Ubisoft issues sales warning as gamers’ habits change
The UK arm of Ubisoft has warned its sales will be lower for its current financial year thanks to a combination of fewer new games being released and a major change in habits.
The Guildford-headquartered division of the French giant has said gamers playing fewer titles and for longer means that newer games “are struggling to stand out and achieve the sales they may once have had”.
The developer added that the market is “more volatile and the potential for any specific title less predictable as a result”.
Ubisoft said those factors, as well as fewer titles being released during its current financial year, mean its sales are expected to fall in the 12 months to 31 March, 2026.
Ubisoft sales fall as fewer titles released
In new accounts filed with Companies House, Ubisoft said its revenue increased by 11 per cent from 29.9m to £33.3m “in part due to the integration of the customer relationship centre activities” into the business.
That change resulted in the number of people employed by Ubisoft in the UK rising in the year from 44 to 174.
However, within that revenue figure, the company saw a decrease in the sale of goods by 29 per cent to £18.9m.
Ubisoft’s pre-tax profit slumped from £54.4m to £1.1m because a dividend of £55m it was paid in the prior year from subsidiary Ubisoft Reflections was not repeated.
On an underlying basis, the firm’s pre-tax profit remained flat at £750,000.
In the year, Ubisoft released Star Wars Outlaws, Assassin’s Creed Shadows and Just Dance 2025.
That compares to the releases of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, The Crew Motorfest, Just Dance 2024, Prince of Persia The Lost Crown and Skull and Bones in the prior 12 months.
The UK physical sales market fell by around 35 per cent in the year to the end of March 2025 as the shift to more digital and subscription-based titles continues.
Hardware sales in the UK also fell by around 25 per cent, Ubisoft added.
The company said this was mainly due to “the maturing console cycle, with updates to existing consoles being offered rather than any major new console launch”.
Revenue expected to fall
Ubisoft said its performance during its current financial year is “expected to see a slower rate of decline for physical software sales in the UK market”.
The company added that the traditional ‘full game’ model of selling a single £50-£60 game to a consumer as a one-time purchase “continues to become less ubiquitous”, with multi-game subscription services, long-running games as a service titles, free to play games and cloud streaming offerings “all providing new and attractive ways for consumers to access gaming content”.
Ubisoft said: “Consumers are playing fewer games, playing them for longer and as a result, outside of a few notable exceptions, many new games are struggling to stand out and achieve the sales they may once have had, whilst the market is more volatile and the potential for any specific title less predictable as a result.”
The business also said that as a result of a smaller physical new releases schedules, it expects its revenue to fall during its current financial year.
Ubisoft cuts 100 UK jobs
The latest accounts for Ubisoft Limited have been published after the results for its subsidiary, Ubisoft Reflections, were released in July.
For the year to 31 March, 2025, the Newcastle-based studio posted a turnover of £54m, down from £56.3m, while its pre-tax profit went from £27m to £25.2m.
In April this year Ubisoft Reflections, which also generates revenue through the ownership of the Tom Clancy brand, made around 100 jobs in Newcastle and Leamington Spa redundant.
Its Leamington Spa studio was also closed down “as Ubisoft seeks to reposition the business in an ever-more complex and competitive market”.
The move was part of a wider restructure announced by the Ubisoft group which aimed to make cost reductions of around €200m – a move which put at risk around 185 employees across a number of European sites.
Ubisoft Reflections employed 388 people as of 31 March, 2025.
Ubisoft Entertainment SA group, which is based in France, operates more than 45 studios based in 30 countries.
For the same financial year, the group reported sales of €1.89bn, down from €2.30bn in the prior 12 months.
It also went from making a consolidated net profit of €157.9m to a loss of €1.58.7m.