Investing.com -- Shares in Ubisoft (EPA:UBIP) slumped by more than 15% on Thursday after the video game maker unveiled net bookings guidance for its current quarter that missed consensus estimates.
The group behind popular franchises like "Assassin's Creed" and "Rainbow Six Siege" said it saw strong growth in both of these titles during its most recent fiscal year, helping offset a weak debut for its "Skull & Bones" game in February.
Chief Financial Officer Frederick Duguet said in a call with journalists that "Skull & Bones" had gotten off to a "slightly slower start than expected," Reuters reported. But Ubisoft added that it hopes the game's audience will grow and remain engaged in the current financial period that began on April 1.
Analysts at Jefferies also flagged that while Ubisoft's lineup of fiscal year 2025 releases includes a fresh "Assassin's Creed" installment and action-adventure title "Star Wars Outlaws", hopes for a third top-end game did not materialize.
Net bookings are now expected to come in at around 275 million euros in the first quarter, the company said, below analysts' projections of 361 million euros.
However, Chief Executive Officer Yves Guillemot said Ubisoft is back on a "profitable growth trajectory." In its 2024 financial year, the firm posted a 33.5% surge in net bookings to 2.31 billion euros and non-IFRS operating profit of 401.5 million euros, reversing a loss of 500 million euros a year earlier.