Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has delivered a document yr for the franchise, Ubisoft revealed in its annual earnings report on Tuesday, with yearly income up 50 % in comparison with the earlier document set in 2012–13. That’s the yr when Assassin’s Creed III launched. Driven by Valhalla’s gross sales, Ubisoft made EUR 2.22 billion (about Rs. 19,798 crores) on this previous fiscal yr — April 2020 to March 2021 — which represents a 39.4 % improve year-over-year. A 3rd of Ubisoft’s income got here from microtransactions (EUR 780 million, up 11 %), with the remaining break up between new titles (EUR 1.61 billion, up 27.6 %) and again catalogue (EUR 1.29 billion, up 15.5 %).
And because of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the Ubisoft participant base additionally hit an all-time excessive at 141 million distinctive gamers. That final quantity — which solely covers PC and consoles — marked a 20 % enchancment over the earlier monetary yr. Where have been avid gamers spending their time? Ubisoft says The Division franchise reached a document 40 million gamers throughout 2020–21. It did not present numbers for the remaining, however claimed [PDF] “spectacular growth” for Just Dance, “double-digit growth” for Rainbow Six, and “robust growth” for Brawlhalla, Far Cry, For Honor, Rabbids, The Crew, and Watch Dogs. It additionally claimed that Immortals Fenyx Rising had emerged as a brand new “player favourite” title.
Naturally, Ubisoft is investing extra in these franchises. Brawlhalla, For Honor, and The Division 2 proceed to get new content material. For The Division, Ubisoft simply introduced a cell sport, and a free-to-play spin-off referred to as The Division: Heartland. There’s additionally a Netflix Division film within the works led by Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal, with Rawson Marshall Thurber set as director. Additionally, co-op PvE shooter Rainbow Six Quarantine, Giancarlo Esposito-led sequel Far Cry 6, and Immortals and Watch Dogs: Legion expansions are all due this yr. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is getting DLC later this week.
In 2021–22, a few new titles are additionally anticipated in Riders Republic and Roller Champions, with the latter representing Ubisoft’s shift away from high-quality AAA titles to ship extra free-to-play experiences that it hopes will assist it broaden its viewers base. Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake can be expected within the present fiscal yr, Ubisoft stated in its earnings name, which is able to additional assist its again catalogue choices. Ubisoft additionally famous its future growth plans, with franchises round Avatar and Star Wars, alongside a brand new sequence Skull & Bones (now delayed to 2022–23).
Why did LG hand over on its smartphone enterprise? We mentioned this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Later (beginning at 22:00), we discuss concerning the new co-op RPG shooter Outriders. Orbital is on the market on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.
