Ubisoft’s mobile net bookings share up to 10% following Assassin’s Creed Shadows delay

Ubisoft net bookings in Q3 fell by 52% year-over-year from €626.2m ($654.6m) to €301.8 million ($315.6m).

This brought the publisher’s total net bookings for the first nine months of the current fiscal year to €944m ($986.7m), down 34.8% year-over-year from €1.4 billion ($1.5bn) in the same time last year.

Ubisoft’s back-catalogue net bookings were down to €268m ($280.1m) in Q3 too, and are currently at €762m ($796.4m) three quarters through the fiscal year. The nine-month figure would have seen “mid single-digit” growth if partnerships were to be excluded, Ubisoft claimed in its financial report.

Ubisoft’s mobile games have increased their share in net bookings contribution this fiscal year, accounting for 9% over the last nine months in compared to 7% in the same period a year prior.

Furthermore, mobile contributed 10% of Ubisoft’s total net bookings this Q3, compared to just 5% in the same quarter last year. At the same time, PC and console’s shares both fell.

It’s worth noting that a slump in Ubisoft’s PC and console business and the delay of Assassin’s Creed Shadows are likely contributors to mobile’s rise in net bookings share.

Q4 and everything to play for

Ubisoft’s Q3 ended in December 2024 with the closure of three production studios in “high-cost geographies” and the discontinuation of free-to-play FPS game XDefiant.

The publisher stated that net bookings in the quarter were “in line” with revised expectations, however, despite the current nine-month total reaching less than half of the €1.9bn ($2bn) target for the full fiscal year.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is scheduled to launch on March 20th, 2025 and its pre-orders are reportedly “tracking solidly”, but whether the title will prove enough to propel Ubisoft to its full-year target remains to be seen.

Ubisoft also has plans to streamline operations and reduce costs, expecting to exceed €200m ($209m) in fixed cost reduction in the current fiscal year compared to FY2022/23. If accomplished by the end of Q4, this will be “ahead of schedule”.

“We are fully focused on the upcoming launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows on March 20th,” said Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot.

“In parallel, we are progressing well on our cost reduction programme. As a result of disciplined execution, we have announced further targeted restructurings, making difficult but necessary choices, and now expect to exceed our cost reduction objective by the end of FY25, ahead of schedule.

“We plan to pursue our efforts in FY26, going beyond the initial target by a significant margin. Finally, the formal review process of our strategic options announced earlier this year is now ongoing.”