Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora delayed to 2023-2024

Many people said that we’re mistaken in our previous statement about a potential delay of Avatars: Frontiers of Pandora. Well, guess what? Previously I have talked about it, and it turns out that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will indeed get a delay. Judging by the provided information by Ubisoft in their Q1 sales report, the game will be delayed to 2023-2024.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a first-person action-adventure game made in Ubisoft’s renowned engine Snowdrop, which characteristics are proven to be at a pace for such a game. Sadly, it had to come to a halt. Based on Ubisoft’s first quarter 2022-23 sales report, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will be delayed to a later date. Thanks to GlobeNewswire, you can find the complete press release below.

UBISOFT REPORTS FIRST-QUARTER 2022-23 SALES

Q1 performance slightly ahead of target
New high-value licensing partnership on mobile
Release schedule updated
2022-23 non-IFRS operating income target confirmed

• Net bookings of €293.3 million, slightly ahead of target of around €280.0 million

• Better than expected Q1 performance from the Assassin’s Creed^® brand and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six^® Siege
• Gameplay reveals of Mario + Rabbids^®: Sparks of Hope and Skull and Bones™, to be released on October 20 and November 8, 2022, respectively
• Reveal of Tom Clancy’s The Division^® Resurgence for mobile, in line with stated strategy of expanding the brand’s universe to a significantly larger audience
• Signature of a new high-value licensing partnership on mobile for one of our AAA brands
• Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora™ will now release in 2023-24
• Ubisoft will reveal the future of the Assassin’s Creed brand in September
• 2022-23 non-IFRS operating income target of approximately €400 million confirmed
• Strong support of Ubisoft’s shareholders at the Annual General Meeting: all resolutions were approved with a minimum of 95%. The Board is now composed of an absolute majority of independent directors, 45% women and three employee-representatives
• Play Green: In line with its environmental commitment, Ubisoft is the first pure-player video game company to get its official Target Validation by the Science Based Target initiative

Paris, July 21, 2022 – Today, Ubisoft released its sales figures for the first quarter of fiscal 2022-23, i.e., the three months ended June 30, 2022.

Frédérick Duguet, Chief Financial Officer, said “We delivered a slightly better than expected performance in the quarter, with notably outperformances from Rainbow Six Siege and the Assassin’s Creed brand. The past months have been very active, with the gameplay reveals of Mario Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Skull and Bones. Players’ feedback for the reveal of The Division Resurgence and for the ongoing tests of Rainbow Six Mobile, The Division Heartland and XDefiant have been supportive.”

Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, said “As our teams are intensely focused on delivering memorable experiences to players across platforms, business models and geographies, we continue to work on the richest pipeline in the Company’s history. We have an unprecedented opportunity to leverage the strength of our IPs to a significantly wider audience. The new high-value mobile partnership for one of our brands reflects the powerful appeal of our brands for the fast–growing AAA mobile segment. It also provides our teams with more time to fully realize their creative vision and deliver high-quality experiences for our fans, while at the same time increasing our visibility for both 2022-23 and 2023-24.”

Yves Guillemot concluded “As we concentrate on unlocking the value of these initiatives, we are simultaneously adapting our organization to current economic uncertainties through cost optimization. We are also working hard to design the most efficient working conditions to ensure both flexibility for our teams as well as strong productivity and high-quality content. We are confident that we are entering a multi-year cycle of significant topline and operating income growth.”

Q1 ACTIVITY

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege performed ahead of expectations. The team has been hard at work to deliver very ambitious Year 7 content, translating into a stabilization of PRI thanks to a very strong DARPU and Battle Pass conversion.

The Assassin’s Creed brand also performed ahead of expectations on the back of a strong quarter from Odyssey, Origins and Valhalla. We saw a significant uptick in overall engagement, with double-digit active player growth versus last year as players were excited by the beginning of the campaign for the 15^th Anniversary of the brand. This campaign will be marked by a series of celebrations for the community throughout the summer that will lead to the unveiling of the future of Assassin’s Creed in September during a very special event.

Roller Champions™ has been well received by players for its fun and dynamic gameplay. On both retention and revenues KPIs, Roller Champions is tracking ahead of Hyper Scape™.

PIPELINE OF GAMES

Ubisoft showcased Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, set to release on October 20^th, with a first glimpse into its gameplay. The community applauded the tactical aspect of the game, and Gamespot described the upcoming game as “primed to surprise players all over again, with a greater degree of flexibility and more Mario like mechanics”. The community is eagerly awaiting its launch which is one of the most anticipated Nintendo Switch releases this year.

Skull and Bones also made its comeback with an extended gameplay walkthrough. The core strength of the game revolves around its unique combination of a gritty pirate fantasy, dynamic and action-packed naval combat as well as multiplayer features, based on both co-op and PvP, that will allow players to have memorable moments with friends. The game will release on November 8th.

On free-to-play, we revealed Tom Clancy’s The Division: Resurgence the upcoming mobile title in the brand’s universe. Built from the ground up on mobile, the game will be based on an independent storyline and stay true to the brand DNA with a vast open world in a very detailed urban environment with stunning graphics for the platform. With this title, we are bringing
The Division franchise to a significantly larger audience. Initial player reception has been very positive.

The quarter was also very active on the other Free-to-Play initiatives as different testing phases for XDefiant, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Mobile and The Division Heartland took place around the world. Player feedback was supportive throughout these respective tests which will continue over the coming months.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will now release in 2023-24. We are committed to delivering a cutting-edge immersive experience that takes full advantage of next-gen technology, as this amazing global entertainment brand represents a major multi-year opportunity for Ubisoft.

We also decided to release in 2023-24 a smaller unannounced premium game, originally slated for 2022-23.

While this additional development time is a reflection of the current ongoing constraints on productions across the industry, we are hard at work to design the most efficient working conditions to ensure both flexibility for our teams as well as strong productivity while delivering the best experiences to players.

Ubisoft Forward will return on September 10th, with updates and news on multiple games and projects from our teams around the world.

PLAY GREEN: PROGRESS ON UBISOFT’S ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENTS

Ubisoft has received the official Target Validation from the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi), confirming that Ubisoft’s 2030 carbon reduction objective is in line the goal to limit global warming to 1.5°C. Ubisoft is the first pure-player video game company to receive its official Target Validation by the SBTi.

APPROVAL OF ALL RESOLUTIONS AT UBISOFT’S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Ubisoft’s shareholders approved all the resolutions on the agenda for its Annual General Meeting early July with approval rates above 95%. The vote notably led to the appointment of Claude France as independent director, who brings her expertise in technology, both in cloud and online services, as well as her experience working in international multi-cultural environments. With this appointment, the Board returns to an absolute majority of independent directors, reaches 45% women, and includes three employee-representatives.

Note
The Group presents indicators which are not prepared strictly in accordance with IFRS as it considers that they are the best reflection of its operating and financial performance. The definitions of the non-IFRS indicators are appended to this press release.

Sales and net bookings

IFRS 15 sales for the first quarter of 2022-23 came to €318.2 million, down 9.8% (13.9% at constant exchange rates¹) compared with the €352.8 million generated in first-quarter 2021-22.

First-quarter 2022-23 net bookings totaled €293.3 million, exceeding the target of around €280.0 million and down 10.0% (14.2% at constant exchange rates) on the €326.0 million figure for the first quarter of 2021-22.

Outlook

Second-quarter 2022-23

Net bookings for the second quarter of 2021-22 are expected to come in at around €270 million.

Full-year 2022-23

The Company continues to expect significant net bookings growth and confirms its non-IFRS operating income target of approximately €400 million for full-year 2022-23.

Conference call

Ubisoft will hold a conference call today, Thursday July 21, 2022, at 6:15 p.m. Paris time/5:15 p.m. London time/12:15 p.m. New York time.
The conference call will take place in English and can be accessed live and via replay by clicking on the following link: