Ubisoft reports 65m full-year profit

Ubisoft has posted an impressive set of financial results for the year ended March 31 2013. The French publisher reported net profit of €64.8 million (£55m / $83m), up from €37.3 million (£31.5m / $48m) a year earlier. Full-year sales jumped 18.4 per cent to €1.25 billion (£1b / $1.6b), with €928 million generated from core games and €328 million from casual titles.

Assassin’s Creed 3 has now sold more than 12.5 million copies, Far Cry 3 has moved six million, and Just Dance 4 has sold 8.5 million. Ubisoft said digital sales leaped 86 per cent year-on-year to €148 million (£125m / $190m), representing 11.7 per cent of the group’s total. As of March 31, Ubisoft commanded €104.6 million (£88.4m / $135m) in net cash, up from €84.6 million a year earlier.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance are now the fifth and twelfth best-selling brands on current generation consoles respectively. “This performance was achieved thanks to high quality levels and regular releases – two key characteristics found in each of the highest-performing brands in this console cycle.”

Looking ahead, he added: "A new console cycle is beginning and it will offer players an unrivalled experience. They will see a major leap in quality with an extraordinary level of immersion as well as the incorporation of all of the innovations developed in recent years in online and social games, giving players the opportunity to create their own experiences and share them with in their communities.

“In order to reap the full benefit of the strong growth expected from the launch of these new consoles, we are integrating into our next blockbusters all of the expertise we have built up over recent years through our online games such as Settlers Online, Trackmania, Howrse and Trials Evolution, as well as our online services platform Uplay which offers us a strategic link with players. Our experience in connected gaming, the quality of our brands and our ability to regularly release major titles, will be vital strength s for capturing new market share and will serve as key growth driver s for the coming years.”

For the current business year ending March 31 2014, Ubisoft has forecast sales of between €1.42b (£1.2b / $1.82b) and €1.45 billion (£1.23b / $1.87b). Core games set for release during the period include Assassin’s Creed 4 Black Flag, Splinter Cell Blacklist, Watch Dogs, “and two titles that have not yet been announced, including one new creation”.