Ubisoft Hemorrhaging Money After High-Profile Flops | TechRaptor

Ubisoft Hemorrhaging Money After High-Profile Flops | TechRaptor

From TechRaptor on | OpenCritic

Ubisoft has released its financial results for the first half of the fiscal year, and if you've been following the company's fortunes recently, then it probably won't come as a shock to you to learn that things aren't looking good.

In its financial summary, Ubisoft reveals that it's effectively hemorrhaging money right now; the company lost €271.8 million in the period between April and September this year, and it's currently staring down the barrel of around €1 billion's worth of debt.

In addition, net bookings are down 22% year-on-year, while digital revenues have fallen 27% and player spending (although Ubisoft uses the somewhat ghoulish term "recurring investment") has fallen 39% compared to the same period last year.

These doomy numbers are likely driven largely by the apparent failure of Star Wars Outlaws, which Ubisoft has admitted didn't perform according to its expectations, although the company doesn't mention the game in these latest financial results, nor does it give official sales numbers.

Rather cunningly, Ubisoft refers to its "unique player" count rather than its sales in an accompanying presentation, declaring that "more than 30 million unique active players" played Rainbow Six Siege and the Assassin's Creed franchise over the last twelve months....