Ubisoft Reports Record First Quarter Thanks to Post-Launch DLC for Games Like Rainbow Six Siege

Ubisoft is reporting a record first quarter for the company's 2018-2019 fiscal year thanks to the growth of digital sales and "player recurring investment" or PRI which is basically a fancy way of classifying things like DLC, season passes, and other digital purchases. All this helped Ubisoft hit €400 million ($466 million) for the first quarter.

"We had a record first quarter, which exceeded our expectations. This performance was fueled by steady growth for our back-catalog and an excellent momentum for PRI," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. The head of Ubisoft also added that the growth is "once again confirming the increasing recurring profile of our business and the ever-greater success of our digital transformation."

Guillemot revealed in a financial briefing to investors earlier this year that PRI would become a bigger part of Ubisoft's strategy going forward and you can see it in action in titles like Rainbow Six: Siege which continues to grow years after launch thanks to its live-service elements. Games like Assassin's Creed Origins also had extensive post-launch content players could purchase a year after Origins came out.

As for the rest of the year, Ubisoft has a full slate of games scheduled for the latter half of the year including Assassin's Creedy Odyssey set in ancient Greece and more post-launch content for Far Cry 5 and the new season of Rainbow Six Siege.

"Our teams are continuing to deliver on our strategic plan of ramping up our franchises. Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Tom Clancy's The Division 2 were very well received at E3," Guillemot added. "Our new creation, Skull & Bones, also made a very good impression due to its innovative gameplay combining naval battles with multi-player experience."

One interesting thing to note is that Ubisoft's sales on PC for the quarter notched in at 24 percent, making it the second best performing platform for Ubisoft behind the PlayStation 4 which accounted for 38 percent of sales for the quarter. This also means that PC sales beat out sales on the Xbox One which was recorded as contributing 22 percent of sales for the quarter.

The sales for Ubisoft games on the Nintendo Switch also grew this quarter compared to Q1 for 2017/18 from 1 percent to 5 percent of sales.

The best example of Ubisoft's post-launch strategy continues to be Rainbow Six Siege which first came out in 2015. Since then the title has continued to evolve, adding new characters and maps, and player growth reflects the continued support. Ubisoft recently made it so that any instance of hate speech on Siege results in a ban. For more, check out our complete Rainbow Six Siege guide for strategies, walkthroughs, and tips.