Ubisoft stock plummeted over 15% after the company released its first trailer for Assassin’s Creed Shadows and reported it missed forecasted sales figures.
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
On May 15th, Ubisoft’s stock price hit $23.35. By May 16th, the price plummeted $20.02. It went as low as $19.74. As of writing, the price is currently at $21.28.
Ubisoft stock price over the past 5 days.
The stock price dropped in the wake of Ubisoft predicting the company will only bring in net bookings of $299 million for the first quarter. The company shared its outlook, “Net bookings for the first quarter of 2024-25 are expected to come in at around €275 million ($299 million).”
Bloomberg’s Daniel Zuidijk claims this is significantly down from what a number of analysts were predicting. Zuidijk reported, “That compares with an average estimate of €376 million among analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.” €376 million is about $408.7 million.
A screenshot from Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
While Ubisoft predicted first quarter bookings would come in lower than expected the company did try to be optimistic about its future outlook with Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws.
The company reported, “The Company is introducing its financial targets for 2024-25 and expects solid net bookings growth, slight increase in non-IFRS operating income and growing non-IFRS Cash Flow from Operations leading to positive Free Cash Flow.”
The FY25 line-up includes, on the premium side, Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws, two of the industry’s most anticipated games for the year, and on the free-to-playside, Rainbow Six Mobile, The Division Resurgence and XDefiant,” it added.
However, CIC Markets analyst Eric Ravary was not as optimistic adjusting his FY 25 estimates down from €471 million to €412 million. That’s a decline in 12.5%.
Concept art for Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
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While Ubisoft is touting Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Star Wars Outlaws as “two of the industry’s most anticipated games for the year,” both games are facing significant pushback from gamers. The Star Wars Outlaws trailer has only 2.4 million views. It also has over 179,000 dislikes and just 40,000 likes.
Screenshot of Star Wars Outlaws trailer
The Assassin’s Creed Shadows trailer has 5.9 million views, but over 444,000 dislikes. It has only 241,000 likes.
Screenshot of Assassin’s Creed Shadows trailer
What do you make of Ubisoft’s stock cratering 15% on the company’s net bookings not expected to hit market estimates as it released the Assassin’s Creed Shadows trailer?
