Given the general downturn in fortunes of several publishers recently, it came as a bit of a surprise move when Ubisoft declared their intention to make The Division  an Epic Store exclusive.  They need not have  been worried, it seems, and here's why;

Pre-orders for the game have out-performed those of the original, despite it's lack of presence on Steam, and and indeed the company are claiming that preorders are a higher by 6 TIMES that of the original, a pretty staggering claim. It's not a prefect indicator of how well overall sales will be, but it's a pretty promising one, and shows that despite some backlash, the switch to being an Epic Store exclusive does not seem to have harmed potential sales.

More positive news has come in the form of Ubisoft's latest earnings report, with strong profits of 1.351 Billion euros, and increase of nearly 14% over last year, being reported, thanks to the strong performance of Far Cry 5 and Assassins Creed Odyssey, and a huge increase in revenue from their PC business thanks to the Epic Store.

In contrast to other developers such as Activision and EA, the company is even touting their prospects of expansion, and promoting staff happiness and prosperity. according to CEO Yves Guillemot during the company's annual earnings conference call.

Ubisoft is building its organizational structure for the long term, leveraging the ownership of our IPs and studios, we are striving to provide a fulfilling working environment so that our talented people can realize their full potential and to deliver players beneficial experiences that go beyond pure entertainment. Therefore, we are confident in our ability to continue to grow and increase our profitability over the coming years.

There's no shortage of other upcoming opportunities for success either, as the company have "three or four" other AAA titles coming in the next financial year (up to April 2020), one of which will be Skull and Bones, which we expect may also be Epic Store exclusives too.