Ubisoft reports weaker first-quarter revenue after stock drop

French video games company Ubisoft reported weaker revenue for the first quarter of its financial year after a difficult trading day in which its stock fell sharply.

Ubisoft said revenue fell almost 14 percent in April-June to 268 million euros, or $305 million. The company reported the figures after the Paris market closed on Thursday.

Its shares had earlier fallen more than 14 percent to 4.73 euros, while the wider SBF index was down 1.5 percent. Ubisoft's first-quarter earnings followed a reported net loss of 1.5 billion euros in 2025-6.

Net bookings, Ubisoft's preferred revenue measure that excludes some deferred sales, fell nine percent in April-June to 256 million euros. The company said the year-on-year comparison was affected by the absence of a major release in the quarter compared with the previous year's "Assassin's Creed Shadows", which was released in March. Ubisoft said it had slightly exceeded its own forecasts for the quarter.

The company pointed to the launch this month of "Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced", a remake of one of the best-known titles in its main series. Ubisoft said the game had sold 3.5 million copies. It was the first title released by Vantage Studios, a new subsidiary overseeing major Ubisoft franchises including "Assassin's Creed", "Far Cry" and "Rainbow Six".

Chief executive Yves Guillemot said in the company statement that the "Black Flag" launch was encouraging and had exceeded the company's annual expectations in its first two weeks on sale. Ubisoft said that could help it reach second-quarter net bookings of around 370 million euros.

The company kept its full-year forecast for net bookings to fall by a high single-digit percentage compared with the previous financial year. It also expects a high single-digit percentage drop in operating margin under non-IFRS accounting standards.

Ubisoft is restructuring as it tries to improve its performance. In June, it closed studios in Winnipeg, Canada, and Belgrade, Serbia. It has also continued layoffs in subsidiaries including in Barcelona, where staff have walked out on strike over job cuts in recent weeks.

The company aims to reduce costs by at least 200 million euros over two years, in addition to 300 million euros already targeted in recent years. The measures have not reassured investors, with the stock down 26 percent since the start of the year.