Assassin’s Creed carries Ubisoft growth, new report reveals

French video game publisher Ubisoft released its financial report for the nine months ending December 31, 2025, reporting an 18 percent year-on-year jump in net bookings to €1.1 billion (about $1.3 billion). Assassin’s Creed was a primary driver of sales, but the studio says franchise success also fueled interest in older brand releases, namely The Division, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and Anno 117: Pax Romana. As such, back-catalog net bookings rose 11 percent to €297 million (about $352 million).

Monthly active users (MAUs) for Ubisoft releases across PC and consoles reached about 130 million in 2025, with the brand’s cumulative December 2025 user hours reaching 38 million — a 3 percent YoY increase.

Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot issued a statement alongside the company’s financial results. “We delivered a solid third-quarter performance, with net bookings growing at a double-digit rate year-on-year, exceeding our expectations,” Guillemot says. “This performance reflects the strength of our portfolio and the breadth of player engagement across our core franchises, supported by recent releases and live content updates that continue to resonate with players.”

While the publisher’s Q3 sales surge looks sound on paper, Ubisoft’s recent Tencent collaboration, internal shuffles, sweeping layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations undermine the publisher’s success in practice. Just days ago, more than 1,200 Ubisoft employees took part in strikes in response to the studio’s recent changes. Five French unions participated in demonstrations —  Solidaires Informatique, Printemps Ecologique, and Ubisoft’s STJV, CFE-CGC, and CGT — with two union reps demanding Guillemot’s resignation.

Ubisoft releases Q3 2025-26 financials

Ubisoft’s new report examines both the nine-month period ended December 31, 2025, and the three-month quarter ended the same day. Take a look at the brand’s newest figures:

Nine months ending December 31, 2025:

• Revenue: -1.4% YoY — €976.2 million (about $1.16 billion)
• Net bookings: +18% YoY — €1.1 billion (around $1.3 billion)
• Digital net bookings: +20% YoY — €941.7 million (about $1.18 billion)
• Back-catalog net bookings: +36.2% YoY — €1.03 billion (around $1.22 billion)

Three months ending December 31, 2025:

• Net bookings: +12% YoY — €338 million (around $401 million)
• Digital net bookings: +10.7% YoY — €297 million (or $352 million)

Ubisoft, Tencent launch Vantage Studios

In Ubisoft’s financial report, Guillemot says the publisher is “making progress on the transformation announced in January,” referring to the brand’s collaborative venture with Chinese-owned tech conglomerate Tencent. With the latter’s investment of an eye-watering $1.16 billion, the companies established Vantage Studios, a new subsidiary that Guillemot says has been operational since last fall. Vantage Studios will comprise what brand representatives call “Creative Houses.” These houses, which oversee beloved Ubisoft IPs like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six, are led by co-CEOs Christophe Derennes and Charlie Guillemot, Yves Guillemot’s son.

“The allocation of studios and capabilities across the Creative Houses and Network has now been announced, and key leadership appointments are ongoing, including external hires of experienced, respected industry veterans,” said Guillemot. 

“This transformation is designed to sharpen focus, accelerate decision-making and elevate our creative ambition in an increasingly selective market. Vantage Studios has been operational since October and we are preparing for the rest of this new operating model to start running in early April.” 

Guillemot continues, addressing financials. “As we move into this execution phase, our financial position and available cash provide the flexibility needed to address the near-term maturity, while we continue to work on extending our debt profile. This allows us to remain focused on delivering the transformation and creating the conditions for our Creative Houses to fully deliver on the significant pipeline of exceptional, high-quality games we will have within the next 3 years. Importantly, this transformation is supported by the strongly improved retention and reinforced talent pool thanks to the return of numerous skilled former Ubisoft employees in our studios over the recent years.”