During Ubisoft’s financial conference call for investors and analysts, chief executive officer Yves Guillemot and chief financial officer Frédérick Duguet talked about a couple of interesting topics.
First of all, we hear that Ubisoft is expecting to release 3-4 AAA games in the fiscal year between April 2021 and March 2022, which is the normal yearly pattern for the publisher.
These games have lost a few weeks of productivity due to the impact of COVID-19 but for the moment it’s manageable.
Speaking of the potential delay of one AAA game scheduled for the current fiscal year beyond April 2021 mentioned earlier today Guillemot clarified that the possibility of delaying more than one game is “extremely low.”
We hear that developers of the games delayed from last year into this year (Watch Dogs Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine, Gods & Monsters) are using the time to grow the games to increase their potential and also add value. The resources spent on this are expected to benefit the long-term performance of the brands involved.
That being said, Guillemot mentioned that this mention of a possible delay of a game is out of prudence because the publisher doesn’t know what the next few months will bring. The teams are really working hard to make sure they tackle all the problems, which involve motion capture, localization, testing, and more.
Duguet added that for now Ubisoft doesn’t see any specific issue on any specific game that would cause a delay, but they are being conservative and taking a general cautious stance.
Guillemot was also asked to comment on Google Stadia. He explained that “things are moving” with more and more games available on Stadia, and they’re “doing well.”
Ubisoft is also using Stadia for internal development as it allows developers who work from home to review their games.
He then offered a cautiously optimistic outlook for cloud gaming.
“Cloud is coming. It’s coming at a normal speed I would say, but it’s getting better and better. We think at the end of the year you will see some evolution on the number of players and also on the brands that will be launched there. It’s a good long-term trend that will change the industry, we think.”
If you’re interested in Ubisoft’s financial performance, the publisher just announced its quarterly financial results, which you can read in our dedicated article.
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