Ubisoft didn’t have a Watch Dogs or other major release last quarter, but the French publisher still outperformed its expectations.
The company announced the results of its fiscal first quarter today, and it revealed that it generated $107 million (€97 million) for the three months ending June 30. That is actually down a huge 73.2 percent compared to the $397.3 million (€360.1 million) in revenue from the same period last year. But that drop was completely expected, as Ubisoft released Watch Dogs during its fiscal Q1 2015, and it didn’t have a comparable launch during Q1 2016.
In a statement, Ubisoft chief executive Yves Guillemot said that “E3 2015 confirmed that the video games industry is in excellent shape.” He also claims that Ubisoft had its “strongest lineup ever.” That would include upcoming triple-A sequels like Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, Ghost Recon: Wildlands, and Rainbow Six: Siege — all of which are due out later this year.
In addition to the returning franchises, however, Ubisoft is once again introducing new properties like the sword-fighting combat game For Honor and the online multiplayer shooter The Division (which is really a new entry in the Tom Clancy universe).
Looking ahead, Ubisoft expects its Q2 to fall in line with Q1 with around $99.3 million (€90 million) in revenue. That should keep the company on target for its full-year fiscal 2016 outlook of generating a operating profit of $220.5 million (€200 million).