Home Gaming Thanks to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and microtransactions, Ubisoft had its best year ever

Thanks to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and microtransactions, Ubisoft had its best year ever

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I'll drink to that

Here’s something unbelievable: Apparently global pandemics are fantastic for the video game industry, as just about every publisher under the sun has posted record profits and numbers for the latest financial year ending on March 31. Ubisoft is no different, as the French publisher saw some outstandingly high numbers, with Assassin’s Creed Valhalla being an absolute jet engine of momentum.

In its latest earnings report, Ubisoft said that it reached an all-time high of 141 million unique players across console and PC, up 20% when compared to the previous year. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla helped drive “record performance” for the series, while Just Dance and Rainbow Six Siege continued to be top-earners.

Heck, even The Division was a cash-cow, with Ubisoft deciding to invest heavily in this franchise going forward with a new spin-off freemium game, a mobile game, more content for The Division 2, and a push into other media.

As for Ubisoft’s best game of 2020, Immortals: Fenyx Rising? The publisher described it as a “player-favorite new IP” with solid sales. Here’s hoping that more love gets thrown towards that quirky and wonderful sandbox. Beyond Good & Evil 2, Riders Republic, Skull & Bones, and the new Star Wars and Avatar games from The Division’s developer are on Ubisoft’s future docket, although in the case of the sailing sim it’s going to remain a long wait as it has been delayed yet again.

Skull & Bones is still progressing well according to Ubisoft management, and the extra development time will allow the studio to realize its vision. Right, same story as the last couple of years then. Overall, Ubisoft made some terrific scratch to pad its bank account with. €2.223 billion was earned in the year, which was up 39.4% compared to the previous financial year.

That’s a massive sum, thanks primarily to microtransactions continuing to be big business and being for €780 million from that reported total, an 11% year-over-year improvement overall. “Ubisoft delivered a record year at the top and bottom lines thanks to an underlying performance that was significantly stronger than expected,” Ubisoft CFO Frédérick Duguet said. “This reflects the progress achieved in the diversification and recurrence of our revenues.”

Last Updated: May 12, 2021

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