PC was the second most popular platform for Ubisoft in Q1 2015-16

[Gabe Carey]

French video game publisher and developer Ubisoft has revealed sales for the first fiscal quarter of 2015-16, totaling €96,6 million (about $107 million USD). Compared to the €360.1 million earned in Q1 2014-15, these figures aren't nearly as impressive. The first quarter of this fiscal year, however, which concluded on June 30, 2015, saw the release of no major triple-A titles as opposed to last year when the company shipped Watch Dogs, a record-breaking commercial success for the publisher.

Still, most surprising in the data revealed by Ubisoft lies in the sales breakdown by platform, which divides percentages into seven different categories as represented in the chart below. While unsurprising that the PS4 leads sales when broken down by platform considering its unwieldy dominance in the console space and Ubisoft's notoriety for catering to its more casual demographic, PC was the second most popular way to play Ubisoft titles in Q1 2015-16.

Perhaps most unusual was experiencing this result despite Ubisoft's claim a few years back that PC has a piracy rate of 93-95%, justifying the company's more prevalent attempts at issuing free-to-play games with an emphasis on microtransactional monetization. Perhaps the 23% of sales by platform that PC occupied last quarter was due to Ubisoft's slew of free-to-play titles. However, I struggle to believe a significant margin of gamers are spending their hard-earned money on the frankly unheard of Ghost Recon Phantoms rather than Far Cry 4 or the most recent Assassin's Creed title.

Not only are PC sales currently going strong for Ubisoft, but the gap between PS4 and PC sales narrowed last quarter as opposed to the same quarter in the 2014-15 fiscal year. PlayStation 4 previously beared a 36% share of platform sales, though that number has dropped substantially to 27% in Q1 2015-16. PC's share, on the other hand, has increased to 23% in 2015-16 from 14% a year before.

With that in mind, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for Ubisoft's role in the PC gaming market, especially considering the publisher's infamous tendency to launch PC software often plagued by subpar visuals and performance even on higher-end gaming rigs.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/61339-pc-second-most-popular-platform-ubisoft-q1-2015.html

 

[noel24]

I'm surprised too that PC gamers would trust with their money those treacherous scumbags, but hey! That just proves a point that current gen consoles are seriously underpowered and PC is a way to go if You got a choice.

 

[BMfan]

I'm surprised too that PC gamers would trust with their money those treacherous scumbags, but hey! That just proves a point that current gen consoles are seriously underpowered and PC is a way to go if You got a choice.

How is a current gen console underpowered?
If I'm not mistaken they are more powerful than previous gen consoles right.

 

[axiomatic13]

The problem with Ubisoft isn't the games or the developers. It's Ubisoft corporate and the leadership there that doesn't exist in the same universe as the rest of us do.

 

[axiomatic13]

I'm surprised too that PC gamers would trust with their money those treacherous scumbags, but hey! That just proves a point that current gen consoles are seriously underpowered and PC is a way to go if You got a choice.

How is a current gen console underpowered?
If I'm not mistaken they are more powerful than previous gen consoles right.

To answer your question, his point is that even current gen console graphics are equivalent to PC GPU's from 7 years ago and he is right too. Console graphics are naturally behind because they are built for the masses and built cheap, unlike high end PC graphics cards.

 

[noel24]

How is a current gen console underpowered?
If I'm not mistaken they are more powerful than previous gen consoles right.

Previous gen was 2005/06 tech. Today's are 2010/11. That's indeed a progress. Definetely more cost effective for M$ and Sony. When PS3 and 360 came out, hardly any average PC could match it, and they sold them below cost. PS4 and Xone were outdated off the shelf. Just pricing stayed the old way.

 

[Guest]

I don't buy Ubisoft games as I don't like their drm. The last Ubisoft game I think I bought was Dark messiah of might and magic in 2006 or 2007.
I did see some of their games on the steam summer sale that I was interested in but as soon as I saw the 3rd party Ubisoft drm warning I flagged them as not interested.

 

[davislane1]

I'm surprised too that PC gamers would trust with their money those treacherous scumbags, but hey! That just proves a point that current gen consoles are seriously underpowered and PC is a way to go if You got a choice.

How is a current gen console underpowered?
If I'm not mistaken they are more powerful than previous gen consoles right.

To understand the PC master race, it is better to think in analogy.

Basically, PC master race types are like Ferrari owners who feel it necessary to constantly point out that Camaros aren't Ferraris. Yes, the current Camaro is better than the previous Camaro... but it isn't a Ferrari.

 

[Guest]

PC sales second largest is quite high with the problamatic history and reputation Ubisoft has. I think Ubisoft can gain a lot more on the pc market after years of digging. Ubisoft is a company that very financially driven, it's good to see that based on these numbers Ubisoft can't ignore the PC gamer any longer...

 

[noel24]

To understand the PC master race, it is better to think in analogy.

Basically, PC master race types are like Ferrari owners who feel it necessary to constantly point out that Camaros aren't Ferraris. Yes, the current Camaro is better than the previous Camaro... but it isn't a Ferrari.

Troll as much as You want. For me it's a cold calculation. Instead of two machines, one, a laptop, for writing this post, and second, dedicated gaming console I got one, that I actually replaced in place of a 2009 core2quad. And I don't feel I belong to any master race. Actually, game developers treat me like sh*t serving me lousy ports of console moneymaking garbage like World of Tanks: Arkham Knight. And if I decide every two years to spend extra $200 for a new GPU, I can afford it, cause majority of PC releases cost half of console premieres. Whatever suits You buddy. By all means, consoles are more comfortable for a casual gaming couch potato, at the expense of visual fidelity.

 

[davislane1]

Whatever suits You buddy. By all means, consoles are more comfortable for a casual gaming couch potato, at the expense of visual fidelity.

^^ it aint a Ferrari.

 

[gingerbill]

To answer your question, his point is that even current gen console graphics are equivalent to PC GPU's from 7 years ago .

What nonsense . A Ps4 is far quicker than most PC's being used 7 years ago , make a point but no need for complete exaggeration.

Good to see PC games selling , not good for xbox.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

But if the PC market is such a big market for Ubi how do they manage to screw releases up so badly for us... Do they practice constantly or do they take pills?

 

[Bubbajim]

Can someone answer a couple of questions for me, please:

1) with the Windows 10 release, are changes being made to the XBone OS?
2) if yes, would that mean that developing for XBones and PCs would become a lot more similar for games makers?
3) again, if yes, do you think this'd mean we'd see less shoddy ports coming across to PC if they were built "properly" for XBones in the first place?

 

[Nobina]

As a PC user I don't consider myself master race or any nonsense like that. It's just a meme. PC games these days come unoptimized and buggy as hell, all ports from Xbox or Playstation, locked to 30 FPS and you have to find various config files to modify everything devs screwed up. It's a hassle. If you wanna play most of these games at 60 FPS 1080p or above, you need an expensive PC and you'll have to upgrade it often depending on how strong your PC is atm. If they actually took the time to make a decent port like GTA V did, I would understand the hype.

 

[Misagt]

As a PC user I don't consider myself master race or any nonsense like that. It's just a meme. PC games these days come unoptimized and buggy as hell, all ports from Xbox or Playstation, locked to 30 FPS and you have to find various config files to modify everything devs screwed up. It's a hassle. If you wanna play most of these games at 60 FPS 1080p or above, you need an expensive PC and you'll have to upgrade it often depending on how strong your PC is atm. If they actually took the time to make a decent port like GTA V did, I would understand the hype.

The idea that you have to build some crazy 5k+ machine is a thing of the past. Also you don't need to upgrade every 12 months anymore. I did my build 4 years ago. $1200 budget, since then I've added a SSD and a new Graphics card. I would say I do 200 a year in upgrading. I massively out perform the consoles in pretty much every game. Also if I do have an issue I can always change the settings to what best suits me.

 

[BMfan]

game developers treat me like sh*t serving me lousy ports of console moneymaking garbage like World of Tanks: Arkham Knight.

Explain to me how that is the fault of console owners,I have both PC and PS4 and I had to deal with a game(Project Cars) that made my 290 GPU feel almost as slow as the APU in my PS4 and that game was supposed to be developed properly,for PC 1st.

To get the best from the game I had to run windows 10(which I don't mind) and test every beta release drivers from official beta's to engineering samples in windows 10,now most people would be put off doing all that and just get it for the console.

I don't blame the console owners/creators,I blame the developers,Nvidia and AMD for all that I had to do to finally get descent performance from my card,the only plus for them is that I found it fun trying to get it to work but I did lose out on a lot of game time.

 

[Nobina]

The idea that you have to build some crazy 5k+ machine is a thing of the past. Also you don't need to upgrade every 12 months anymore. I did my build 4 years ago. $1200 budget, since then I've added a SSD and a new Graphics card. I would say I do 200 a year in upgrading. I massively out perform the consoles in pretty much every game. Also if I do have an issue I can always change the settings to what best suits me.

I don't remember the time when you needed 5k rig for gaming. I was thinking much less, anyway, try building a PC with the price of a console. You may outperform it in some cases but it will get outdated soon and then you either upgrade or lower details. Consoles harware is already outdated but it doesn't matter when games are optimized for it, it will still be good for years.

Also you don't need to upgrade every 12 months anymore.

I would say I do 200 a year in upgrading.