digital-sales
Latest
Ubisoft beats Q2 projections, reports digital revenue surge
Ubisoft revealed today that it earned 124.1 million euros (approximately $156.6 million) in revenue during the second fiscal quarter of 2014 ending September 30, marking a decrease of nearly 43 percent compared to the €217.7 million ($274.8 million) earned in the same quarter last year. The report beats projected quarterly revenue of €85.0 million, however, and represents a sharp rise in sales for the first half of 2014-15. Ubisoft earned a total of €484.2 million in revenue during the first half of 2014-15, putting it far ahead of the €293.3 million reported during first-half 2013-14. The company attributes its gains to continued sales of Watch Dogs and other flagship releases. "The very strong momentum we saw at the beginning of the fiscal year carried on into the second quarter and enabled us to once again exceed our performance expectations," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said. "Ubisoft continued to capitalize on the popularity of new consoles, the successful launch of Watch Dogs, the quality of its back catalog and the considerable growth of the digital segment. Consequently, our operating income and cash flows improved significantly during the period." Ubisoft additionally reports a 90.4% increase in digital revenue for the first half of 2014-15, compared to last year's results. The company earned €113.7 million during the period from back-catalog sales, and reports €134.7 million in total digital revenue for first-half 2014-15.Reported sales by platform indicate that Ubisoft earned 21 percent of its quarterly revenue on the PlayStation 4, while Xbox One sales account for 9 percent. PlayStation 3 platform sales pulled in 19 percent, PC revenue clocks in at 17 percent, and Xbox 360 game sales earned 16 percent of Ubisoft's Q2 revenue. [Image: Ubisoft]
Ubisoft's digital sales jump 32% in fiscal 2014
Ubisoft reported digital sales of 195 million euros ($266.6 million) for the financial year ending March 31, 2014. That represents a 32 percent increase over last year's 148 million euros ($202.3 million) in sales for the segment, which includes digitally-distributed games as well as downloadable add-ons and items. Ubisoft specifically called out South Park: The Stick of Truth in its report, which showed "higher-than-expected digital distribution levels." The publisher said the digital segment was a "substantial contributor to our business," and accounted for 19 percent of the company's total sales for the year. Sales for 2014 were down 17 percent year-over-year to 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion). Ubisoft projects "strong digital growth" for fiscal 2015, expecting the digital segment to amount to 25 percent of the group's total revenues, including its free-to-play efforts for the year, according to the publisher's earnings presentation. [Image: Ubisoft]
EA reports $308 million loss in Q3 2014
Electronic Arts reported a net loss of $308 million in the fiscal third quarter of 2014, a period of three months stretching from October 1, 2013 through the end of December. The company reported a net revenue of $808 million, which compares unfavorably to the $922 million reported during the same quarter last year. It is a 16.3 percent increase from last quarter's reported $695 million earnings, however. EA reported that 50.7 percent ($410 million) of its earnings came from digital sales, calling out a 60 percent increase in FIFA Ultimate Team, Madden NFL Ultimate Team and NHL Ultimate Team sales on a non-GAAP basis (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles). It reported a trailing twelve-month total revenue of $3.66 billion, and projects its revenue for fiscal 2014 (the year ending March 31) to be $3.52 billion, $1.07 billion of which is expected to come in the next quarter.
Led by mobile and free-to-play, U.S. digital sales see big gains in 2013
The digital games market is still on the rise, generating $11.7 billion in sales in 2013. According to market research firm SuperData, this total marks an 11% increase over digital sales in 2012. SuperData noted that Christmas and New Year's occurring in the middle of the week may have helped spiked end-of-year numbers; December 2013 saw a 36% increase in digital sales compared to December 2012. Mobile titles claimed the largest percentage of the digital pie, representing $3.6 billion in sales. Free-to-play titles were up 45% year-on-year to $2.9 billion. Perhaps most interesting for MMO players is the fact that F2P MMO offerings from games like World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic landed in the top ten, though the top three free-to-play earners in 2013 were CrossFire, League of Legends, and Dungeon Fighter Online. Data used by the firm is gathered by collecting digital transaction data directly from developers and publishers. [Thanks to Hagu for the tip!]
GameStop: One third of PS Plus subscriptions sold came from PS4 launch week
One third of all PlayStation Plus subscriptions sold by GameStop in its lifetime came in the week of the PlayStation 4's launch, GameStop President Tony Bartel revealed during the retailer's third quarter earnings call. GameStop reported an 8.6 percent increase in its digital sales for the quarter, contributing to its overall 18.8 percent sales increase. Likewise, the retailer sold through its reservations and some additional allocated PS4 units during the week. Bartel said that "when you look at all of the PlayStation Plus subscriptions that we've sold in our lifetime as a company, we've been selling them for years, a full one-third of all subscriptions we've sold in our lifetime were sold in the last seven days at GameStop." The retailer began selling PSN content in its stores in November 2010, when it started offering PS Plus subscriptions and download codes for games and add-on content. GameStop pointed out during the investor call that the PlayStation Network is a big part of Sony's future, and the company plans to continue being a part of that. "We're working very closely with Sony to make sure that we partner with them and we're giving them the consumer feedback and working closely to make sure we have a great product there," Bartel said. It's unknown how much of an impact Sony's launch day deal had on subscription sales for GameStop for the week, in which players that purchased a year subscription to PlayStation Plus received $10 in PSN store credit. The deal was good through Best Buy and Newegg as well.
Square Enix resumes Final Fantasy XIV online sales
In the wake of server issues, queue struggles, and player complaints, it looks as though Square Enix is feeling a little better about the operational state of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn -- so much better that the game is once again available for purchase in digital form from the official Square Enix store. Sales were halted soon after FFXIV's re-launch due to server instability and quite a few other problems. Those who were lucky enough to snag a copy before sales went offline have been suffering through login restrictions and other emergency measures put in place to help even things out and keep the servers from exploding. With sales back online and more people rushing into the fray, Final Fantasy XIV seems to finally be moving forward, one Chocobo-sized step at a time. [Thanks to everyone who sent this one in!]
Final Fantasy XIV combats server congestion
Square Enix Producer Naoki Yoshida wants to assure players suffering from the heartbreak of server congestion that sunny days are indeed ahead for Final Fantasy XIV. To lessen the crush that players have put upon the game, the studio has added new worlds, instance servers, and a third duty finder group. "Even with the previously discussed measures in place," he wrote, "there remain several overpopulated worlds that may still be subject to peak-time login and character creation restrictions." Yoshida said that if all goes well through the weekend, Final Fantasy XIV's digital sales will resume. Future plans include relaxing restrictions on simultaneous logins and going forward with world transfers.
3DS still outpacing predecessor in comparative sales, says Nintendo
It took a hefty price cut and a holiday sales boost to coax the 3DS out of its predecessor's shadow, but these days Nintendo's autostereoscopic handheld is doing just fine. NOA President Reggie Fils-Aime says it isn't slowing down either, revealing to GamesIndustry that more than 8 million consoles have been sold in the US in the last two years -- beating the original DS' first two years by a million units. Software sales are picking up too. "Life-to-date 3DS game sales surpass 20 million units in the US, and that's just physical," Fils-Aime explains. "It doesn't include digital sales." Both digital and physical software sales have increased by 55 percent in the last year, and according to Nintendo executive vice president of sales and marketing Scott Moffitt, 11 percent of last year's 3DS games were downloaded from the handheld's eShop. Nintendo's digital escapades may not be perfect, but it's good to see that its downloadable sales push seems to be paying off.
Ubisoft sales crest $1 billion during Q3
Ubisoft's performance figures for the three month period ending December 31, 2012 have been released, and while we don't have specific net/operating/sticky/whatever income figures on account of the company's Frenchness, we do have an overall indication of how it performed in Q3. Which is to say, pretty good.Sales for the period totaled €802 million ($1.07 billion), which is a 23 percent increase over the €652 million reported for the same quarter last year. Ubisoft's nine month year-to-date figures are also outperforming last year's: €1.08 billion ($1.45 billion) versus €900 million by this time last year, an increase of 21 percent.Ubisoft attributes a large amount of this income with Assassin's Creed 3's 12 million shipped units and Far Cry 3's critical success, in addition to a 143 percent year-over-year increase in digital sales, totaling €55.2 million ($74.3 million).
UK game sales down 17% in 2012, digital crosses £1 billion for first time
The UK's Entertainment Retailers' Association has released its final report for 2012, and video game sales in that country are down more than 17 percent. Total entertainment sales, including music and movie sales, are down by about 12 percent. The culprit seems to be physical sales, with video game shares of that category dropping from 73 percent to 65.4 percent, and physical sales overall dropping by about 5 percent.ERA Director General Kim Bayley actually cited the drops as a success for physical media, in that "despite digital's seemingly inexorable growth, the CD, the DVD and the physical games disc show incredible resilience." Bayley added that despite the shrinking numbers, "physical formats still account for three quarters of the entertainment market."On the digital side, sales crossed a record of £1 billion for the first time ever. Digital video game sales rose by 7.7 percent, just slightly less than the overall growth trend in digital. For now, however, digital growth isn't enough to keep the industry at large growing. The ERA says the lack of growth was largely due to a "dearth of attractive releases" last summer, and the organization hopes to "offer the public a much better release slate in 2013."
Rumor: EA putting itself up for sale
Electronic Arts, long known for assimilating numerous studios under its label, may be putting itself up for sale in return. The New York Post reports that EA is looking into such a deal with various interested firms, such as KKR and Providence Equity Partners. One of the Post's sources said that EA would be willing to sell to such a firm at $20 a share, even though the company's share value is currently just north of $13. Its stock fell from $25.20 nine months ago, although industry analyst Michael Pachter predicts that EA's stock should double within a year. EA isn't the only company looking to shore up its future, as the videogame market is slumping worldwide since last year. One bright spot is its digital sales, which are up over 2011's numbers and resulted in a $324 million revenue in the first quarter of 2012. EA refused to comment on the rumor, as did KKR and Providence Equity.
Guild Wars 2 resumes digital sales, addresses denied accounts
Beta weekends are no strangers to rocky and unexpected events, as Guild Wars 2 can now attest. While many players are currently testing the heck out of the game, some have been shut out due to an error code on their account while others have been unable to pre-purchase the game due to halted sales of the digital product. ArenaNet has addressed both of these issues to help players resolve the matters and get into the beta. The error code (9:4:5:1093:101) that some are getting signifies that the account is not flagged for the beta event. According to ArenaNet, this is either because the players used a pre-order instead of a pre-purchase code and accidentally received an invite email to the event or that a credit card was flagged during the pre-purchase order. In the case of the former, ArenaNet will honor the mistaken emails and allow all recipients into the remainder of the event. The studio also announced that it has increased capacity for the beta event and thus has begun selling digital standard and digital deluxe pre-purchases of Guild Wars 2 once more.
GAME introduces centralized digital payment system for MMOs
UK's largest video games retailer, the appropriately named GAME, is taking a crack at the ever-widening digital market. The retailer introduced a new feature for players looking to purchase content online called GAMEwallet, with plans to offer gift cards for the system in 2012. By giving players incentive to focus on just one account that can be used to fund multiple MMOs and other games, GAME is hoping that GAMEwallet will become the one-stop shopping center for gamers. Several MMO studios are on board with the program, with titles like RuneScape and APB Reloaded fundable through it. GAME is targeting a majority of its customers who don't use debit and credit cards to buy digital content because of security concerns. GAME's Tricia Brennan sees move as not just a smart one, but a necessary one: "The digital games market is growing fast, but two things are holding it back: the reliance on customers using credit or debit cards online, and the lack of a one-stop shop offering advice across a wide range of titles from different publishers. We're about to change that." GAME is currently struggling financially, as it recently announced losses of over $81 million from sales.
EA's DeMartini claims Origin has 'never been about' competing with Steam
In a recent forum post, David DeMartini, EA's Senior VP of Global E-Commerce, expressed that gamers should be able to buy EA titles on any site they want, including Steam ... unless, that is, Steam doesn't want them to. Last month's disappearance of Crysis 2 from Valve's service, DeMartini explained, was actually the result of a business deal whereby certain DLC for the game couldn't appear on Steam, and thus Valve removed the title from its service completely. The veep went on to say that EA's Origin platform is a choice for game buyers, not an exclusive outlet for all of the publisher's content going forward. Along with its developers, EA is "working to integrate more and more between the game and Origin," but DeMartini is "absolutely not at this point saying, 'hey, it's Origin versus Steam.' It's never been about that." However, DeMartini's words and EA's actions don't exactly line up. According to the company's policy, EA wants to "continue offering our games for sale on all major download sites." Star Wars: The Old Republic doesn't count, it seems, as that title will only be available for download from its Origin service.
"Full stop": John Riccitiello predicts digital sales dominance in 2011
Out with the old, in with the new -- these words are often used every January, but for John Riccitiello they also signify the balance tipping between digital and physical sales. As Electronic Arts' CEO put it bluntly to Industry Gamers: "At the end of [2011], the digital business is bigger than the packaged goods business, full stop." Riccitiello drew this conclusion after looking at the recent market trends of titles like Lord of the Rings Online and EA's own free-to-play games. In fact, he admits that the "dirty little secret" of EA is that some of its F2P titles end up being the games players drop the most money on per month, such as those who pay upwards of $5,000 a month for FIFA Ultimate Team. With EA on the cusp of launching Star Wars: The Old Republic this spring (fingers crossed), the question of EA's MMO pricing structure is still up in the air. However, Riccitiello thinks that we're in for a year of transition to mostly digital purchases: "I think these business models are going to find their own feet. We're very careful about making sure we price appropriately for platform and also for the intellectual property."
Boxee makes deal with CBS for digital content sales
As we eagerly wait for Netflix and VUDU to hit the peppy, young Boxee Box, The New York Times is reporting that the company has inked a deal with CBS for selling episodes through the software platform. As you know, the aforementioned network has traditionally tread carefully in the digital distro arena, while this is the first such deal between Boxee and a television network. "It's a major step for us, working with the biggest network in the U.S.," said the company, who expressed hopes that this is "the beginning of more deals with more major content providers both here in the U.S. and abroad." Just what we needed: more ways to watch Two and a Half Men.
