Ubisoft's Booming Digital Sales Help Boost Revenue

Assassin's Creed publisher Ubisoft on Tuesday announced earnings for its fourth quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, revealing that, while fourth quarter sales were down, full-year sales were on the rise.

For the quarter, total revenue was €169.9 million ($190.9 million), compared to €194.1 million ($218.2 million) for the same period last year, which represents a 12.4 percent decrease. Ubisoft notes, however, that this performance exceeded its expectations.

For the full year, total revenue rose 45.3 percent to €1.4 billion ($1.58 billion). Profit was €87 million ($97.8 million), compared to a loss of €65.5 million ($73.6 million) last year.

Although Ubisoft did not share any hard sales numbers, the French publisher pointed out that three of its games--Assassin's Creed Unity, Far Cry 4, and Watch Dogs--were among the top ten best-selling games of 2014.

Another bright spot for Ubisoft during the year was the company's digital business, which jumped by a healthy 96.8 percent and reached €382.7 million ($430.2 million) for the year. Digital sales made up 26.1 percent of total revenue in the year, compared to 19.3 percent during the year prior.

Ubisoft also called out mobile and DLC as growth leaders for the year. In addition, the publisher said back-catalog sales, which reached €233.0 million ($260.9 million) during the year, was another positive for the period. Finally, Ubisoft increased its marketshare by three percentage points to 12.8 percent, the company said.

Check back soon for more, as Ubisoft will hold an earnings call starting at 9:30 AM PDT / 12:30 PM EDT to discuss these results and answer analyst questions.