For the first time in the history of Ubisoft, earnings derived from DLC, microtransactions and Season Passes surpassed those generated by the sale of digital games, a surprise that occurred during the first two quarters of the current fiscal year.
In recent days, Ubisoft has published data on the financial results achieved by the company during the first two quarters of the current fiscal year, which began in March 2017.
The revenues generated by the digital market grew by 69% compared to the same period of the previous year, reaching 342.6 million euros. The most interesting thing, however, is the other part: more than half of the total revenue was obtained thanks to microtransactions.
Specifically, item sales, such as DLC and Season Pass came to 175 million euros in the period from April 1 to September 30, representing 51% of the total digital revenue of the company. Full-featured digital games sales rose 57% compared to the same period last year, stopping at 168 million euros in the same period last year.
Ubisoft says South Park: The Fractured But Whole sold about 50% of digital copies, while in the case of Assassin’s Creed: Origins the percentage dropped to 35%, still rising compared to Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, out of which only 15% of total copies were sold on Steam, Uplay, Xbox Store and PlayStation Store.
Microtransformations are one of the most controversial aspects of today’s video game industry: more and more games are implementing them, and more and more players are unhappy with that choice. Yet, judging by the data of French house, they are paying off considerably.
