Pixel P&L: Brawl Stars Breaks Records, Ubisoft’s Financial Woes Unpacked

Good morning. It’s Tuesday, November 5. Today, we examine Brawl Stars’ record-setting World Finals, which surpassed 1 million peak viewers for the first time. Our feature breaks down Ubisoft’s first-half 2024-25 earnings report, exploring its recent financial challenges, stabilization efforts, and comparisons with competitors as the company seeks to regain investor confidence.

We also cover Mobile Legends: Bang Bang headlining the 33rd SEA Games esports lineup and Pokémon’s new mobile Trading Card Game, which has reached $12 million in revenue within just four days.

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The Brawl Stars World Finals 2024, hosted as part of the inaugural SuperFest esports event, hit an unprecedented peak viewership of nearly 1.1 million, making it the most-watched Brawl Stars event to date. This substantial milestone eclipses the previous high of 395,000 set during the 2022 finals.

Held at Helsinki’s Exhibition and Convention Center, this year’s Brawl Stars finals achieved an average of 636,059 viewers—nearly quadruple last year’s peak viewership of 273,194 under ESL’s management.

Italian team HMBLE emerged as champions, securing 40% of the $1 million prize pool after defeating Japan’s Crazy Raccoon in the finals. Despite HMBLE's win, Crazy Raccoon garnered the most fan support, amassing over 3.2 million hours watched compared to HMBLE’s 2.1 million.

English-language broadcasts attracted the largest audience, peaking at 456,450 viewers, followed by Spanish streams at 320,854. Twitch dominated as the primary platform, with a peak of 905,330 viewers, while YouTube trailed at 259,614.

As Ubisoft Entertainment SA grapples with plummeting share prices and disappointing earnings, investors are raising questions about the company’s long-term viability. Once a leader in European gaming, Ubisoft’s stock has fallen to €14.18 ($15.80) as of November 1, representing an 86.9% drop from its 2018 peak. The first-half fiscal 2024-25 earnings report shows a stark 21.9% decline in net bookings, alongside a €246.7 million ($262 million) net loss, exposing the company’s strategic challenges.

CEO Yves Guillemot has signaled a pivot toward legacy titles and cost-cutting, but underperforming new releases like XDefiant have shaken faith in Ubisoft’s competitive strategy. With critics urging the board to consider going private, Ubisoft’s leadership faces pressure to streamline operations while contending with formidable industry peers. 

In our feature story, we dissect Ubisoft’s financials and benchmark them against its rivals, revealing just how far the company has to go to regain investor confidence.

Mobile Legends Headlines 33rd SEA Games Esports Event

Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (MLBB) will return as the headline esports event at the 33rd Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Thailand, marking its fourth consecutive appearance at the multi-sport event. The popular mobile game will feature both men’s and women’s medaled competitions, building on its status as the most-watched SEA Games esports event. At the 2023 SEA Games in Cambodia, MLBB drew peak viewership of 1.46 million for the men’s and 1.37 million for the women’s tournaments, according to Esports Charts. In collaboration with the Thailand E-Sports Federation, MLBB’s developer, MOONTON Games, aims to expand esports’ economic and tourism impact across Thailand, leveraging the SEA Games as a platform to engage a growing community of esports fans and players in Southeast Asia. The 33rd SEA Games, set for December 2025, will feature athletes from 11 countries in the region.

Pokémon TCG Pocket Hits $12M Revenue in Four Days

The mobile version of the Pokémon Trading Card Game, Pokémon TCG Pocket, has generated over $12 million within four days of release, according to Appmagic estimates reported by MobileGamer.biz. Japan leads in in-game spending at 45%, followed by the U.S. at 25%. However, the U.S. accounts for the most downloads at 29%, followed by Brazil with 11%. Pokémon TCG Pocket’s official X account announced it surpassed 10 million downloads in four days, with Appmagic estimating 12 million the next day. iOS users contributed $10.5 million of the game’s revenue so far, showcasing strong demand across platforms.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Tops PC Game Revenue in September

Saber Interactive’s Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, released on September 9, became the highest-grossing PC game in September 2024, according to Newzoo data. With 2.5 million copies sold in its debut month, the title swiftly became the most-played Warhammer game on Steam, surpassing previous records. Despite delays and a canceled beta, the game’s €59.99 price on Steam has proven profitable, with production costs reportedly half that of Doom Eternal. Space Marine 2 also led revenue among shooter games across six major markets, trailing only NBA 2K24 overall. PC sales drove 36% of revenue, cementing the game’s strong market performance.

MPL Malaysia Season 14 Sets New Viewership Record

The recently concluded MPL Malaysia Season 14, part of the Mobile Legends: Bang Bang esports series, achieved a record-breaking peak viewership of 812,911, according to Esports Charts. This marked an increase of roughly 180,000 viewers from Season 13's peak, which previously held the record for Malaysia’s regional league. The season also saw an uplift in average viewership, rising to 94,956 from 71,290 in Season 13. The surge highlights the growing popularity of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang in Malaysia, as fan engagement continues to climb with each season of the regional league.

Nintendo’s new Alarmo smart clock, a $100 device designed to brighten mornings with Nintendo-themed visuals, has joined the long list of unexpected platforms to run Doom, thanks to hardware enthusiast GaryOderNichts. Known for hacking Nintendo devices, GaryOderNichts took on the challenge as a nod to the classic tradition of running id Software’s 1993 first-person shooter on unlikely hardware.

The journey began with GaryOderNichts figuring out how to run custom code on the Alarmo, which he initially demonstrated by displaying a cat image. Following this success, his followers requested Doom, and on November 2, he delivered: Doom now runs on the Alarmo, albeit without audio, due to memory constraints. He achieved this feat by compressing the Doom .wad file and loading it from USB, avoiding any modifications to the device itself.

Perhaps the most amusing part? Doom is playable via the Alarmo’s built-in controls. Users can twist the clock’s "bell" to turn, press down to move forward, and use side buttons to fire. While it’s mostly a proof of concept, GaryOderNichts has shared his source code on GitHub for other enthusiasts eager to push Nintendo’s alarm clock to its limits.