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Ubisoft raises guidance, lacks Conviction

Publisher ups full-year outlook after 26 percent climb in Q1 sales to $264 million; Splinter Cell now due before March 31, 2010.

Ubisoft made a number of poor predictions concerning its fiscal-year outlook in 2007. Fortunately for the publisher, those goofs were due to conservative expectations in regard to its total revenue, and Ubisoft raised its guidance several times before finally reporting €928.3 million ($1.5 billion) in full-year earnings. On the back of a strong first quarter, the publisher said today that it would be kicking off fiscal year 2009 with another mea culpa, revising its guidance upward for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2009.

Beating its initial guidance of €154 million ($241 million), Ubisoft said today that its fiscal first-quarter sales hit €169 million ($264 million) for the period ended June 30. That figure marks a nearly 26 percent climb over the same period last year, when the publisher posted revenues of €134 million ($210 million).

Ubisoft attributed the success to a number of factors, including continued strong sales of Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Assassin's Creed, and Rayman Raving Rabbids 2, as well as another strong showing from its casual Games for Everyone lineup. The publisher noted that its Petz, Imagine, and MyCoach series accounted for a full third of the company's first-quarter sales, up from 11 percent a year ago.

"Ubisoft delivered a very robust showing in the first quarter of 2008-09 against a particularly dynamic market backdrop," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. "This achievement was especially fueled by ongoing strong growth for our Games for Everyone range, where we are continuing to strengthen our leadership position. We are notably very pleased to see our latest work, My Weight Loss Coach, ranked among the best-sellers for the Nintendo DS."

The publisher's track record notwithstanding, Ubisoft took a stab at projecting its second-quarter performance, saying that revenues would see a similar 26 percent hike to €160 million ($250 million). The publisher believes that growth will be driven for the quarter by the launch of Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway for the Xbox 360, PC, and PlayStation 3, casual games for the Nintendo DS and Wii, as well as the release of Soulcalibur IV (which Ubisoft is publishing in Europe).

As mentioned, Ubisoft also said today that it has raised its guidance for its fiscal full-year sales. Previously pegged at €1 billion ($1.56 billion), the publisher now believes that sales will hit €1.02 billion ($1.59 billion), thanks to gaming-industry market conditions, its first-quarter performance, and the reception of its upcoming games that the publisher received during this year's E3 Media & Business Summit.

One game that will not be contributing to that growth will be the oft-delayed Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction. As part of its financial report, the publisher noted that Sam Fisher's next excursion has once again stalled. Ubisoft now expects the game to arrive during its 2009-2010 fiscal year, which runs from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010.

225 Comments

  • guitardude1243

    Posted May 18, 2009 8:46 pm GMT

    Yeah, it's good they decided to ditch the whole "fleeing because they think I'm an enemy" thing and switch to a more sound concept.

  • cyw1988

    Posted Nov 26, 2008 12:31 am GMT

    Don't do a starcraft Ghost on us... =X

  • xXxManslayerxXx

    Posted Nov 20, 2008 5:58 pm GMT

    my guess is that the delay comes from a lot of AAA games that recently went out, they need to pick a date that doesn't have as many high profile games that just wwent gold, although it's a good thing i don't know much about game development but i suppose that they will use the extra time to make it better.

  • cjfuka

    Posted Nov 19, 2008 6:23 pm GMT

    How long How Long

  • toyota23

    Posted Oct 19, 2008 4:43 am GMT

    So they posponded this game because they saw that Metal gear solid was to good! Maybe they will make it better, lets tust hope.

  • HA_Chaosagent

    Posted Oct 3, 2008 7:09 pm GMT

    They better hope Conviction be good or an angry fan is going to be pissed!

  • bababubab

    Posted Sep 28, 2008 10:53 am GMT

    wow this game looks better like "Splinter cell BOM"

  • Baldur3272

    Posted Sep 17, 2008 12:23 pm GMT

    awwwwwww.....

  • Baldur3272

    Posted Sep 17, 2008 12:23 pm GMT

    awwwwwww.....

  • 666_Lucifer

    Posted Sep 17, 2008 5:34 am GMT

    Bull-crap, i hope they have already started TCSC: conviction 2!!!!!! cause 2016 in on its way!

  • Dark-X-

    Posted Sep 7, 2008 7:17 am GMT

    well, if they must..
    anyway, in the end of the day, we get it un bugged and stuff..

  • drunkboris

    Posted Sep 3, 2008 9:33 pm GMT

    this is a good thing. as far as i can remember SC5 was supposed to be about Sam being on the run, cuz he's a wanted terrorist. Now its changed to him uncovering a mole, so they've definitely gone back to the drawing board. As long as they dont ship a game filled with bugs im happy. DA was a novel idea, but horrifically executed. Hopefully it'll be like CT, but with updated graphics.

  • JJB03

    Posted Aug 31, 2008 4:01 pm GMT

    if they want hype they wont get it cos i mean the splinter cell seiries arnt that good im not sayin its not a great game i hav all 4 games its just that this kind of game arnt hyped like halo or gta

  • division_9

    Posted Aug 16, 2008 7:19 am GMT

    Maybe there delaying it because they want the hype to build up to be bigger.

  • mankeyador

    Posted Aug 14, 2008 5:58 pm GMT

    Why is splinter cell taking a back seat to games that were announced afterwards. I mean come on raving rabids tv party! All I can say is this game better deliver for such a long wait. And they better not pull a nintendo and say we are going all casual.

  • Phoenix534

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 11:55 pm GMT

    This is a good thing. It means that when we get the game, it'll be better. I'd rather have a good game latter than a bad game now.

    BTW, who the hell is Sam Fischer? It's Fisher. Get it right Gamespot.

  • mehrdad1987

    Posted Jul 30, 2008 6:17 am GMT

    Why Ubisoft???????!!!?!?!?!!?

  • thenephariouson

    Posted Jul 27, 2008 10:26 am GMT

    I know the delay is dissapointing, however they must have good reason, maybe they are overhauling it, who knows, as long as the end result is worth the wait i dont really care. After all this is Ubisoft who dont exactly have a bad track record. Lets just wait and see.

  • go-cizmek

    Posted Jul 27, 2008 7:36 am GMT

    This really sucks.

  • Fishbrain8

    Posted Jul 27, 2008 12:36 am GMT

    Man this sucks. Splinter Cell delayed again. Btw did anyone notice that they wrote Fischer instead of Fisher?

  • ShadoweaverCode

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 5:48 pm GMT

    Ah geez Ubi c'mon!!! The only real MGS4 killer and you guys had to mess it up. SC is one of my favorite series and you guys are starting to screw it up pretty bad *ahem (double agent)* please get it right Ubi. If we have to wait this long, IT BETTER BE GOOD or else I give up on you guys. MGS4 sucks I want a decent stealth game and you guys just keep delivering half-assed mediocre crap! come on get it together!! And for the pete's sakes please get Amon Tobin to do the music again (chaos theory). And bring back the Pandora Tomorrow multi-player please. That whole ranged wireless terminal thing in DA was crap.

  • heavyrawk

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 10:58 am GMT

    Lame.

  • killerdude222

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 9:21 am GMT

    Seriously, this is pathetic. Ubisoft really needs to decide a final date on which this game will be shipped. No more procrastinating.

  • GRB_4Life

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 8:30 am GMT

    Delayed? Doesn't suprise me. Hell, the supoprt team for SC always has been a bit.....Slow.. And if the support team is slow then the development team can't be any better. Maybe after all this profitability they can put more money towards support so thier SC games actually work. (speaking for PC gamers here.)

    By 2010 SC and Sam will be long forgotten by a majority of the crowd. SCDA was a big let down in my opinion. The concepts of the game were excellent but the content and timing of the whole kit n kaboodle was HORRIBLE.

    After the way Double Agent was comprised and presented to us Ubisoft needs to really pull something out of their ass to make anything of a next installment of SC.

    Between the complete lack of support for bugs and video issues during the release of the 8Series GPU from NVIDIA I cannot see how anyone would be excited about another SC release.

    I think they should focus more on Assassins Creed installments. Assassins Creed was very successful. Sales for AC FAR surpassed that of SCDA.

    I think Splinter Cell saw it's last limb with SCDA. Hopefully though, they can prove me wrong...

    We'll see....

  • RonTorque

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 5:43 am GMT

    Splinter Cell...Delayed again?! =S

  • brittoss

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 4:17 am GMT

    I'm wondering if the delay to splinter cell is due to Sam needing extra time to let his hair grow out. He was bald in Double Agent....

  • gwigsmuff

    Posted Jul 26, 2008 2:15 am GMT

    Nice pun in the title there.

  • daveg1

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 11:10 pm GMT

    sc has benn deved for ages now and 2010 is too far off.

  • trystkl1826

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 9:25 pm GMT

    x-2tha-z: Thank you

  • kratos_karmakar

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 8:38 pm GMT

    Ubisoft is probably scared sh1tless after MGS 4 ( some believe to b SC's primary contender). probably reworking on game mechanics and the gameplay hours after the history of SC's measely 6 to 7 hours of gameplay on singleplayer.ok other than that......
    WTF!!!! this article lured me in with the misleading title of Conviction and then fed me a bunch of profit results and teased me with a measely 4 line paragraph on SC: Conviction. soooo annoying.

  • godzillavskong

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 7:16 pm GMT

    Is it even going to make it to the 360 or is it aiming at being released on Microsofts next console??Man, 2010? Well there are plenty of 360 titles out and coming out to keep me gaming for a long time, but still looking forward to this title.

  • Hillsy_

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 5:08 pm GMT

    Well Convictions could be released anytime around April onwards next year. I usually find if a game is delayed it usually means they are making sure everything is solid. I'm sure it will be worth the wait, good to know it is coming out for the PC too. BIA highway will be solid too, no doubts about that one or RE5; then again RE5 is capcom. I think 2009 will be a good year for gaming.

  • dual_barrel

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 4:33 pm GMT

    blah blah blah

  • Star650

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 4:26 pm GMT

    WOW, it seems Ubisoft want to take its time with this, the past SC games didn't take that long to come out.

  • MrsNintendo

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 3:05 pm GMT

    Check out my Images. Do you think I'm cute?

  • danthegamer32

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 2:17 pm GMT

    athenian29, lmao what you said is too true. Just reading jackrocks' comments assure that it truly is possible to sink very low indeed...

  • athenian29

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 12:48 pm GMT

    I find it hilarious how absolutely ANY newsbite can become a fanboy war.

    I love you fanboys, every one. You give me hope whenever I'm depressed, because you remind me that it's always possible to sink lower.

  • x-2tha-z

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 12:35 pm GMT

    trystkl1826 I think you mean COULDN'T care less.

  • MetalMan300

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 12:10 pm GMT

    Wow, this game could be a playstation killer, and Ubisoft will probably delay it so long that it wont even make a difference. Now its up to gears 2 to succeed this year (it probably will anyway).

  • Henninger

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 11:57 am GMT

    Just bring Assassin's Creed 2 on & i'll b happy.

  • trystkl1826

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 11:46 am GMT

    I'm not sure I feel comfortable jumping on the bandwagon of blaming "casual gamers" for the delay of a game. That's giving a lot of power to people that probably could care less about Splinter Cell Conviction. Placing blame does not seem wise.

  • starmanuk50

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 11:44 am GMT

    oh noooooo i have to wait even more
    i thought this game was coming out in next few months not next few years lol oh well.... lets hope its worth the wait because the graphics and idea of the game look very nice indeed.

  • Lemonsquare

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 11:44 am GMT

    Looking forward to Splinter Cell: Convictions, I can't believe how much it is being delayed.

  • kingrich06

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 11:41 am GMT

    better later than bugs now

  • Peaches1347

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 11:39 am GMT

    dag yo i wanted the new splinter cell sooner than later

  • ttime32

    Posted Jul 25, 2008 11:36 am GMT

    attention everyone, in case you haven't noticed taj7575 is an extreme nintedo fanboy, please type at your own risk

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