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Ubisoft recorded higher-than-expected sales in Q2 hitting €367.1M ($415.3M)

Year-over-year gains come just before the release of a new Assassin’s Creed .

The developer pointed to esports, led by Rainbow Six Siege , as an opportunity for growth.

French game developer Ubisoft beat its target sales figures for Q2 reaching €367.1M ($415.3M) for the period ended Sept. 30, up 38% year-over-year (YOY) from 265.2M ($300M).

Higher-than-expected sales lead to €767M ($867.7M) for financial H1, up 64% from €466.2M ($527.4M) in ‘17.

Ubisoft’s net bookings for H1 were €746.1M ($844M), up 60% from €466.2M ($527.4M).

Back-catalog net bookings for the half was up 48.8% to €564.9M ($639M).

Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft co-founder and CEO, credited the “depth and strength” of the developer’s back catalog and live operations for the sales figures. The only game Ubisoft released during the quarter was Transference. However, Guillemot also mentioned the success of the newest Assassin’s Creed title, which released just after the quarter ended on Oct. 10.

Last quarter, the company posted total sales of €400M ($466.2M), up 97.9% YOY from €202.1M ($235.5M). Additionally, netbookings for Q1 outpaced a target of €350M, growing 88.8% YOY to €381.5M ($444.6M).

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“Led by an increasingly direct relationship with our player communities as well as very high-quality titles, our first-half 2018-19 performance confirms the potential of Ubisoft’s many short- and medium-term growth drivers,” Guillemot said in a statement. “The steady rise in player engagement is feeding our digital development and the quality of our games is enabling us to achieve top-rate performance. Our mobile segment is growing significantly and our PC segment is experiencing strong momentum, especially across the whole of Asia.”

The publisher’s primary esports title Rainbow Six Siege was among the back-catalog games that helped drive growth for Ubisoft. In a presentation for investors, Ubisoft said that Rainbow Six currently touts a player base of 40M. They also added that the Esports Six Major Paris drew 8M unique views and gained momentum in Asia. Ubisoft pointed to esports as an opportunity for both short-term and long-term potential growth.