During today’s earnings call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has revealed that on this holiday season, ‘next-gen’ games will retain the $60 price of the current-gen.
As this may tease that the company will follow the 2K decision to adjust the price of next-gen video-games, Guillemot stated that “ for the $60 price we are really concentrating on the Christmas releases and we have decided that those games will be launched at $60″.
Ubisoft also reported a very substantial profit in the first quarter of the financial year, reporting net sales of427.3 million euros ($494.53 million) during the quarter, up from 363.4 million euros ($420.50 million) in the year-ago quarter. Ubisoft reveals that thanks to “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege” game, “Just Dance” and the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise the company has reached “record-high levels of engagement and number of players over a quarter.”
“While Ubisoft’s current performance and business prospects are stronger than ever, we nonetheless face a very serious challenge following the recent allegations and accusations of misconduct and inappropriate behavior within our Group”
The increase of the $60 price cap of current-gen is expected to be raised, DG President and CEO Yoshio Osaki told the outlet the problem of the unified cost for a AAA game of $60 USD, something that has not been increased since 2005. In late June, Former PlayStation Executive Shay Laden explained how the current approach in AAA Games Design “not sustainable”.
A Take-Two’s PR spokesperson told Kotaku, “We believe our suggested retail price for NBA 2K21 on next-generation platforms fairly represents the value of what’s being offered: power, speed and technology that is only possible on new hardware.”
Ubisoft is dealing with a huge scandal over sexual misconduct, Ubisoft Chief Creative Officer Serge Hascoët resigned following a probe into allegations of misconduct. Hascoët had been tasked with the lead role in the creative production on all of Ubisoft’s games since 2006.
Recently, Maxime Béland who had returned Ubisoft in early 2020, appointed as Vice President of the Editorial Team of Ubisoft resigned amid the abuse and assault allegations against him. Tommy François was placed on administrative leave due to current allegations of misconduct against women in which, they along several other executives of the company have been accused.
Finally, the company announced that the next Ubisoft Forward will take place in September.
“The Ubisoft Forward event outperformed versus our expectations,” said Ubisoft chief financial officer Frédérick, “The live event generated historic viewership, with record-high peak concurrent views and average view time above last year’s levels on all platforms and channels.”
Source: Kotaku
Source: CNBC
Featured image source: (Photo by Dan R. Krauss/Getty Images)
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