Last week, Ubisoft delayed its quarterly financial report and called a temporary halt to trading in its stocks. The internet immediately did what it does best: descend into wild and frenzied speculation. To be fair, it did all seem quite portentous, and in a world where Saudi Arabia bought EA and Microsoft bought Activision, the theories that Ubi had itself been acquired or undergone some kind of enormous financial calamity didn't feel totally out there.
But stand down, folks. Ubisoft's delayed financial report took place earlier today, and it turns out all that hullabaloo was—per company big boss Yves Guillemot—for perhaps the most boring reason imaginable: "We appointed a new panel of auditors, that was approved at the [Annual General Meeting] last July."
So, if Ubisoft hasn't suddenly become someone else's property or vanished into a financial black hole, did anything actually interesting come out of its delayed financial report? Well, we did learn that Ubi's pretty chuffed with how Assassin's Creed Shadows has gone. The company's earnings report said that the latest AC (plus "the rest of the brand's catalog") have been "overperforming" against its expectations, though it's keeping schtum about specific sales numbers.
Instead, the only number we get is the flabby metric of "session days"—that is to say, the unique number of individual calendar days that players have actually, you know, played a game. Shadows has, in the year to date, "generated 211 million session days" from among its playerbase, which Ubi says is 35% higher than the average for the two years prior.
Rainbow Six Siege likewise saw an increase in session days, but the company cops to the fact that "its move to free access" has bred "a temporary surge in cheating [that] has impacted activity and player spending versus expectations," though it promises it's all in-hand.
Aside from that? Well, the presentation accompanying the report notes Ubisoft's lineup of upcoming games. We've got DLC for Avatar, Rainbow Six Mobile, The Division Resurgence (another mobile thing), and the remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
But included on that list is a blank box marked "Unannounced title." That could be anything, but for my money? I'd guess we might soon be laying eyes on the Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag remake that everyone knows is coming but Ubi refuses to let anyone speak about.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
