(BFM Bourse) – The group controlled by the Guillemot family fell significantly this Wednesday after having already dropped more than 7% the day before. Unenthusiastic coverage initiations from research offices as well as some market nervousness are weighing on the stock.
Ubisoft has been suffering on the stock market for two sessions now. The French video game publisher lost 6% around 4 p.m. this Wednesday, after dropping more than 8% around 1 p.m. On Tuesday, the title had already found itself under pressure, the action having dropped 7.26%.
How can we explain these two poor sessions when the group has not really delivered any announcements on its commercial and financial performance in recent days?
“On Tuesday a ‘broker’ (a research office, editor’s note), Cantor Fitzgerald, initiated its coverage at ‘neutral’, with a fairly negative speech on the action”, explains an analyst. “As for this Tuesday, the market may show a certain nervousness before the publication of the third quarter of the 2023-2024 financial year (ending next March, Editor’s note), on February 8. Fears about the objective of 400 million euros of operating profit (non-IFRS) can exist”, continues this expert.
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“The market is nervous”
“The market is quite nervous at the moment on the issue,” agrees Charles-Louis Planade, analyst at TP ICAP Midcap. “Recent initiations of “neutral” coverage on the part of research offices do not help the action and the current outings are going well without causing any spark,” develops the analyst. “We can, however, salute the very good critical reception of Prince of Persia,” he adds.
As our colleagues at Tech&Co write, “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown” is “the event game we didn’t expect”, striking “the minds beyond expectations”.
The title benefits from a Metacritic score, which aggregates the notes and comments from the specialized press, of 86 for its PS5 version and 84 for the PC, two high scores. For comparison, Starfield, one of the most notable games of the year 2023 (along with Baldur’s Gate III and the latest Zelda) only receives a score of 83.
“This is a notable improvement compared to the score of 81 obtained by the game Prince of Persia in 2008, which would have sold around 2.5 million copies,” underlines UBS, which expects one million sales for this new game.
Important issues
Ubisoft will therefore unveil its activity for the third quarter of the 2023-2024 financial year, i.e. from last October to December, on February 8.
This should provide an idea of the commercial reception of its two “AAA” games released at the end of 2023, namely the latest Assassin’s Creed and the video game based on the Avatar film franchise.
“Prince of Persia The Lost Crown” arrives in stores this January 18. The pirate game “Skull and Bones” – truly Arlesian – will be released on February 16, while Star Wars Outlaws does not yet have an official release date but should be available this year.
Remember that Ubisoft is playing big in this 2023-2024 financial year, given the numerous blockbuster releases announced by the company.
This catalog of releases is double-edged because it could certainly allow the publisher to sign its best year in terms of sales according to UBS, which is counting on 30 million game units sold.
But all this will depend on good reception from the public, while increased competition from other publishers this year and the deterioration of macroeconomic conditions risk pushing gamers to be selective in their choices.
Julien Marion – ©2024 BFM Bourse
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