HEALTH DAMAGE RISING

A successful Assassin's Creed no saviour for struggling Ubisoft

- KILIAN FICHOU

A bumper release for the latest Assassin's Creed instalment did not save French video games giant Ubisoft from falling back into the red in its 2024/25 financial year, the company has said.

The company had won through to profitability in 2023/24 after a near €500 million (18.6 billion baht) loss in the previous period.

But a string of disappointing releases undermined this year's performance, with a net loss of €159 million on revenues of €1.9 billion - down 17.5% year-on-year.

Over the past 12 months, Ubisoft's would-be blockbuster Star Wars Outlaws fell short of sales expectations on release, while it cancelled multiplayer first-person shooter XDefiant for lack of players.

"This year has been a challenging one for Ubisoft, with mixed dynamics across our portfolio, amid intense industry competition," chief executive Yves Guillemot said in a statement.

Ubisoft's preferred performance indicator, so-called "net bookings" — which excludes some deferred revenues — also fell by more than 20% year-on-year, to €1.8 billion.