mobile segment, it also confirms our brands’ potential in the free to play market.”
We listed Tencent as one of the top 50 mobile game makers of 2022. We’ll be unveiling our list for 2023 in the coming months.
