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[Alo0oy]

You ignored his aside though: "For the most part". This is true, for the most part.

Just last summer sale alone, Bioshock 1, an almost decade old game brought in over half a million dollars revenue for that publisher. That agme has probably been doing that on every Steam sale for years. I doubt the console version is bringing much if any money these days.

between the end of 2012 & the summer of 2013 (a 6 months period), Gran Turismo 4 on Playstaion 2 sold 140k units, making around 1-2 million dollars.

We can do this all day, but he made a misinformed argument based on non-information, almost every single week PS1 & PS2 games go on sale on PSN, even if only GAFers buy those games when they're put on sale (just for the safe of argument), that's still a significant amount of money being made every week for 20 year old games.

Yeah, but if you buy a game for PC, you don't need to buy it again because the system is not retrocompatible. I can play The Witcher on my PC even if I've bought it 8 years ago. Opposite of console, when you need to buy it again if you want to re-playing it on the new system.

You're completely missing the point, yes the way software is sold on PC is more pro-consumer, but that's not what we're arguing here.

I am also aware that the sales of such titles, outside of promotional periods, are practically nil.

Promotional periods are almost every single week, even in dry months PS1 classics get a couple of discounts.

 

[alexandros]

Last year had Watch_Dogs which pushed Console share. There's absolutely nothing in this data that should seem anything to you.

All that's clear is that Ubisoft revenues declined by a higher percentage on Console than the high decline it showed on PC.

I don't agree at all with your analysis. A revenue drop is normal in a quarter without a major release. The percentages show that PC sales were a significant part of Ubisoft's total sales in this quarter and that is good news. The smaller decline compared to consoles is also good news. I'm sure Ubisoft knew that it wouldn't match last year's numbers without a major release.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

I'm sure Ubisoft knew that it wouldn't match last year's numbers without a major release.

They in fact beat their earnings estimate despite the YoY decline, as per the OP.

 

[stryke]

PS4 and PC certainly hold a commanding portion of that revenue.

 

[Fat4all]

That gap between PS4 and Xbox One is crazy. Microsoft partnered really heavy with Ubi marketing wise in 2014, too. If they didn't do that I wonder how big the gap would've been.

Global market, man. Don't fuck with it.

 

[thelastword]

The most interesting bit there is that digital sales are a whopping 56%, many people don't understand how huge digital sales are on consoles, this is yet another sales report that gets us some perspective......on the issue.

 

[Melchiah]

The most interesting bit there is that digital sales are a whopping 56%, many people don't understand how huge digital sales are on consoles, this is yet another sales report that gets us some perspective......on the issue.

And that makes the NPD figures all the more misleading.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

The most interesting bit there is that digital sales are a whopping 56%, many people don't understand how huge digital sales are on consoles, this is yet another sales report that gets us some perspective......on the issue.

That digital percentage is based on long tail sales of older titles, not launch period sales of new titles which is what the NPD primarily tracks.

I mean, if you want to pretend that whatever numbers we get in the NPD are automatically doubled 'because digital' you can, but thats simply not the case.

 

[Wiktor]

Yes.
Entire franchises in fact. None of which have had editions released this year AFAIK.

Yep. They will get Anno 2250 and Heroes 7 this year. Settlers 8 will likely get delayed, but yeah...they will be getting some big PC exclusives this year.

 

[Wiktor]

Digital revenue accounts for 90%+ of PC sales, while console the vast majority is still physical.

There's no way that 90% stays true for Ubisoft on PC. They're one of the few PC publishers that can move a ton of retail boxes because of the way they're set up (EA and Ubi are pretty much the only publishers which put local branches into most countries instead of relying on distributors).

 

[Saty]

The most interesting bit there is that digital sales are a whopping 56%, many people don't understand how huge digital sales are on consoles, this is yet another sales report that gets us some perspective......on the issue.

The figure is overall for all their stuff. All platforms and including non-full game downloads. Stop trying to twist data to fit your argument (in this case about digital share of AAA PS4\XB1 titles on launch).

 

[KillerMan91]

That digital percentage is based on long tail sales of older titles, not launch period sales of new titles which is what the NPD primarily tracks.

I mean, if you want to pretend that whatever numbers we get in the NPD are automatically doubled 'because digital' you can, but thats simply not the case.

May UK:

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (Bandai Namco Entertainment) - 230,000 (144,117) / 374,117

Physical 61.48% / Digital 38.52%

And this is without PC. Of course Witcher might be outlier and maybe in UK digital adaption has progressed further than is US but still almost 40% share is massive for launch period and you really can't ignore digital even if you are just talking about recently launched games. NPD is losing its significance when it comes to comparisons to past. There is no denying it.

 

[Roberto Larcos]

They are selling better on PC than XB1? Wow.
Xb1 numbers recently has been horrible regarding software sales (TW3, AK, Project Cars) what's going on?

To be fair, I'd take Project CARS out of that equation. It's a broken port, and Xbox racing fans are already spoilt for choice. It was always going to sell far less on Xbox. Maybe Arkham Knight shouldn't be relied on too heavily either given the marketing has been so Sony-centric.

Watcher 3 I'd put down to being a European game on a console which barely sells in Europe. You need to look a bit deeper sometimes. I expect Black Ops III will be fairly-similar between Xbox and PlayStation despite marketing, and Fallout, Battlefront, Madden 16 etc. will likely do very well on Xbox. The PS4's wider market does make it far more appealing to niche developers though, and that could be fairly huge going forward.

The only market where it keeps up with the PS4 is the US.

And the UK. Xbox seems to sell fairly similar numbers to PlayStation here, and I remember it selling more than Sony's console towards the tail-end of 2014. I think the PS4 still has a fair lead overall (for the first 12 months the sales numbers were by far in Sony's favour) – but a good image in the country, FIFA-exclusive content, more racing games, TV features actually working, and the fact that Microsoft clawed onto some customers in their disastrous launch window (meant PS4 never snowballed as much as in mainland Europe) means the situation isn't nearly as dire for them here.

I'd also like to think EA Access plays a part, but I only have anecdotal evidence for that. UK gamers tend to be quite price-conscious, and are willing to wait for a game to reach a 'good price' before buying. It means EA Access makes sense. 8/10 Xbox One owners I know are subscribed to EA Access.

 

[therealbigrich]

I don't think the numbers are that crazy it seems like all the console took a dive in sales (exept wii u) that have moved over to mobile and PC. I cant think of any ubisoft games ive wanted to buy on console recently

 

[thelastword]

That digital percentage is based on long tail sales of older titles, not launch period sales of new titles which is what the NPD primarily tracks.

I mean, if you want to pretend that whatever numbers we get in the NPD are automatically doubled 'because digital' you can, but thats simply not the case.

56% is pretty massive a year in and accounts for more than half of their revenue, we can be fair here, digital sales at launch are not exactly anorexic, many reports have indicated that digital sales are 25% and much higher at launch depending on the title, right now, it's even more convenient to pre-order on consoles because of preloading, extra content etc...delivered the minute it's available, no hassles, no traffic, no disc needed when you need to play.....so you can see why digital sales have skyrocketed.

You must also be aware that the backlog titles they mentioned are pretty much ACU, Watch Dogs, The Crew, FC4....These games have not been on sale that often on consoles (for the quarter in question at least) and even then, the sales discounts have not been substantial when they were. I've seen PC titles that could be ascertained for below 50% of MSRP at launch, but never see that on consoles. I'm just saying, trying to diminish the 56% digital sales for not being in the launch phase says nothing really.

Go look at the what the prices of these games were for the most part of the quarter mentioned, then look at the digital price of the games bundled with all the content, look at the price of the crew with all content for instance, these games were not in $5 flash sales, if that's what you're implying.

The figure is overall for all their stuff. All platforms and including non-full game downloads. Stop trying to twist data to fit your argument (in this case about digital share of AAA PS4\XB1 titles on launch).

I made one statement, what argument I'm I twisting here exactly? And what do you mean by non-full game downloads? Are you implying these figures are representative of DLC sales? Too bad I'm on the road now, but I will follow this conversation on my phone.

 

[ZhugeEX]

People are confusing "digital segment sales" for "full game downloads on console".

 

[OléGunner]

I don't think the numbers are that crazy it seems like all the console took a dive in sales (exept wii u) that have moved over to mobile and PC. I cant think of any ubisoft games ive wanted to buy on console recently

Huh, does your post imply console sales moved over to PC and mobile for Ubisoft?

If so, the simple answer is Watch Dogs released to massive sales in the same quarter last year and that's why console revenue is down.

 

[Felessan]

I don't agree at all with your analysis. A revenue drop is normal in a quarter without a major release. The percentages show that PC sales were a significant part of Ubisoft's total sales in this quarter and that is good news. The smaller decline compared to consoles is also good news. I'm sure Ubisoft knew that it wouldn't match last year's numbers without a major release.

Not a "major release", in this quarter it seems that Ubi didn't have releases at all.
It's just a sales of back-catalog (95% of revenue) and it seems that PC is more a subject to pricedrops to increase sales later in the lifetime of titles.

Next quarter will be the same btw, the only title mentioned is HoM&M 7

 

[Saty]

The most interesting bit there is that digital sales are a whopping 56%, many people don't understand how huge digital sales are on consoles, this is yet another sales report that gets us some perspective......on the issue.

Yes. This statement. The 56% figure is for all content on all platforms. You are trying to use that figure as if it only concerns console sales or AAA launch period, let alone forgetting about stuff like DLC and added content.

 

[therealbigrich]

Huh, does your post imply console sales moved over to PC and mobile for Ubisoft?

If so, the simple answer is Watch Dogs released to massive sales in the same quarter last year and that's why console revenue is down.

Yeah that is pretty much what I'm saying maybe I could of worded better .

 

[Angel_DvA]

The gap between the PS4 and the Xbox One is huge, not surprising why Sony have the biggest deals from 3rd parties now, they're destroying their competition in hardware/software sales and popular opinion.

MS really need to do more that that now, they have killed all their momentum they gained with the 360, a shame.

 

[gtj1092]

When keeping the narrative consoles are doomed.....

But their software sales including digital are also down year on year...?

When supporting PC better then consoles (sony/ms consoles)...

They in fact beat their earnings estimate despite the YoY decline, as per the OP.

Same thread even smh.

 

[OléGunner]

Yeah that is pretty much what I'm saying maybe I could of worded better .

Ahh ok no worries

The gap between the PS4 and the Xbox One is huge, not surprising why Sony have the biggest deals from 3rd parties now, they're destroying their competition in hardware/software sales and popular opinion.

MS really need to do more that that now, they have killed all their momentum they gained with the 360, a shame.

To be honest I think the jig is up for MS in terms of global sales.

It's smart for them to just focus on US/UK and parts of EU where they can feasibly claw enough market share back.

Of course something game changing like Hololens or Minecraft exclusive (which is probably not happening) could reverse all this but it's not looking likely.

 

[Jonboy]

What a jump for PC.

Not surprised that PS4 is on top, but am surprised to see the Xbox One that low.

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

May UK:

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (Bandai Namco Entertainment) - 230,000 (144,117) / 374,117

Physical 61.48% / Digital 38.52%

Gosh, I wonder if the digital only bundling with the Xbox One had any effect on that number.

Same thread even smh.

...what?

 

[Diablohead]

quite amazing digital sales when prices in the uk for ubi digital games tend to be £20 more expensive then retail.

 

[thelastword]

And that makes the NPD figures all the more misleading.

May UK:

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt (Bandai Namco Entertainment) - 230,000 (144,117) / 374,117

Physical 61.48% / Digital 38.52%

And this is without PC. Of course Witcher might be outlier and maybe in UK digital adaption has progressed further than is US but still almost 40% share is massive for launch period and you really can't ignore digital even if you are just talking about recently launched games. NPD is losing its significance when it comes to comparisons to past. There is no denying it.

Pretty much this...NPD has lost it's significance relative to the whole picture. I think the shift to digital sales may be the biggest milestone this gen, relative to software sales on consoles. It certainly helps when extra storage is not proprietary and that every game is available digitally.

 

[The Lamp]

There's a disadvantage that I see to this. Majority digital sales means they don't have to worry about people trading in or returning their games because of bugs or sucky game features, so they can continue to half-ass their launches.

 

[safichan]

To be fair, I'd take Project CARS out of that equation. It's a broken port, and Xbox racing fans are already spoilt for choice. It was always going to sell far less on Xbox. Maybe Arkham Knight shouldn't be relied on too heavily either given the marketing has been so Sony-centric.

Watcher 3 I'd put down to being a European game on a console which barely sells in Europe. You need to look a bit deeper sometimes. I expect Black Ops III will be fairly-similar between Xbox and PlayStation despite marketing, and Fallout, Battlefront, Madden 16 etc. will likely do very well on Xbox. The PS4's wider market does make it far more appealing to niche developers though, and that could be fairly huge going forward.



And the UK. Xbox seems to sell fairly similar numbers to PlayStation here, and I remember it selling more than Sony's console towards the tail-end of 2014. I think the PS4 still has a fair lead overall (for the first 12 months the sales numbers were by far in Sony's favour) – but a good image in the country, FIFA-exclusive content, more racing games, TV features actually working, and the fact that Microsoft clawed onto some customers in their disastrous launch window (meant PS4 never snowballed as much as in mainland Europe) means the situation isn't nearly as dire for them here.

I'd also like to think EA Access plays a part, but I only have anecdotal evidence for that. UK gamers tend to be quite price-conscious, and are willing to wait for a game to reach a 'good price' before buying. It means EA Access makes sense. 8/10 Xbox One owners I know are subscribed to EA Access.

Xbox1 clawed back to the market not becoz its really done so good...its becoz MS dropped the price and bundled it with free games for months...this post just gave alot of excuses...this game not appeal to Xbox...this game is bad port...this game too Sony centric...bla...bla...bla...hey Xbox gamers are too picky right?

 

[CosmicQueso]

When keeping the narrative consoles are doomed.....

When supporting PC better then consoles (sony/ms consoles)...

Same thread even smh.

I don't know what point you're trying to make but his two points do not condescend each other.

I don't agree at all with your analysis. A revenue drop is normal in a quarter without a major release. The percentages show that PC sales were a significant part of Ubisoft's total sales in this quarter and that is good news. The smaller decline compared to consoles is also good news. I'm sure Ubisoft knew that it wouldn't match last year's numbers without a major release.

Explain to me precisely what is "good news" about this information. Share of a much smaller pie for one company in one quarter going up for one platform over another can define meaningless.

 

[alexandros]

Explain to me precisely what is "good news" about this information.

During this quarter PC sales represented 23% of Ubisoft's total sales, only slightly behind the more popular next gen console and more than both Xbox platforms combined.

 

[derExperte]

There's a disadvantage that I see to this. Majority digital sales means they don't have to worry about people trading in or returning their games because of bugs or sucky game features, so they can continue to half-ass their launches.

The more broken releases, the more pressure to offer refunds for digital purchases on consoles too. What happened to Arkham Knight on Steam should be warning enough.

 

[KillerMan91]

Gosh, I wonder if the digital only bundling with the Xbox One had any effect on that number.

Witcher 3 sold 144k units digitally during may in UK. Even if Xbox One bundle did amazing numbers lets say 50k units that leaves us with very high digital share (near 30%). Doesn't change my point at all.

 

[Roberto Larcos]

Xbox1 clawed back to the market not becoz its really done so good...its becoz MS dropped the price and bundled it with free games for months...this post just gave alot of excuses...this game not appeal to Xbox...this game is bad port...this game too Sony centric...bla...bla...bla...hey Xbox gamers are too picky right?

It's both, no doubt.

And yes, it looks at reasons for specific games not selling as well on Xbox, that's what you have to do to properly analyse a situation.

I wouldn't say Xbox gamers in US / UK are any pickier than PlayStation gamers in US / UK. It's just that there isn't great demand for certain types of games from these regions. People developing for Sony hardware can rely on these other regions (where Xbox doesn't really have a presence, and demand does exist for these more niche genres) to justify producing niche games.

That was my point.

 

[Concept17]

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.

Yeah it would be so great if they suddenly had no reason to employ thousands of talented people.

/s

 

[serversurfer]

To get a better idea of the significance of PC with regard to Ubi's income, it's probably better to look at annual sales. For the fiscal year that ended in March, PC represented 12% of Ubi's overall sales. By comparison, mobile accounted for less than 5% of their sales, and consoles accounted for 83% of their annual sales, with the PS4 single-handedly accounting for 32% of their total sales for the year.

Also, PC being comparatively high in Apr-Jun isn't unusual; it was only "low" last year because Watch Dogs was selling so much on consoles. If you look at Apr-Jun 2013, PC was 27% of their sales. Basically, console sales cool down a lot during the summer, but they sell a fuckton more during the holidays, which more than makes up for it at the end of the year. Also, even during this last quarter, consoles still accounted for 63% of their sales.

I'd say the big surprise here was actually their mobile sales, which was up to 14%; a lot higher that the other figures I'm seeing for it historically. What mobile games do they have?

 

[Interrobang]

Yeah it would be so great if they suddenly had no reason to employ thousands of talented people.

/s

If the "reason" these people are employed is for quality DLC I support it. No one is employed when things are ripped out of a game after development and piecemealed into 14 different DLCs.

You can twist what I was saying all you want, but all I'm saying is I want more Astoria of the Abyss DLC and less Destiny DLC.

 

[Futurematic]

Yeah it would be so great if they suddenly had no reason to employ thousands of talented people.

/s

Alternate version: the price up to 100 bucks, dump the DLC/season pass. I paid more than that new (counting inflation) for SNES games. Cartridge cost shifted to higher development costs. And wishes and horses, I'm liking this slightly growing expansion pack push this generation, make it bigger to make up the difference (because 100 bucks is still less then the publishers make these days, lol)... oh, and PSN/Xbox Live refunds = awesome, make that happen.

 

[GnawtyDog]

This image applies to digital only or retail?

 

[Moonstone]

This image applies to digital only or retail?

Both of course.

 

[RayearthRob]

So... the Wii U growth...

Watch Dogs?

 

[serversurfer]

This image applies to digital only or retail?

That's digital and retail combined.

 

[The Lamp]

The more broken releases, the more pressure to offer refunds for digital purchases on consoles too. What happened to Arkham Knight on Steam should be warning enough.

Isn't that a new feature? Do the PSN and XBL store even offer refunds? I've never heard of digital refunds before.

 

[Nzyme32]

Isn't that a new feature? Do the PSN and XBL store even offer refunds? I've never heard of digital refunds before.

Digital Refunds exist but are often hugely obfuscated or highly restrictive. PSN & XBL are very cagey about digital refunds and it's hidden behind customer service systems, Origin restricts refunds to their own games or if other opt in (which they don't mostly), GOG has a refund policy but it is short. Steam had refunds but obfuscated it behind its legendarily slow customer service, however, it is now the first to offer an easy way to do it and with a significant period of time - also allowing you to go over those terms and still request a refund which can work dependant on circumstances, and even get a refund if you just want a cheaper price.

 

[CryptiK]

Well its Ubisoft. A lot of people have learned their lessons buying the PC ports. I used to enjoy their old R6 games etc but now its all turd specifically on the PC platform. Why bother buying something that can hardly run correctly when you can pay for a PS4 version with it working relatively fine. I will not be buying Ubisoft shit on PC or PS4 in the future they fucked up all their good franchises anyway.

 

[serversurfer]

Source

Source

Shouldn't those figures match? =/

 

[Apt101]

For those with business acumen, would this encourage Ubisoft to focus more on PlayStation or try to more aggressively reach Xbox audiences?

 

[ZhugeEX]

For those with business acumen, would this encourage Ubisoft to focus more on PlayStation or try to more aggressively reach Xbox audiences?

Ubisoft has always been multi platform and that is not going to change. What we may see though is more partnerships with the PlayStation brand.

 

[serversurfer]

Shouldn't those figures match? =/

Anyone know?

 

[MrNyarlathotep]

Anyone know?

It's impossible to know other than "Other" turned out to not have as much revenue at the end of the financial year as they thought it had when they issued their earnings report.
It could be literally anything from buying back surplus retail stock, credit card chargebacks, tax refunds, unpaid royalties from licencing agreements...