Ubisoft executives CEO Yves Guillemot and CFO Frédérick Duguet did their best to avoid questions from institutional investors regarding the company’s potential sales for its upcoming games Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Concept art for Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
During the company’s Q1 FY 2024 Sales report, Ubisoft noted that it expects to have net bookings in its second quarter come in around €500 million when it releases Star Wars Outlaws. For comparison, the company’s net bookings for the first quarter clocked in at €290.0 million when it released XDefiant.
Barclays’ Nick Dempsey questioned the low prediction in a Q&A session during the company’s sales call. He asked, “When I look at the guidance for Q2 and if I assume something similar for back catalog in Q2 as Q1 kind of getting to €200 to €230 million, that sort of range. For the new release Star Wars Outlaws, when I look at the $70 price and then assuming what you might get from it, I’m getting to around 5 million units, something in that sort of bracket. First of all, where could I be going wrong with that thinking? Secondly, are you just being pretty conservative in your guidance because I guess given the interest in that game we might have thought it would be more than 5 million units?”
Not only would he question the sales figures for Star Wars Outlaws, he also questioned the potential for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, “When I look at the second half, clearly, I think we are going to need a heavy contribution from Assassin’s Creed. But could it be those revenues would in fact be boosted by multiple hundreds of millions in partnership deals, that kind of range to get us over the line?”
A screenshot from Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
READ: Ubisoft Releases Statement To Japanese Players Amidst Massive Backlash To ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot responded to the first question saying, “We can’t comment on the very numbers you are quoting. But what we have factored in is a strong launch for Star Wars Outlaws that reflects the fact that it is among the most awaited games of the industry this year and a really strong, positive community sentiment. And also, the fact, that we are coming with the biggest marketing campaign ever, so far, for [an] Ubisoft game. So that’s what we’ve been factoring in the second quarter.”
As for his other question, Guillemot stated, “As we mentioned, we expect Shadows to be the most ambitious title of the series. We also anticipate that Star Wars, that is usually a very strong brand around Christmas, should do very well with the busy season with a strong impact also from [inaudible] content from both games. And also we expect further growth from Rainbow Six Siege as well as a strong impact of Shadows on the back catalog of Assassin’s Creed, plus the contribution of XDefiant.
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
Dempsey then questioned, “When you talk about it being the most ambitious, are you hoping for it to be the best selling Assassin’s Creed game?”
Guillemot responded, “At this time we can say we expect [Assassin’s Creed] to be among the high sellers of the company so far.”
As a point of comparison, Ubisoft had net bookings of €1,001.0 million during the company’s third quarter of 2020-21 when Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Just Dance 2021, Watch Dogs: Legion, and Immortals Fenyx Rising released.
Furthermore, Eurogamer reported that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla surpassed $1 billion in sales by itself just a year after it released in December 2021.
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
Later in the Q&A, an investor from HSBC asked about how pre-orders for both Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows compared to previous Ubisoft releases.
Guillemot responded, “We don’t disclose nor comment [on] pre-orders, usually. What we can say, what we’ve been observing and measuring is that our two big titles actually are among the most awaited games of the industry and they enjoy very strong positive community sentiment overall.”
A screenshot from Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
A Bank of America investor also questioned Ubisoft’s narrative that Star Wars Outlaws is getting positive feedback and pointed to a recent preview that Ubisoft released of the game that received numerous negative opinions regarding the game’s graphics and AI detection. Specifically, the investor asked if the release date was confirmed due to the negative feedback.
Guillemot responded, “The game has gone gold. So the date is well confirmed for August 13th. And, as you mentioned, we’ll be showcasing more content of a very high quality, multiple hours that will really show the depths of the open world, that is a key element of the promise to enjoy the exploration of the galaxy and with multiple planets. So that will bode well for the game in terms of high quality delivery.”
Duguet added, “We’ve said also for Star Wars the level of quality, the world, and the experience it’s really very high. We are really leveraging our engine and I think people will love it.”
A screenshot from Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
Following this earnings call Ubisoft’s stock price plummeted indicating that investors were not impressed with Guillemot and Duguet’s evasive answers regarding their questions about Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
Ubisoft stock price over the past 5 days.
What do you make of Guillemot’s and Duguet’s evasive answers?
NEXT: Ubisoft’s Stock Plummets 12% Despite Exceeding Sales Targets
