Highlights
- Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced sold 3.5M copies driving Ubisoft's better-than-expected first-quarter net bookings of €255.8M.
- Ubisoft lowered marketing costs & leveraged original assets for the remake to secure rapid profitability & positive cumulative returns.
- Yves Guillemot expressed optimism regarding digital-only hardware trends, comparing it to the PC market's growth & hardware cost reductions.
Ubisoft is officially betting on everyone’s favorite pirate, Edward Kenway, to anchor its autumn financials. The company expects its newly released remake, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag Resynced, to deliver superior financial performance after the classic adventure revival blew past annual expectations by selling a massive 3.5M copies worldwide within its first 14 days following its July 9 launch. Yet, despite this rapid sales pace and a stellar launch window, the French publisher is playing it safe.
During its recent first-quarter earnings call, company leadership confirmed it will not raise its financial guidance for the second quarter or the full fiscal year, pointing to a strong competitive lineup of rival game releases across the industry.
The blockbuster performance of Black Flag Resynced has been a bright spot during what has otherwise been a transition period for Ubisoft’s broader catalog. For its first fiscal quarter, the publisher reported total net bookings of €255.8M ($291 million USD). While that figure represents a 9.2% drop year-over-year, largely due to a tough comparison against the major launch of Assassin's Creed Shadows during the same period last year, it still managed to beat Ubisoft's internal target.
During a post-earnings breakdown, Ubisoft Chief Financial Officer Frédérick Duguet elaborated in the earnings call on why the company is so bullish on the remake’s profitability, noting it was expected to perform well from the outset given the natural advantages of lower production costs. Duguet explained that ambitious remakes operate on a completely different economic profile compared to ground-up AAA projects. By reusing existing digital assets and foundational architecture from the 2013 original, development teams can focus resources on modernized gameplay mechanics without bloating the budget.
Ubisoft/Official Site
Rayman Legends Retold Promises a Full 3D Visual Overhaul
While adding new features still requires investment, Duguet noted the overall budget is nowhere near as high as a brand-new title. Furthermore, because the brand already commands massive awareness among gamers, Ubisoft can spend significantly less on marketing campaigns. Even though remakes are rarely sold at the premium price of a standard retail release, Duguet emphasized that these cost savings will drive strong returns, predicting that direct contributions will turn positive in cumulative terms within the current quarter, as per Gamesindustry.biz.
This conservative approach is also tied to Ubisoft's own autumn publishing calendar, which features internal releases alongside heavy external competition. Among these is the highly anticipated Rayman Legends Retold remake. When asked if the modernized platformer could mirror the runaway success of the pirate epic, Duguet did not comment directly on sales forecasts. Instead, he expressed optimism that the project would attract a whole new generation of players.
He described it as a revamped and improved experience that sticks to the original platforming DNA of Rayman while introducing additional gameplay features, a broader scope, and a complete visual overhaul in 3D, promising to delight long-time series veterans and newcomers alike.
Ubisoft Chief Executive Officer Yves Guillemot took time during the call to address broader industry shifts toward digital-only hardware, specifically commenting on Sony’s decision to discontinue physical discs for new PlayStation games. When asked if removing disc drives might harm the market by preventing gamers from trading in used titles to fund new purchases, Guillemot remained optimistic.
He pointed to the PC market, where going digital ultimately helped the ecosystem grow. He explained that removing physical disc drives eases manufacturing pressures and reduces hardware costs, which will make gaming machines much more accessible to everyday consumers without disturbing the wider industry too much.
