Ubisoft Annual Sales Rise 24%

[Dante]

Paris-based Ubisoft’s fiscal Q4 and total annual sales got a boost from its military franchises and movie-licensed product, the company reported today.

Annual sales rose 24 percent to 680 million euros ($925 million) compared 547 million euros a year prior, thanks in part to strong sales of Tom Clancy titles, Rayman and TMNT, among others.

 

Sales for Ubisoft’s Q4 ended March 31 were up 37 percent to 197 million euros, beating the company's target of 152 million euros.

 

During the quarter, the company released Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2, which sold 1 million units on Xbox 360.

 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which was based on the movie TMNT, sold 1.1 million units across eight platforms during Ubisoft’s Q4.

 

Older titles continued to sell well through the quarter, including Rainbow Six Vegas with 1.7 million sold to date; Rayman and Red Steel, which have sold 830K and 950K respectively; and The Petz series of games which sold 3.5 million during the fiscal year.

 

The company said that it was the number one independent publisher on Wii and number two on Nintendo DS and Xbox 360 in the US.

 

Ubisoft said that during its fiscal Q4, it attained more market share in the US and Europe. The company said that during the most recent quarter it was the third-largest independent publisher in the US with market share of 6.7 percent versus 6.1 percent a year prior.

 

European market share grew to 8.6 percent from 7.6 percent.

 

The company has yet to announce its latest annual profit figures, but said that it would be raising its full-year operating income target to about 5.5 percent of sales from 4 percent of sales.

 

Ubisoft also raised its forecasts for the current fiscal year to 800 million euros from the prior forecast of 750-766 million euros "in order to reflect the quality of its games line-up and favorable outlook for the sector." The company confirmed previous profit guidance of “at least” 8 percent of total sales for this year.

 

Titles set for release this fiscal year include the newly-announced End War strategy game, games within the Brothers in Arms and Splinter Cell franchises, Assassin’s Creed, Haze, Surf’s Up, Lost and Naruto.

 

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in a statement, “We intend to reap the full benefits of the ramp-up of new generation consoles and grow, again this year, our presence in the casual market on the Wii and Nintendo DS systems. Ubisoft should continue to win market share and significantly boost its profitability in 2007-08.”

 

He added, “…Above and beyond the recognized quality of our internal development studios, this year has confirmed the increasingly important role of our Publishing and Third Party Development divisions.”

 

NextGen.Biz

[Konfucius]

Wow RS did really well. Didn't expect it to sell so many copies but then again it's worldwide.

It seemed they really took the right bet in supporting the Wii so much during the beginning - if only the ports were better but al least it payed off for them and that can mean more games for Wii.

[Darkspine S]

Wow RS did really well. Didn't expect it to sell so many copies but then again it's worldwide.

It seemed they really took the right bet in supporting the Wii so much during the beginning - if only the ports were better but al least it payed off for them and that can mean more games for Wii.

 

I suppose, but it all depends on the quality of those games as to whether Ubisofts support is worthwhile. Will we see more ports like far cry?

[Konfucius]

Will we see more ports like far cry?

 

I hope not and I also doubt it.

Ubi's goal was to be one of the key publishers when the Wii launched and I guess that desicion came pretty close to the Wii release date and therefore it ended up with lots of shoddy ports.

 

I have higher expectations for the upcoming titles.