Ubisoft reports €495m Q3 sales
U Play racks up 1 million registered users via Assassin's Creed II, service to be rolled out across other titles
Ubisoft has reported third quarter sales of €495 million (£435m / $683m), down 2.7 per cent compared to the €508 million (£446m / $701m) for the same period last year.
For the nine months to December 31, sales totalled €661 million (£581m / $912m) versus €852 million (£749m / $1.1bn). The numbers are in line with the revised estimates from January 13, with the French publisher pointing to poor DS sales as a major factor in the decline.
The company reiterated plans to release more titles based on existing franchises and focus on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 formats, and shy away from releasing new intellectual projects until the 2011/2012 financial years.
The company said its online strategy for this year includes releases Might & Magic Heroes in Kingdom, Trackmania 2 and Imagine Town – a new virtual world based on the Imagine franchise which will utilise the UbiWorld portal. The U Play service will also be rolled out to other games after launching with Assassin's Creed II.
The publisher's casual strategy is now focused on "numerous projects" for Microsoft's Project Natal, "several games" for the PlayStation Arc motion controller and "many games" for Facebook, as well as new Wii games based on Wii hit Just Dance.
Releases in Q4 include Assassin's Creed II: Director's Cut for PC, Red Steel 2 for Wii, The Settlers 7: Path to a Kingdom and Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic for PC.
For the fiscal year 2009/2010, the company expects sales of €860 million and an operating loss of €50 million.
For the 2010/2011 year Ubisoft will release at least seven franchise titles, including Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction, Driver, Prince of Persia The Forgotten Sands, Assassin's Creed II, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Raving Rabbids, RUSE and one new brand.