Assassin's Creed Had Its Best Year Ever Thanks To Valhalla

Ubisoft has reported earnings for its fiscal year ended March 31, and times are very good for the French publisher. The company posted records for yearly revenue and profit, while Assassin's Creed also had a particularly strong year thanks to Assassin's Creed Valhalla.

For the fiscal year, Ubisoft reached a new all-time high of 141 million unique players across console and PC, which was up 20% from last year.

The Assassin's Creed series saw "record performance" thanks to the launch of Assassin's Creed Valhalla at the end of 2020. Total franchise revenue for Assassin's Creed was up by 50% compared to the previous record fiscal year in 2012-2013.

Ubisoft also noted that Just Dance had "spectacular growth," while Rainbow Six Siege saw "double-digit player acquisition growth." Another franchise that performed well was The Division, which reached 40 million players during the fiscal year. Ubisoft is investing heavily in The Division going forward with more content for The Division 2, a spinoff called The Division: Heartland, a mobile game, a new novel, and a movie.

One of Ubisoft's big games from the previous fiscal year was Immortals: Fenyx Rising, which was a "player-favorite new IP," Ubisoft said. The company also said the game had "solid" ongoing sales.

Looking ahead, Ubisoft said it sees positive trends to continue as the company launches games like Beyond Good & Evil 2, Riders Republic, Skull & Bones, and the new Star Wars and Avatar games from The Division's developer.

"Ubisoft delivered a record year at the top and bottom lines thanks to an underlying performance that was significantly stronger than expected," Ubisoft CFO Frédérick Duguet said. "This reflects the progress achieved in the diversification and recurrence of our revenues."

For the full year, Ubisoft made €2.223 billion, which was up 39.4% compared to the previous financial year. Microtransactions continued to be big business for Ubisoft, coming in at €780 million, which was an improvement of 11% year-over-year.