Ubisoft beats projections with strong Q2 results

French publisher Ubisoft has announced financial results for the three months ended September 30th, revealing that revenues beat growth expectations thanks mostly to strong sales of the Tom Clancy franchise.

Revenue stood at 68 million Euro, representing growth of some 9 per cent over last year's figure, with titles including Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow and Myst IV: Revelation cited as key to the firm's success during the quarter.

Interestingly, much of that growth occurred in Europe, where Ubisoft has seen as 16 per cent jump in the percentage of sales generated during the first half - rising from 41 per cent last year to 57 per cent this year.

Strong growth is expected to continue through the second half of the year, with the firm projecting 13 per cent growth in revenues for the six months through to March 31st 2005 thanks to key pre-Christmas titles such as Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Ghost Recon 2, and early 2005 titles including Brothers in Arms and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory.

According to CEO Yves Guillemot, the firm is also making headway in its drive to significantly expand its development studios; "as of the end of September, we had attained 70 per cent of our annual objective of new talent recruitment," he said in a statement on the results.

The firm also used the announcement of its financials as an opportunity to reveal its latest licensing deal, with an agreement now in place with Lucasarts which will see Ubisoft developing and publishing a game based on the forthcoming movie Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith for PSP, Nintendo DS and GBA.