Ubisoft's 3rd quarter saw a rise in engagement, but a decrease in sales

Ubisoft has released a report detailing the company’s financial performance for the fiscal quarter ending December 31, 2016. The third quarter of the 2016-2017 fiscal year saw the better-than-expected release of Steep and the "not as dynamic as expected" launch of Watch Dogs 2.

Though the third quarter saw a decrease in sales compared to the same period last year, Ubisoft saw increases in player engagement across all of its games to the point of setting new internal records.

In addition, the two most recent Tom Clancy titles continued to retain players, with both The Division and Rainbow Six Siege seeing an uptick in daily and monthly users respectively this past quarter.

Overall sales during the third quarter of the 2016-17 fiscal year came in at €529.9 million (~$564.9 million), down 5.7 percent from the €560 million (~$596.8 million) reported during the same quarter last year.

Despite the quarterly year-on-year decrease, sales for the first nine months of the current fiscal year rose by 5.5% year-on-year. Ubisoft reported that the sales across all three completed quarters totaled €811.3 million (~$865 million), as compared to €769.1 million (~$819.7 million) reported in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft reported increases in both monthly active users overall and in daily active users within Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege and The Division. CEO Yves Guillemot noted that a 33 percent year-on-year increase in monthly active users marked record engagement levels for the company. 

Though no specific numbers were given, the daily active users for Rainbow Six Siege is at an all time high since the game’s December 2015 release. As of the end of this quarter, The Division has seen a 152.3 percent increase in daily active users following the release of a significant update on October 24, 2016. 

The report also notes that this quarter saw record back-catalog sales and digital revenue though, again, no specific numbers were given. 

Going forward, Ubisoft has dropped their projections for overall sales in the 2016-17 fiscal year to reflect the delay of South Park: The Fractured But Whole into the 2017-18 fiscal year. 

With both the delay and numbers for the third quarter in mind, Ubisoft dropped estimated overall sales for the fiscal year to between €1,455 million (~$1,550 million) and €1,495 million (~$1,593 million), which is down from earlier predictions of €1,610 million (~$1,716 million) and €1,670 million (~$1,779 million). 

As always, it is worth noting that French accounting law does not require companies to disclose profits until the end of the fiscal year. Full reports on Ubisoft’s profits will come to light following the end of the fourth quarter.