Assassin’s Creed Franchise Sets Record Active Users as Ubisoft Plans to Expand Talent Working on the IP by 40%
Today, Ubisoft shared its full-year 2022-23 earnings, where the Assassin's Creed franchise set another record for active users in a given fiscal year.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla registered 44% more players than Origins and 19% more than Odyssey in a similar timeframe, and most importantly for the publisher, it earned much higher bookings to date than either game, beating Origins by 82% and Odyssey by 61%.
That's likely thanks to the much longer tail enjoyed by Assassin's Creed Valhalla, which received more post-launch expansions (Wrath of the Druids, The Siege of Paris, and Dawn of Ragnarök) than any other game in the series.
Ubisoft has ambitious plans for Assassin's Creed, as suggested by recent rumors. The announced roadmap of Mirage (which will be shown at the Forward Live event next month in Los Angeles), Red (an open world game set in Japan), Hexe (set during the witchcraft hunts in sixteen century Europe), Jade (a full-blown mobile game set in Ancient China, around 215 BCE), Invictus (the next Assassin's Creed multiplayer game), and the Infinity platform, will be executed thanks to a planned 40% increase in the talent working on Assassin's Creed games.
However, as clarified by Ubisoft executives during the post-earnings investors call, these won't be new hires. On the other hand, the developers will be moved from other teams to those working on the upcoming Assassin's Creed projects as the publisher refocuses on its biggest brands.
In fact, Ubisoft stressed that its total workforce was reduced by more than 700 compared to September 2022 as part of the company's larger efforts to reduce up to €200 million in costs over the next couple of years.
Overall, as Ubisoft had anticipated earlier in 2023, the past year was challenging and delivered an 18% reduction in year-over-year net bookings, an 11% decrease in digital revenue, and a 30% reduction in back catalog sales. Only player recurring investment rose (+23%) from last year.
Besides Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six Siege continued to perform well, registering a 30% increase in Q4 playtime over last year. March 2023 marked a record month in terms of daily average revenue per user, allowing full-year PRI to increase by 13% over last year. The Division 2 also resurged with a 36% net bookings growth year-over-year.
Ubisoft said the 2023-24 lineup is progressing 'well', with several big games due to be released during the next fiscal year: Assassin's Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Rainbow Six Mobile, Skull and Bones, The Crew Motorfest, The Division Resurgence, XDefiant, and an unannounced 'large game'.
Ubisoft said the latest playtests of the elusive Skull and Bones were more encouraging than ever. Rainbow Six Mobile will enter a six-week Closed Beta Test on June 6th. The recent XDefiant beta was also promising, having registered over one million players with strongly positive retention and feedback.
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