Far Cry 5’s sales success was well-documented when it released back in March. The latest Far Cry title shot to the top of the bestselling lists and stayed there until being displaced by God of War. Even then, the game’s total sales exceed those of Santa Monica Studio’s PlayStation exclusive, and the game looks likely to be remembered as one of 2018’s top releases. Recently, Ubisoft revealed their financial report for the 2017-18 fiscal year, and Far Cry 5 plays a major part.
The latest Far Cry title was the top-selling title in its launch month, and outsold its predecessor, Far Cry Primal, by over 500% in digital sales. As a result, it was clearly one of Ubisoft’s strongest releases in 2017-18. However, the new report from the French company was marked by even greater success. Both Ubisoft’s total profits and total sales exceeded the company’s projections and set internal records, making the fiscal year one of the strongest in Ubisoft’s history. In total, the company reported a profit of $164.5 million, up from $127.1 million in 2016-17.
The Role of Triple-A Releases
There are two games in particular which are the largest contributors to Ubisoft’s recent success; Far Cry 5 and Assassin’s Creed Origins. The latest Assassin’s Creed title, which launched in October of 2017, broke series records for sales and performance. Moreover, Far Cry 5 became the company’s second-largest release ever. All told, Ubisoft reported $2 billion in sales. That figure is up 18.6% year-over-year, and is $113.2 million higher than the company’s targets. It’s worth noting that 58% of that sales revenue was made up by digital sales. That certainly helps to explain how Far Cry 5 outsold Far Cry Primal in digital sales by over 500%; even after just a few years, more and more people are clearly purchasing their games digitally.
Far Cry 5 and Assassin’s Creed Origins both had standout performances. However, Ubisoft had other mainstay titles perform well during the year. Rainbow Six Siege increased its count of registered players to over 30 million during 2017-18, and set new records for player engagement in the fourth quarter. The Division and Ghost Recon Wildlands also crossed new milestones for active player counts.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said of the report; “In the short and medium term, Ubisoft has many growth opportunities to tap and expects further profitability increases. Our digital transformation is progressing at a faster pace than we anticipated. Our potential in the PC and mobile markets is massive…” He continued by stating that Ubisoft would continue to invest in their online services platform and artificial intelligence in order to improve the gaming experience for fans.