Ubisoft revealed today its financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2016-2017, ended on December 31st.

Keeping up with the trends revealed in past quarters, PS4 versions of the French publisher's games have been dominating sales, actually increasing their lead over competing consoles year on year both for the past quarter and past nine months.

Xox One versions ranks distant second, while PC versions follow in third place.

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The company also released a breakdown of sales by region:

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The press release also provided a detailed explanation of Ubisoft's results for the quarter.

We read that South Park: The Fractured But Whole will now release between April 1st, 2017 and March 31st, 2018. Sales of Watch_Dogs 2 were "not as dynamic as expected" but momentum is "now positive,"  while Steep is indicated as performing "slightly" better than expected.

On top of that, we learn that Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is now sitting at 15 million registered players.

  • Sales of €529.9 million for third-quarter and €811.3 million for the first nine months
  • A strong increase in player engagement levels
    • MAU up 33.1% in the nine-month period
    • Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege: 15 million registered players and record DAU
    • Tom Clancy’s The Division: a 152.3%2 jump in DAU
  • A major positive impact on recurring revenue and profitability
    • Record back-catalog sales for the nine-month period
      • Accounting for 57.1% of total sales (36.5% last year)
      • Up 64.7% year on year to €462.9 million
    • Record digital revenue for the nine-month period
      • Accounting for 47.2% of total sales (27.0% last year)
      • Up 84.4% year on year to €383.0 million
      • A 140.1% surge in player recurring investment3 to €169.9 million, representing 20.9% of total sales (9.2% last year)
    • Non-IFRS operating income target for Full-year 2016-17 confirmed and profitability target revised upwards:
      •  Sales target of between €1,455 million and €1,495 million, compared with the previously announced range of €1,610 million to €1,670 million
      • Non-IFRS operating income target of between €230 million and €250 million and non-IFRS operating margin target of between 15.8% and 16.7%, compared with the previous guidance of 14.3% to 15.0%
    • 2018-19 targets confirmed
  •  Watch_Dogs 2: Launch not as dynamic as expected, but momentum now positive
  •  Steep: slightly higher-than-expected performance
  •  South Park: The Fractured But Whole: release scheduled for fiscal 2017-18

A statement by CEO Yves Guillemot also provides more details on the current situation of the publisher:

“We are successfully pursuing our transformation into a more recurring and more profitable profile. The positive effects of this transformation are remarkable. They illustrate how far ahead of schedule we are in our digital development, which is one key element of our three-year targets.

Our overall player community is growing rapidly. We hit record engagement levels during the period, with 33% more MAU year on year.

The number of daily players of Rainbow Six Siege is at its highest ever, an exceptional performance given that the game was released 14 months ago. Meanwhile, The Division has continued its successful come-back, with engagement up by more than 150% by the end of December.

This resulted in record back-catalog sales and digital revenue for the third quarter, and we saw another sharp rise in player recurring investment”

"In light of the positive impacts of our transformation, combined with our overall solid performance and tight cost control, we are standing by our objective of achieving record operating income and operating margin for fiscal 2016-17, despite lower-than-expected sales.

Our targets for fiscal 2017-18 will be announced mid-May and will include an increase in our topline and operating income, while factoring in the very competitive environment that we expect to see throughout the year.

Longer term, with the current successful implementation of our strategic plan, we are confident we will achieve our targets for fiscal 2018-19. In fact, by the end of fiscal 2016-17, we expect to meet, or even exceed, the 45% digital revenue and 17% player recurring investment targets we had set for fiscal 2018-19."

The outlook for the current quarter and full fiscal year is as follows.

Full-year 2016-17

Given the continuing favorable structural changes in our business, namely the move towards a more recurring and profitable profile, we are standing by our non-IFRS operating income target of between €230 million and €250 million for full-year 2016-17 and we are revising upwards our non-IFRS operating margin target to between 15.8% and 16.7%, compared with the previous guidance of 14.3% to 15.0%.

We now expect fiscal 2016-17 sales to come in at between €1,455 million and €1,495 million, versus the previously-announced target of between €1,610 million and €1,670 million. This revision takes into account the sales figure for the third quarter of 2016-17 and the fact that South ParkTM: the Fractured But WholeTM will now be released in fiscal 2017-18. 3

Sales for the fourth quarter of 2016-17

Ubisoft expects fourth-quarter 2016-17 sales to total between €644.0 million and €684.0 million, compared with €624.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2015-16.

Last but not least, we get a list of all the upcoming releases for the current quarter, ending on March 31st, 2017.

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