September 12, 2022
18:19
Now safe from a potential hostile takeover, Ubisoft has presented its long-term ambitions. The group wants to exploit its flagship licenses even more. To achieve this, he intends to play on many more tables.
New heading. On the occasion of the start of the school year, developer Ubisoft decided to say a little more regarding how it would like to chart its future. As far as quantified ambitions are concerned, the company is not going too far since it would like to triple the income from its games “Assassin’s Creed”, “Far Cry” and “Rainbow Six”, i.e. its three main cows to milk. Currently, these already earn him a billion dollars a year each. Management would therefore see this figure rise to three billion, in the space of just five years. To do this, Ubisoft will greatly diversify its offer and make its three hits real universes, available on all screens and in all forms. “We want to turn them into iconic media franchises and become a major player in pop culture,” explained Sandrine Caloiaro, portfolio director, during a group press conference.
The strategy should allow the group to reach new audiences and not just be limited to the most avid gamers. “From a financial point of view, it’s obviously a good idea”, comments David Verbruggen, video game specialist at Belgian Games. “This is happening more and mores. We see it, for example, with the exploitation of the Marvel or Star Wars franchises which are declined as much as possible.
“To announce triple the results is really very ambitious. It is all the more enormous for games which already generate so much income, but it is not impossible.
Concretely, new titles will be created on various platforms. The developer has already announced the upcoming arrival of five new episodes of “Assassin’s Creed”. The company has also signed a partnership with Netflix, which will offer three small games directly on its platform. In parallel, Ubisoft also wants to attract players via mobile offers, probably inspired by the game “Call Of Duty”, whose mobile version is a success. “It’s not easy to tackle this market. We have already seen failures several times when, a priori, success seemed assured.”
The mobile difference
The success or otherwise of this mobile diversification will make the difference. “To announce tripling the results is really very ambitious. It’s all the more huge for games that are already generating so much revenue. But it’s not impossible. In any case, it’s certain that thegood mobile development will be one of the keys. Today, mobile games represent 50% of the market”, explains David Verbruggen.
“A bad film adaptation can be more harmful than a bad title, because it deteriorates the image of the license much more.”
To attract more and more, series and film projects are not to be excluded. The process is obviously not new. The famous games “Prince of Persia” and “Uncharted”, for example, have recently arrived on the big screen, a few years following their appearance on consoles. This variation is certainly effective in reaching a new audience. However, it is not without risk. “A bad film adaptation can be more harmful than a bad title, because it deteriorates the image of the license much more. We saw it with the adaptation of “Tomb Raider“which was quite well received in theaters, but which was very poorly received by the gaming community. This was also the case with the Sonic film which had to be reworked following the first trailers, as there were so many criticisms from players.”
Last week, Ubisoft had already discussed its future, confirming a strengthening of the partnership with Tencent. Its Chinese shareholder, which remains a minority, will inject 300 million dollars into the company. The operation serves in particular to protect Ubisoft from possible hostile takeovers. For months, the video game industry has been in full consolidation. Ubisoft, one of the few remaining independent giants, seemed to be of interest to several players, including Sony and Amazon.
The summary
- Ubisoft presented its ambitions for the years to come on Saturday.
- The group wants to make its flagship titles more profitable.
- The ambition is to triple the revenues generated by 2027.
- To achieve this objective, the group is counting on the diversification of its emblematic content.