In brief: During Ubisoft's annual earnings call, the company shared some interesting information about what type of games it plans to release. As it seems, Ubisoft will focus on creating more 'high-end free-to-play games,' while keeping its yearly output of 3-4 AAA titles. Moreover, it posted a new record sales figure and announced that the pirate ship simulator Skull & Bones was delayed once again, now set to release in 2022-2023.
Ubisoft's free-to-play games HyperScape and Roller Champions seem to be the first ones belonging to the publisher's new approach. Another is the recently announced Tom Clancy's The Division game, Heartland.
Although Ubisoft's CFO Frédérick Duguet stated that the company is moving from the previous commitment of "releasing three to four premium AAAs per year", he clarified "that this does not mean reducing our AAA offering."
"Additionally, we are building high-end free-to-play games to be trending towards AAA ambitions over the long-term," Frédérick added.
By the end of this fiscal year, which finishes on March 31, 2022, the publisher expects to release multiple games, including Far Cry 6, Rainbow Six Quarantine, Riders Republic, The Division Heartland, and Roller Champions.
As for the yearly revenue, Ubisoft reported sales have increased by 39.4%, up to $2.7B. Last quarter's revenue has also increased, but only by 4.3%, which results in a $606M sales figure.
Ubisoft also announced that the multiplayer pirate game Skull & Bones was delayed once again, now set for 2022-2023. It looks like Ubisoft doesn't want to abandon the project, which, according to Yves Guillemot, has been co-developed with help from the company's other studios over the past 12 months. The game was initially scheduled to arrive in 2018 but has seen its release date pushed numerous times.
"Skull and Bones is now expected for fiscal year '23. We strongly believe in the team's creative vision, and have been given an increasingly ambitious mandate for the game," said Frederick Duguet.