Ubisoft Q3 sales up 24 percent
Xbox 360 and Wii sales account for almost half of French publisher's holiday revenues; Haze and PS3 GRAW 2 delayed, Blazing Angels Secret Missions confirmed.
Few publishers have ever embraced a new system with the fervor Ubisoft took to the Wii. Back in August, the French publisher promised to have seven new games ready for the system's launch. Even though some of those titles failed to hit shelves on day one (Open Season, Far Cry Vengeance, and Blazing Angels all slipped), the games that were released sold well enough to make Ubisoft the top third-party publisher on the system in both the US and Europe, according to a financial report released by the company today.
Even beyond the Wii, Ubisoft trumpeted a strong third fiscal quarter (October through December 2006) that saw its sales jump 24 percent over the year before to 311 million euros ($408 million). For the first nine months of its fiscal year, Ubisoft posted 483 million euros ($628 million) in revenue, a 20 percent jump over the 403 million euros ($524 million) it managed in the first nine months of last year.
Xbox 360 games were the biggest driver of the company's sales, accounting for 28 percent of its quarterly revenues thanks to releases like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent. In the previous year's third quarter, sales of Ubisoft's Xbox 360 game catalog--which contained only Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie--made up only 5 percent of Ubisoft revenues.
Meanwhile, games for the Wii--which wasn't even launched until more than halfway through the quarter--made up 21 percent of Ubisoft's take for the period, with Red Steel being a top seller for the company. The Wii and the Xbox 360 combined accounted for 49 percent of Ubisoft's quarterly revenue. The publisher did not include the PlayStation 3 by name in its sales breakdown for the quarter, but the December release of Blazing Angels on the system is presumably covered by the 1 percent of the company's revenue it attributes to "other" platforms.
Ubisoft also released a few tidbits of game-specific news in its filing. First off, the company's first-person shooter Haze, originally scheduled for release on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC by March 31, has slipped into the next fiscal year. The PS3 edition of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 has also hit a bump, as Ubisoft only listed the Xbox 360, PSP, and PC editions as coming out this quarter. A representative told GameSpot it will come out sometime in the company's next fiscal year. Also, the publisher confirmed that a Blazing Angels follow-up spotted on online retailers is coming to the Xbox 360 and PC by the end of March.
Going forward, Ubisoft looks to continue its support for the Wii in the future, with four new games planned for release by the end of its fiscal year (Blazing Angels, Driver: Parallel Lines, TMNT, Prince of Persia: Rival Swords). Three more had been penciled in for the company's fourth quarter but were bumped back to the next fiscal year, much like Haze.
Finally, the company increased its revenue projections for the year in light of its third-quarter results. For the full fiscal year, Ubisoft now expects sales to be up 16 percent as opposed to its previous 10-12 percent projected range.
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Developer: Ubisoft Shanghai
Genre: Modern Action Adventure
Platform: X360
Release Date: Oct 17, 2006
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64 Comments
Not bad
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Well, aslong as Red Steel is good.
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obiKKa?
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any of u on
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Not bad
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Only ports for the Wii... This is a bit like a little boy (Nintendo) somehow promoting something to a taller guy, or whatever (Ubisoft), & saying that this thing/service would be great for the public at school or whatever. However, the taller guy does something that is both good & bad, & eventually leaves a sour taste on that service/thing on the public's tongues.
I don't know how to explain it, but I'm sure you get it.
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Well hey did day 1% other, indicating the PS3. The other 50% is the older consols...xbox...ps2...gamecube...
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With games like Splinter Cell and Rainbow 6 I can't say I'm suprised!
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Well let me start by saying I bought my first Ubisoft game for the 360 yesterday. Rainbow Six Vegas is by far an amazing game! All I can say is that I'm glad to see success for this game developer. Thanks for the realistic shooters!
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Nice job.
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Ubisoft has always had great games, Go Ubisoft !
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GRAW2 looks solid..i just wish the 360 would get more than just shooters...although they do have the BEST shooters on any console ever IMO...just would like to see more variety. Americans aren't ALL about tags and frags.
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Gee, I wonder what drove the other 51% of their quarterly revenue? Nice of them to fail to mention that. Yet another news story featuring selective reporting at Gamespot.
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RS Vegas is awesome and I'm looking forward to GRAW 2, speaking of which, another delay for the PS3. Looks like the 360 version is a definite for me then, having said that there would have to be some serious incentive to make me pay the extra £10 UK for the PS3 version anyway !
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yee ha for the ubi soft, apparently -they not be soft!
Really good to see them supporting the Wii, and Vegas is awesome, I have bought 3 of their games i9n the past two monthy- they must be doin good as i usually avoid them using a large barge pole!
But seriously guys- what the hell is red steel- come on!
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lol the xwii60 fanKIDS attack again!!! seariously KIDS tell mommy and daddy to give you a life.....
it won't hurt trust me...
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Ubisoft has put some great games out to the market in the last year - no wonder - keep it up guys!!
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Hats off to Ubisoft! Their policy of no regional coding for 360 has meant their games can be played by all of who own "non-official" machines which must add to their sales revenue!
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they are a really good developer and I truly am looking forward to their upcoming titles for the 360.
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no surprise here, they have made plenty of good games
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Ok Ubisoft...the Wii launch was...mediocre, but I still have faith in you. Red Steel was alright...needing some tweaking...and Rayman was imo awesome. However...
Don't think I'm going to let you get away with that sorry excuse for a game you call FarCry!
THE WORST GAME EVER CREATED FOR THE WII SO FAR! THERE I SAID IT!
let's hope for some better titles in the future...
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ubisoft sure is having a great time
although im kinda surprised to see RED STEEL there instead of RAYMAN 4
which was acres ahead of red steel in terms of quality
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yeah, ubisoft must hate ps3
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haha....another game delayed for ps3
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LOL. GRAW 2 delayed for PS3.
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oblivion, FEAR, Haze, GRAW 2, Devil May Cry.
These are the few games for the PS3 that have been delayed LOL
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Can someone say ps3 dev kits suck! haha lol
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blazing angels for the wii? doesn't sound too good...
thats still pretty sad though that a lot of their sales came from red steel
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lol go figure, another PS3 delay...
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Can't wait for GRAW 2.
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Though Red Steel wasn't a great game at least it provided enough sales to keep a great third party developer for the Wii.
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Good news for them but damn GRAW 2 PS3 delayed
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I guess it's reasonable that they increased sales since they really make good console games. Too bad i can't say the same for their PC games.
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The Wii is responsible for 21 % in such a small time frame? That's pretty impressive.
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Notice another PS3 delay...... GRAW 2 360 here I come!
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I'm anticipating G.R.A.W. 2 this spring. And everything else that ends up being good is simply a bonus for me.
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Lots of bad games.
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They put out some good sellers last year.
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Wow, really nice ! I love Ubisoft they are doing absolutly great games ! I can't wait for their next game on the Wii and the x360 (Assassin's creed ! Miam !)
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GO UBISOFT!!!
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yes, the same company that brought me my copy of splintercell:double agent that doesnt work for my, and 90-100% of every other 8800GTX, thanks ubi..
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They should be taxed heavily for making that crappy Red Steel.
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Ubisoft FTW
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Ubisoft is doing it real big this year, i love pretty much all their products, i hope they keep up the good work.
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it seems 360 owners by games
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gatsbythepig i should have invested -----
invest in any compnay that produces DRAM memory or DDR2 memory. Demand is going off the roof and prices get higher every week.
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HOMAM(aka homm) V is the best game they have to release!
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good news from Ubisoft.
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Driver for the Wii?! . . . Nice surprise.
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Well I don't have a wii, but glad in a way. Don't think I am interested in any of the following games..
Blazing Angels, Driver: Parallel Lines, TMNT, Prince of Persia: Rival Swords..
Only Prince of Persia will have any interest, but haven't we seen it all before? Haze looks interesting though.
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