Details about the new Assassin’s Creed game weren’t the only thing let out by Ubisoft’s earnings call earlier today. Let’s wrap up what else was learned from their power point presentations.
First up we learned that Tom Clancy’s The Division is set to release in early 2016. With AC already slated for an October release it’s not too shocking to see The Division slip. The game has already been seen by many in the press so some were expecting a holiday release, but waiting for a calmer time in the release calendar makes sense. It does make me wonder when Rainbow Six: The Siege will come out, but I imagine those details will have to wait.
Next we learned about a mysterious “AAA” game in development at Ubisoft and slated for a release this fiscal year (sometime before April, 2016). Ubisoft didn’t confirm if this will be a new game property or a sequel but did confirm we don’t know more about until the fall and no information about this mystery game will be revealed at E3. Seems strange to be to have a big title that you wouldn’t announce at E3, even a Watch_Dogs 2 could use the extra eyeballs on a trailer or demo. Gamescom anyone?
Now we turn to bad news, well bad news for anyone still waiting on new consoles to be worth buying. Ubisoft announced that their major franchises, like the upcoming Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six titles, will only be out on current console hardware. Xbox 360 and PS3 owners will still get games like Just Dance but the Xbox One and PS4 already accounted for half of Ubisoft’s sales during the last fiscal year. It seems adoption of the new hardware was very high.
Overall Ubisoft is doing better than they were just one year ago. Some of their biggest games made it into the top ten for sales figures last year and their profit and revenue both exceeded their internal expectations. Even smaller games like South Park: The Stick of Truth sold 1.6 million copies and their digital sales nearly doubled. It’s sometimes easy to forget, for me at least, that Ubisoft is a top tier publisher.
