Article - Ubisoft expect big growth from “the PC opportunity”

[jztemple2]

Here's the article on PCGamesN. I thought it would be of interest to post the article since it wasn't that long ago that we were reading a lot of items about how PC gaming was dying and the consoles were the way to go. The article:

It continues to be financial report season, and Ubisoft are the latest to provide their third quarter results covering the end of calendar year 2017. The French publisher reports €725 million in sales for the quarter, outstripping their estimate of €700 million - already revised from their original target of €630 million.

Among the reasons for their success, Ubisoft cite exceptional performance from Assassin’s Creed Origins, which is expected to see double the playtime from players over Syndicate two years ago. Naturally, that’s important as Ubisoft continue to focus their business on support for live games - and while the company hasn’t yet committed to a new AC title this year, they do say there will be more content for Origins.

There’s also Rainbow Six Siege, which slowly grew to a regular top five game on Steam and a popular esports title, driving even further interest. That comes along with increased digital sales overall - translating to bigger margins for Ubisoft without retail taking a cut.

Sales are expected to drop a bit year over year for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2018 (ending March 31), with a target of €449 million, compared with €648.6 million for the same time period last year. That’s to be expected, however, since fourth quarter last year saw the releases of both Ghost Recon Wildlands and For Honor, while this year will see Far Cry 5 as the only standalone release mere days before the end of the quarter.

Ubisoft also say they’re looking at significant growth in the future, and PC gaming is one of the primary reasons why. They see PC gamers playing 30% more hours than those on consoles, and 37% more likely to buy extra content. Additionally, most of esports is focused on PC titles, and PC gamers are the “most engaged on social media” and “most influential” players out there. The fact that the massive Chinese market is almost exclusively on PC certainly doesn’t hurt, either.

The company believes they’re in a solid position to expand reach on PC, with a big catalog focused on the “multiplayer and RPG” titles that are strong on the platform. They also cite “high quality PC versions yielding stronger Steam user ratings” as well as “great online services through Ubisoft Club platform” as further reasons for success on PC.

Some PC players might point to frustration over Uplay and the controversial DRM of Assassin’s Creed Origins as marks against Ubisoft’s plans for PC, but the game’s “very positive” user rating on Steam doesn’t show much of an ill effect from either controversy. The company says within the past five years, PC sales have more than doubled from 7% of their business to 18% now.

I know some folks have had issues with Uplay, but it's been pretty faultless for me and I like that I can participate in a lot of betas without going through hoops. And updates are fairly simple with it too.

[Daehawk]

Ive never bought into PC is dying and I use a lot of gaming services and none really irk me.

I have stated just recently though that if this inflated video card price crap keeps up because of miners it could finally end PC gaming dominance with consoles becoming the new go to. People cant get hardware then after a prolonged time there will be a shift. its scary to me. I only really love PC gaming.

[Blackhawk]

I have stated just recently though that if this inflated video card price crap keeps up because of miners it could finally end PC gaming dominance with consoles becoming the new go to.

That happened years ago. We're already in third place, with consoles as #2, and mobile blowing both of them away. Hell, the period of PC dominance was extremely short, between the end of the 'PCs are an expensive niche hobby' and the rise of the mainstream console (somewhere during the late XBox/early 360 period.)

PC gaming will never die. As long as there is a market, there will be a product. What we risk with the 'hardware crisis' is the possibility of PC gaming shrinking rapidly, enough so that we are no longer considered one of the "big three" (Xbox, Playstation, PC), and stop getting versions of AAA games. It could drive PC gaming back into the niche category.

[jztemple2]

For yucks I priced out a Falcon Northwest Talon. I got one about four years ago for a bit over three grand. It turns out that to have the same rig as I have now, but instead of a GTX 780 it will have a GTX 1080, it still comes in under $3,500 even with shipping and stuff, so if I every really need to, I could step up. However, since my current Talon with an i7-4770K seems to be quite in line with upcoming releases, I might have to break down and find a decent deal on a newer video card. I shutter to consider what havoc I could wreak trying to install one with my old, shaky hands

[Daehawk]

I ran some benchmarks and my scores were tied or a little better than a i7 4700 or something with 1060s and 980ti's in them and Im using a i7 2600k and a gtx 950...not sure how Im doing so well but Ill take it.

[Lorini]

If you buy a full computer from a third party you'll be fine regarding the graphic cards, as they buy direct from the graphic card makers at a true wholesale price. It's the DIY people who are suffering.

Steam revived PC Gaming, not sure if it was ever going to die, but having a one stop shop for both buying and running games really helped.

[jztemple2]

If you buy a full computer from a third party you'll be fine regarding the graphic cards, as they buy direct from the graphic card makers at a true wholesale price. It's the DIY people who are suffering.

I didn't know that, I thought they would have to pay the inflated price as well.

[Isgrimnur]

My new rig with a 1070 came in at $1800 from Cyberpower

[Blackhawk]

One concern is that the greatly inflated demand will result in the manufacturer's price increasing to meet it. Demand exceeds supply and there are people wiling to empty the shelves at double the current MSRP. If the manufacturers increase the price, buying prebuilt won't continue to be a workaround.

[Lorini]

Nvidia is telling retailers to stop selling to crypto miners because they are afraid of a huge glut if/when the whole mining thing blows up. If there does become a huge sell off of cards, that’s going to really screw them up. Good for us, bad for them. There is an industry rumor that the next line of cards from Nvidia will not be able to crypto mine.

[Paingod]

I am oddly quite okay with video cards only being good at video. Mostly because I don't want my favorite hobby to become prohibitively expensive to keep up with. A part of my enjoyment is using my own hand-built rig.

[AWS260]

That whole Ubisoft investor presentation is interesting. The slides are online here (PDF).

Not surprisingly, there's a strong focus on games as service platforms that can deliver ongoing revenues through sales of DLC.

[ColdSteel]

PC gaming isn't dying but I sure wish Ubisoft was.