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Ubisoft Q1 2015 financials; 56% revenue from digital sales
- Thread starter MauroNL
- Start date
Interrobang
Member
Just once I want to read a report about something I hate in this industry failing.
Just once.
Digital downloads, DLC, pre-orders, season passes.
Just ONCE I want to read that it didn't turn a higher margin than the year prior.
Goddammit.
Just once.
Digital downloads, DLC, pre-orders, season passes.
Just ONCE I want to read that it didn't turn a higher margin than the year prior.
Goddammit.
#Boned lol. Im surprised at the large difference across current gen console platforms
Interfectum
Member
PC almost up there with PS4. Wow.
It's actually really interesting that it goes PS4 > PC > Everything else. Wouldn't have expected that
Obliterator
Member
WOW at those PC numbers. PC is almost as big as PS4 for them and is the 2nd largest contributor
Crankshaft
Member
There is a reason why these things exist. They sell.
You might need to chill out a little.
"People buy things I don't like!"
Easy bro, Easy.
KillerMan91
Member
And this is the reason why yoy comparisons regarding of software sales are a bit meaningless in NPD and PAL charts threads. A big part of the market is missing from those numbers.
Freedom = $1.05
Banned
CosmicQueso
Member
The people want what the people want.
because this is global sales?
KillerMan91
Member
Because Xbox One is not doing that hot globally?
ShockingAlberto
Member
Obliterator
Member
Because globally its getting stomped by PS4 and PC is a growing user base. Not to say all is doomed for the Xbone or anything but its not too shocking how far behind it is. The thing I'm most surprised about is how strong PC is getting for Ubi. Traditionally Ubi had a smaller percentage of PC sales than other major 3rd party pubs but it seems that may be getting a bit better for them
You kinda answered your own question.
demosthenes
Member
Because Xbox One is lagging so far behind when you count global sales.
It's the Xbox One.
The interesting part would be profit % per platform - PC games are often on sale, but Ubi gets to keep more of the money per sale.
Maybe you miss the point of NPD? It focuses on a specific market.... thats why people use it, to see the performance of that market.
NPD data is very accurate and valuable to measuring the success of each platform holder in the US.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
But their software sales including digital are also down year on year...?
Obliterator
Member
Yeah its entirely possible PC was the number one driver of profit for the Quarter. It was slightly under PS4 in terms of volume but PC carries a higher profit per sale.
vinnygambini
Why are strippers at the U.N. bad when they're great at strip clubs???
Dat Wii & Wii U growth
XB1 sales aren't that great when MS isn't buying millions of copies of AC.
Does ubi have any PC exclusive games?
You must maintain your narrative huh. They beat expectations and you know a little game called Watchdogs released last year. I guess we should all be waiting for the NX to save the industry.
Does ubi have any PC exclusive games?
You must maintain your narrative huh. They beat expectations and you know a little game called Watchdogs released last year. I guess we should all be waiting for the NX to save the industry.
How is this possible considering the mad discounts that are usually offered not long after release?
I guess you weren't there for when ccapcoms mobile division pulled in horrible numbers. Lots of schadenfreude in that thread.
Anno is a pc exclusive ubisoft franchise, they announced a new one at their conference this year.
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
Yes.
Entire franchises in fact. None of which have had editions released this year AFAIK.
No physical version printing costs. Plus, they don't have to share their profits with the platform holder, I assume.
CosmicQueso
Member
Stop trying to extrapolate about the PC market from this small slice. Sales were down significantly against a console centric Watch_Dogs comp.
It's a bigger share of a much smaller pie driven by releases. There's absolutely nothing you can really take away from this and apply to the larger market.
Ehhh... still doesn't change the point that NPD data is useless for the software market.
It's a bigger share of a much smaller pie driven by releases. There's absolutely nothing you can really take away from this and apply to the larger market.
Ehhh... still doesn't change the point that NPD data is useless for the software market.
Obliterator
Member
?
Profit percentage per sale. Its not even remotley close. On PC games that are sold through UPlay carry a 100% profit margin for Ubisoft. They are likely getting only 30-40% at most on retail console games.
Edit: Console percentage could be higher. Maybe as high as 50% for them. Still not close in terms of profit per dollar as a PC digital sale
MrNyarlathotep
Banned
I wouldn't say its useless, its just not as informative as it could be without knowing what percentage of sales are now digital to extrapolate out from.
KillerMan91
Member
I know the point of NPD and sure of course some people use the data like it should be used. To measure the state of retail market for software sales. Still there are a lot of people too that use it to measure the state of overall market for software sales and that is wrong when naturally bigger and bigger part of the market is moving to digital.
I think the point being made was more focusing on those individuals that have increasingly pessimistic outlook for the industry based solely upon NPD sales data. NPD does its job well, but for 56% of sales to be digital demonstrates that saying "NPD sales are down, therefore the gaming/console industry is struggling" isn't looking at the whole picture.
Last year Watch Dogs was released in this quarter. There were no large Ubi games this year, so of course it is down.
I figured that codes sold through CDKeys and stuff would have cut down that margin a fair amount. I wouldn't have thought they'd get so many sales through Uplay!
Obliterator
Member
Well the easy thing to look at is this
In terms of sales dollars PS4 contributed a 27% of all sales volume while PC did 23%. PS4 did a higher number but its pretty damn close between the two. Only 4% difference.
Now consider that the percentage difference in profit between the two is likely greater than 4%. Its entirely possible that PC was the number one driver of profit for the quarter.
Now without seeing the profit breakdown we can't be sure but PC is likely number one or at least very close with PS4. Both platforms did very well for them this quarter.
Understood. Sorry, I thought you were saying that the actual data was not worth using. I didnt realise you meant that people draw wrong conclusions from npd.
This I can agree with.
Worth pointing out that this is revenue being talked about by Ubisoft and not units sold.
Anno, IL-2 Sturmovik, Might & Magic and TrackMania (until Turbo) are some Ubisoft PC franchises.
CosmicQueso
Member
But it's not a bump.
It's just a larger share of a much smaller pie because last year had Watch_Dogs in the data.
krypt0nian
Banned
We're seeing why more games are coming only to PS4/PC.