Ubisoft revenue from ‘recurring expenses’ rises 59 percent

Ubisoft has significantly increased its revenue from “recurring player spend” in its fiscal 2018 fiscal year. The publisher earned 483 million euros from digital items, DLCs and season passes, an increase of 59 percent from a year earlier.

The 483 million euros in revenues represent a 28 percent share of the total turnover. A year earlier, in fiscal 2017, this category of recurring player spend still accounted for 21 percent of total revenue. In the past year, physical sales accounted for 42 percent of sales and digital distribution accounted for 30 percent.

In the field of digital revenues, recurring player spending is relatively increasing, accounting for 48 percent of total digital revenue, up from 41 percent in 2017 and 29 percent a year earlier.

Ubisoft is trying to catch up with other major publishers. When the quarterly figures for the third quarter of the past fiscal year were announced, it appeared that 18 percent of the publisher’s turnover in 2017 came from microtransactions, DLCs, season passes and the sale of loot boxes. For comparison: at EA it was then 37 percent and at Activision Blizzard 38 percent.

Relatively speaking, Ubisoft is also getting more and more revenue from another category: the back catalog, or previously released titles that are still being sold. The publisher raised 826 million euros; that’s 48 percent of total sales. Until the fiscal year of 2015, this category accounted for an annual average of about 17 percent, but since 2016 there has been a clear increase. In that year it rose to 25 percent and in 2017 it was already 45 percent.

The publisher reports that the recently released Far Cry 5 was the second largest release ever, on which players spent 262 million euros in its first week. According to Ubisoft, the shooter sold more season passes than expected. Ubisoft also did good business with Assassin’s Creed: Origins. This game was the highest revenue ever for an Assassin’s Creed series game in the fourth quarter.

The quarterly figures show that turnover in the closed financial year amounted to 1.73 billion euros. That is an increase of 18.6 percent compared to 2017 and is higher than the forecast turnover amount of 1.64 billion euros. The total digital turnover was good for just over a billion euros and accounted for 58 percent of the total sales. A year earlier, it was still 50 percent. Operating income amounted to 300 million, an increase of 17 percent compared to 2017.