(Bloomberg) – Ubisoft Entertainment SA, a video game maker behind the popular Assassin’s Creed title, predicts graphic sales for the new fiscal year and says some of its largest products will receive more development time.
Bookings are a measure of sales, with just 20% dropping to 1.85 billion euros ($2.07 billion) in fiscal 2025, the company said on Wednesday. Bookings fell 3.4% in the fourth quarter.
Forecasts and additional development efforts are the latest setbacks for the French company, whose share price has dropped to €88.16 from a high four years ago to €11.68 now. The company announced its latest results after the Paris market closed.
Management, led by CEO Yves Guillemot, is taking steps to correct the company. In March, it announced that Tencent Holdings Ltd. would invest 1.16 billion euros in a new subsidiary that will become key champions such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six.
The deal forms a vote of trust for Tencent, which already owns a 10% stake in Ubisoft, a few years since the boom of the pandemic era. The valuation of the new unit is higher than the current corporate value of the group.
“This year is a challenging challenge for Ubisoft, with dynamics mixed in our portfolio amid fierce industry competition,” Guillemot said in a statement. “We are currently working to reshape the group’s operating model and plan to announce a new organization by the end of the year.”
In a call with reporters earlier in the day, Chief Financial Officer Frederick Duguet said that operationally, Ubisoft will remain “a unique company” with employees freely working on brands owned by their subsidiaries and their parents.
The decision to extend production efforts means that new revenue from Ubisoft’s largest franchise will be delayed to the next two fiscal years.
Ubisoft also said the 200 million euro cost reduction target for the year has been completed ahead of schedule and will save an additional 100 million euros in the next two years.
The company completed the year with 17,782 employees, down 1,230 from the same period last year.
More stories like this are available Bloomberg.com
