During Ubisoft’s latest earnings call, company CFO Alain Martinez said that Red Dead Redemption 2’s delay is good for Ubisoft’s fiscal year.
“Clearly the fact that there is no Red Dead Redemption [2] is a positive for our fiscal year 2018,” he said. “This is something that we had taken into our [financial] assumptions. So the absence of that game is of course giving us a better window for the launch of some of our games.”
Rockstar delayed the game from this fall to spring 2018 citing the need for additional time to ensure that they deliver the best possible experience. Red Dead Redemption 2 will no doubt make a huge splash when it releases, so it makes sense that competitors would breathe a sigh of relief for its delay. Still, Martinez said it is too early to exactly predict how the delay will impact Ubisoft’s earnings.
“Overall we think it’s [too] early to have a view and change anything,” he said. “… we have more confidence but we think it’s too early to change our guidance.”
As for Ubisoft’s Q2 2017-2018 outlook, the company expects sales to come in around €190.0 million, up 34% on Q2 of the previous fiscal year. During this time, Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, the third season of For Honor, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege Hong Kong expansion will release. Another game that is going strong for Ubisoft is Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands, which the company says is “the industry’s biggest hit since the beginning of the year.”
Notable upcoming releases also include Assassin’s Creed Origins, Far Cry 5, and South Park: The Fractured But Whole.
