Clancy and Red Steel help boost Ubisoft sales 24%
Publisher also becomes No1. third-party Wii publisher in Europe and US
The Tom Clancy franchise and new Wii title Red Steel has helped Ubisoft exceed expectations for the third quarter, with sales rising 24 per cent to EUR 311 million.
Total sales for the nine months to December 31 were up 22 per cent to EUR 483 million.
The publisher singled out the performance of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas and new Wii IP Red Steel, resulting in sales of EUR 16 million in Q3.
Next-gen titles accounted for 63 per cent of sales in the third quarter, up from 18 per cent in the previous year.
"We saw excellent sales for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas - which ranked as the third best-seller in December for the Xbox 360 system in the United States - as well as sustained success for Red Steel and Rayman, which have ranked number two and three in sales for the Wii in the US and Europe since the console launched," said Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft.
The decision to support the Wii with a large portfolio of titles in its first months of release has resulted in 21 per cent of sales for the third quarter, making Ubisoft the number one third-party Wii publisher in North America and Europe.
Ubisoft now has a market share of 29.2 per cent in Europe and 18 per cent in the US on Wii software.
Xbox 360 titles accounted for 28 per cent of sales, making the publisher the number two third-party publisher on the format in the US and Europe. The publisher has a market share in Europe and the US of 14.6 per cent and 13.4 per cent, respectively, for Xbox 360 titles.
Nintendo DS titles accounted for 9 per cent of sales in Q3, up from 5 per cent over the previous year.
Ubisoft is now expecting quarter four sales to reach EUR 152 million, up from last year's EUR 144 million.
"2007 will be the year of the next-generation consoles, with the ramp-up of the PS3 and Xbox 360 systems," said Guillemot.
"We will also see new consumers - particularly women - entering the market, drawn by the remarkable success of the Wii and the Nintendo DS. In 2007-08, Ubisoft will apply all of its expertise in order to leverage this full scope of opportunities, and thereby step up growth and considerably improve profitability."
Ubisoft's first-person shooter Haze, developed by Free Radical Design, will now be released in the fourth quarter, along with three new Wii titles.