French publishing giant, Ubisoft—I mean, those guys always seem to be in the news for some rollercoaster or another, right? Anyway, so they’re reporting some big dips in revenue and net bookings for the financial year wrapping up in March 2025. Just picture this: they pulled in €1.9 billion. Yeah, it sounds like monopoly money, but it’s actually down 17.5% from last year. Net bookings? Took an even nastier hit, dipping 20.5% to €1.84 billion. And the back catalogue bookings weren’t any happier, falling by 13.5% to €1.3 billion.
Now, Yves Guillemot, their CEO—who, by the way, always seems to have this uncanny optimism—even he says there’s a silver lining in this mess. “This year’s been a mixed bag,” he says, scribbling it down, maybe. Just imagining him with a quill makes me laugh. Industry competition is snapping at their heels like a dog after a mail truck. Still, they somehow managed to produce positive free cash flow. Sounds fancy, right? Basically means they didn’t lose the shirt off their back, even if it’s a bit wrinkled.
Now, about those challenges ahead—yeah, they’re pretty aware there’s a storm brewing. But they’ve got their eyes on the horizon. Their release, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, was a big deal. People loved it! Newbies and die-hard fans alike were buzzing. Good vibes all around, which is kinda rare these days. Oh, and they wrapped up this cost savings program way ahead of schedule. (For real, since when does that happen?) They’re set on squirreling away at least another €100m in savings over the next couple of years. Structural efficiencies, they call it. Sounds like a corporate yoga class or something. But hey, whatever helps them keep climbing.
