Ubisoft’s latest big release, The Division 2, did not meet Ubisoft’s commercial expectations on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The French publisher confirmed on an earnings call today that the console edition failed to meet sales targets, but sales of the PC edition were in line with Division 1.
“The Division 2 ended up short of our ambitious expectations on console. We believe this was due in large part to a more competitive market than expected,” chief financial boss Frederick Dugue said, though he did not name any specific competitor titles.
Dugue added that he expects The Division 2 to “grow and gain traction” over time with new content releases such as the game’s first big raid coming this week. He also noted that while The Division 2 did not meet sales expectations, the game was received very positively by fans.
For the PC edition specifically, sales on Ubisoft’s own Uplay store surged 10 times compared to the original The Division. This was no doubt in part attributable to how The Division 2 was not released on Steam, in favor of coming to Uplay and the Epic Games Store.
Though The Division 2 did not reach Ubisoft’s commercial expectations on console, the game did hit “records highs for engagement per player,” while Season Pass sales were also strong.
Ubisoft never said what its sales expectations for The Division 2 were in the first place. Like most other major publishers, Ubisoft no longer typically releases sales expectations or results on a unit basis. That being said, Ubisoft did say that Far Cry 5 remains Ubisoft’s best-selling game on the current generation of consoles.
Also during Ubisoft’s earnings call today, the company announced yet another delay for the pirate game Skull & Bones and that it has three unannounced games in the works to be announced soon, one of which is rumored to be a London-set Watch Dogs 3.