During a financial conference call for investors and analysts, Ubisoft CEO Yives Guillemot and CFO Frederick Duguet talked about a variety of topics.
Guillemot explained that Ubisoft "continues to make really good progress" on Skull and Bones. The closed beta will come at the end of August (3 days starting on August 25). Douguet reiterated that the company has seen "good progress" on its internal tests of the game, so things are trending well.
Guillemot was also asked to comment on the probable success of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft and on his view about remaining independent.
I think it's good news that the transaction can go through because it's really showing the power of IPs and where the industry is going, so there will be lots of opportunities in the future for all the companies, and it's also showing the value of IPs that can be now on consoles, PC, but also mobile and become more worldwide brands.
And when we say worldwide, it's really everywhere in the world, and that's a fantastic opportunity and Microsoft is saying that the mobile part of the Activision deal is important. So all the investment we are making to be stronger on mobile is also in line with that.
So all those elements will help the value of the company to grow.
Douguet also talked about the SAG-AFTRA actors' strike, mentioning that Ubisoft doesn't anticipate a significant impact on the gaming industry. While they're watching the situation, they expect the impact on their games to be limited.
He did not have any information to provide at the moment on whether Star Wars Outlaws will launch on third-party PC platforms on top of Ubisoft's own.
At several points during the conference, the executives continued to tease the unannounced "large game" that will be released in Q4, between January and March 2024, without providing any further detail.
