Sure, here’s the rewritten version:
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So, get this—Ubisoft, you know, the big French gaming company? Yeah, they’re hitting a bit of a rough patch. I mean, their revenues took a nosedive, dropping to €1.9 billion this past year. That’s like $2.1 billion, if you’re keeping score in dollars. Anyway, it’s down 17.5% from last year. Ouch. And net bookings? They slipped 20.5% to €1.84 billion. Yikes. It’s like, everyone feels the pinch, right? And yeah, their back catalogue stuff didn’t do them any favors either, tumbling 13.5% to €1.3 billion.
But hey, Yves Guillemot—CEO, founder, and maybe eternal optimist?—still sees some silver linings. I guess if you squint hard enough, there’s a bright side somewhere in that gloomy financial report.
“This year’s been, uh, interesting,” he muses. I’d say that’s putting it mildly. Industry’s tough and all, but they managed to scrape together some positive free cash flow. Not too shabby, given everything. Yves talks about discipline too, like his company’s hitting a financial bootcamp or something.
Plus, they launched Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which apparently made everyone forget how much money they’re not making. Fans loved it, newbies loved it, everyone’s happy. So yay, right? Oh, and they’ve got this cost-cutting mission, slashing budgets like some kind of corporate ninja. Already ticked off their first savings goal and they’re aiming for more—€100 million in cuts over the next couple of years. It’s like they’re trimming the fat to bulk up… yeah, that metaphor doesn’t really work, does it? But you get my drift.
Anyway, I guess that’s the Ubisoft story for now. A few stumbles, a few wins, and a CEO wearing rose-colored glasses through it all.