Welcome everybody, and thank you for joining the call on such a short notice. Our second quarter fell short of expectations. Listening to players' feedback, we are determined, determined to address this swiftly and firmly, with an even greater focus on a player-centric, gameplay-first approach, and an unwavering commitment to the long-term value of our brands. Also, we want to address an issue problem of perception that has been affecting the company's performance. On the back of our player-centric approach, the following important decisions relative to Assassin's Creed Shadows have been taken. First, leveraging the learnings from the Star Wars Outlaws launch. We have taken the decision to delay Assassin's Creed Shadows to 14 February 2025 . In today's challenging market, and with gamers expecting extraordinary, extraordinary experiences, delivering solid quality is no longer enough. We must strive for excellence in all aspects of our work.
This will enable the biggest entry in the franchise to fully deliver on its ambition, notably by fulfilling the promise of our dual protagonist adventure, with Naoe and Yasuke bringing two very different gameplay styles. Second, we are departing from the traditional season pass model. All players will be able to enjoy the game at the same time on February 14th, and those who pre-order the game will be granted the first expansion for free. Finally, the game will mark the return of our new releases on Steam Day One. Turning to Star Wars Outlaws, despite a softer-than-expected launch, the game achieved solid ratings, with a Metacritic score of 76, as well as a player user rating of 3.9 out of 5 across the first party and a 4.4 on Epic Store.
This reflects the immersive and authentic Star Wars universe, as well as the effectiveness of the reputation system, great exploration possibilities, and its enticing scoundrel fantasy. However, a portion of players have expressed dissatisfaction, notably on stealth mechanics and overall polish, that impacted the first hours of the game. In response to this feedback, we have begun implementing updates aimed at polishing and improving the gameplay quality and player experience, with the first update deployed mid-September and three more to come over the next couple of months. This should enable us to improve its perceived quality and make it a must-play game ahead of the holiday season, to position it as a strong long-term performer. The game will launch on Steam on November 21st.
Although the tangible benefits of the company transformation are taking longer than anticipated to materialize, we keep on our strategy, focusing on two key verticals: open world adventures, and GaaS-native experiences, with the objective to drive growth, recurrence, and robust free cash flow generation in our business. In the light of recent challenges, we acknowledge the need for greater efficiency while delighting our players. As a result, beyond the first important short-term actions undertaken, the executive committee, under the supervision of the board of directors, is launching a review aimed at furthering our execution, notably on our player-centric approach and accelerating our strategic path towards the higher-performing model to the benefit of our shareholders and stakeholders. Finally, let me address some of the polarized comments around Ubisoft lately.
I want to reaffirm that we are an entertainment-first company, creating games for the broadest possible audience, and our goal is not to push any specific agenda. We remain committed to creating games for fans and players that everyone can enjoy. I will now hand over the call to Frédérick.
Thank you, Yves, and hello, everybody. For fiscal year 2025, we now expect to generate around EUR 1.95 billion of net bookings and around break-even non-IFRS operating income and free cash flow. This revised outlook mainly reflects the softer-than-expected launch for Star Wars Outlaws and the updated Q4 release window for Assassin's Creed Shadows. This translates into Q2 net bookings that are now expected to stand at between EUR 350 million and EUR 370 million, mainly reflecting the softer-than-expected Star Wars Outlaws launch. Additionally, as the group transformation continues, we made progress on our cost reduction initiative, with headcount steadily decreasing over the first half. To conclude, our balance sheet remains solid.
Cash and cash equivalents are expected above 850 million EUR at the end of September 2024, after having repaid the 250 million EUR convertible bond maturing this month, notably reflecting the cash consumption in the first half related to the new release schedule. We will provide more detail when we report our H1 earnings on October 30. We are now ready to take your questions.
Thank you. To ask a question, you will need to press star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one and one again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Nicolas Langlet with BNP Paribas. Your line is open.
Yes. Hello, good afternoon, everyone. I've got three questions, please. The first one, on the Q2 guidance, so you cut it by, like, EUR 140 million . Is it only Star Wars Outlaws, or there is something else underperforming in the portfolio? Because if it's only Star Wars Outlaws, it means you have missed by 2.5-3 million units during the quarter. Do you think it's a fair assumption? Secondly, can you help us understand what is the bridge between the net bookings reduction and the adjusted EBIT reduction for the full year? It seems you are reducing net bookings by 500 million EUR and adjusted EBIT by EUR 400 million , which is pretty big. So if you can detail a bit more, that would be great.
And finally, would you be ready to share the aspiration you have for full year 2026, considering the delay of AC Shadows and what you have in the pipeline? Thank you.
Yeah, good evening, Nicholas. So in terms of the second quarter, it mostly reflects the softer than expected sales for Star Wars Outlaws. We also had behind expectations for XDefiant, but we give you a bit more detail at end of October. In terms of the bridge between net bookings and EBIT, this reflects mostly two elements. First, the fact that we decided to move Assassin's Creed Shadows to Q4, and the fact that we reflected lower expectation for Star Wars Outlaws, and to a much lesser extent, with a limited impact, also lower than expectation for XDefiant. In terms of fiscal year 2026, we'll give you more perspective at a later stage.
Okay, perfect. And on the full year 2024 guidance, do you plan accelerated depreciation for Star Wars Outlaws or not?
So what we usually do, and we follow this common practice, is that we usually accelerate depreciation for games that are behind expectations. That we, of course, are following the normal closing process, so our auditors should validate the closing process as usual.
Okay. Okay, thank you.
Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Ali Naqvi with HSBC. Your line is open.
Hi, good evening. Thank you for taking the question. What are you sort of hoping to achieve in the few months of the delay of AC Shadows? And then secondly, in terms of the executive committee review, what is the things that they will focus on? Is it just on execution of your studios, or could they also consider, you know, selling some IPs or offloading assets? And then for third question, longer term, could you give any sort of guidance of view, or would you have to take on any additional debt as a result of today's warning? Thank you.
Yeah, thank you, Ali. So yes, on Assassin's Creed Shadows, the game is feature complete. As you might know, we were about to run previews, so very close to shipping. What we see is that there is, with additional months, the possibility to really further polish the game so that the experience is really flawless, is perfect to deliver the fantastic promise of the most ambitious entry in the franchise. So that's really what we want to do, is really to bring quality to the highest level possible. In terms of the executive committee review, as we said, we really want to make sure execution is flawless.
We're focusing on the gameplay first, player-centric approaches. So the objective is to really make sure that everything that will bring quality to a high level will be pushed in the agenda. We have, of course, important areas of work that we've been pushing over the last year and a half, so it takes time to deliver, but it's well on the way. Fostering creative talents, as well as bringing gameplay first, as I mentioned, at the center of each and every decision. Cutting-edge technology that we push with Snowdrop and Anvil. Pushing the transformation of our franchise towards a more recurring model with GaaS-native experiences.
This is also an important transformation for the future and simplification of the organization, as we've been organizing our production along five zones to really streamline the work and focus our resources on our biggest opportunities. As part of the transformation plan, we had already mentioned that we were considering reducing costs and proceeding with the divestiture of non-core assets. This is, of course, still valid. On your last question around on that, so as we said, we have a comfortable level of cash and cash equivalents at end of September of more than EUR 850 million. We plan to generate positive free cash flow in the second half of this fiscal year.
Knowing that, we are planning to be neutral from a free cash flow standpoint this year. If we look at our debt schedule, it's a very, very healthy and sound average maturity of close to four years. We have good visibility on that front.
Thank you. And sorry, just one final follow-up. If I could, the trade receivable that was put in at the end of your FY twenty-three results, is there any change to that receivable coming through?
So yes, you're right. We reached, as we had mentioned, a record high level in terms of trade receivable at end of fiscal year 2024. So mechanically, that should contribute to reducing working capital needs this year. So of course, that's contributing positively to free cash flow.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Thank you. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Nick Dempsey with Barclays. Your line is open.
Yeah, good evening, guys. So first of all, just returning to debt, that was mentioned in one of the previous questions there. So we had EUR 985 million , excluding leases, end March 2024 of net debt. If we're looking at breakeven free cash flow, I guess total net cash flow that drives that net debt will be negative, so the net debt number goes up a bit. Can you talk about trends around any of your debt instruments? And is there anything about debt needing to be paid down at any particular rate, which will be problematic with your lenders? Because, yeah, every time now that we don't have positive free cash flow, it makes me worry a bit more about the scale of that debt.
Second question: Ghost of Yotei, so the sequel to Ghost of Tsushima, looks an awful lot like to me, perhaps I'm not into it deeply enough, but it looks an awful lot to me like Assassin's Creed Shadows, and we're talking about that game, Ghost of Yotei, coming out in 2025 . So is there a risk that you start bumping into that one, that people will not buy Shadows because they're waiting for Ghost of Yotei in a few months' time to get their fix of a Japanese game in that vein? And the last question, are you still expecting the same amount from partnership deals this year as you were when you set guidance? Has that had any impact on all of this?
So, thank you, Nick. On the first question, we don't guide on the non-IFRS net debt. What I can tell you to help you is that, so we are planning to be breakeven from a free cash flow standpoint. We also have regularly the positive proceeds of our employee share ownership plan, and that, I think, is around EUR 40 million . So that's what you can take into account in your projection. We plan to stay within the boundaries of our covenants. On the competition related to Assassin's Creed Shadows, the focus is really to make sure that we deliver a fantastic experience with this dual protagonist approach, with two different and complementary gameplays with Yasuke and Naoe.
And, in the setting, taking place in this feudal Japan, that should be really enticing. So all the focus and everything that really informs our decision is to make sure that we polish the game and provide this fantastic promise. In terms of-
There was one question.
Oh, go on, sorry.
Yes. On the partnership side, so, we still expect the same level as we would mentioned during the guidance setup, meaning significant contribution, but to a lower extent than last year.
And I would like to say that there's a lot of space for very high-quality games, and those two games can sell very well.
Yeah. So sorry, there was one question I forgot, if I could just squeeze it in. In terms of your slate for FY 2026, do you have plans to at least match what you've been doing in FY 2025? And if we include the fact that Shadows will spread now into FY 2026, can we have confidence that you can at least match your FY 2025 levels with your new slate?
So, as I said to Nicholas, we'll provide you with more information at a later stage. What we're planning to do is to have a lineup that is a good reflection of our two verticals focus, open world adventures on one side and GaaS-native experiences on the other side. We also expect Rainbow Six Siege to continue growing, but you'll have more color at a later stage.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Thank you. As a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, that's star and one, one to ask the question. Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Alexander with Bernstein. Your line is open.
Hi, good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. Can you maybe tell us what are the covenants on your debts and how much headroom you actually have with respect to those covenants? Thank you.
Yes, so we have two ratios to abide by. The first of all, net debt relative to equity should not exceed zero point eight, and then the second ratio is net debt relative to EBITDA, twelve months EBITDA should not exceed one point five, and as I mentioned, we're planning to stay within these boundaries.
Do you think you have enough safety even if the current trend continues into fiscal 2026, or do you currently plan for an improvement in fiscal 2026? Thank you.
Yeah, so as I've just said, we're planning to stay within these boundaries.
Thank you very much.
You're welcome.
Please stand by for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of David Lustberg with BMO. Your line is open. Have to see if you're on mute, David.
Yes, thank you. Hi, I wanted to ask about the Assassin's Creed Shadows movement. Two questions on it. One, does the shift from the Christmas and holiday season, do you expect that to impact unit sales? And any color you can provide on the incremental development costs to get the game ready. Thank you.
Yes, we have less expectations during this financial year on Shadow. Now, the excess of cost will be around EUR 20 million.
But of course, on the lifetime expectation-