Just Dance, Assassin's Creed boost Ubisoft Q3 sales to €652m

Sales for Ubisoft's third quarter were up 8.8 per cent to €652 million ($849.1) off the back of strong Assassin's Creed and Just Dance performance.

The Just Dance series shipped 13 million units during the quarter, with sales of Just Dance 3 now at 7 million units. Shipments of Assassin's Creed: Revelations hit 7 million units.

The company's online business saw sales increase 159 per cent driven by the strong performance of Settlers Online and Howrse, as well as an increase in digital distribution. During a conference call to investors, Ubisoft also confirmed that the highly-praised 2D game Rayman: Origins has been a profitable release for the company.

"Our unique positioning as a creator of brands for both core and casual gamers enabled us to capture new market share in the console games segment in 2011 while significantly growing our online business," commented Yves Guillemot, CEO.

"In fiscal 2012-13, we will start to capitalise on the large-scale investments we have undertaken more than three years ago, with the ramp-up of our offering for core gamers and notably a strong comeback into the major segment of shooter games.

"We also expect to see sustained growth in our online and digital revenue during the year. In the longer term we have solid opportunities for continued growth and profitability thanks to the arrival of the new generation of consoles and our plans to extend to all our titles the benefits and economic models of online games."

Nine month sales to December 31 totalled €900 million, up from €861 million for the same period last year.

For the full financial year, Ubisoft expects sales of between €1.05 billion and €1.08 billion, with fourth quarter sales between €150 million and €180 million.

The company also announced that Far Cry 3 will release this year September 6, and Assassin's Creed III is set for October 30.