Assassin's Creed III sells 3.5M, Watch Dogs in 2013

Assassin's Creed III is off to a hot start. As part of its financial report for the six-month period ended September 30, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot revealed that first-week sales of the studio's new stealth-action game came in at an estimated 3.5 million copies. This represents a year-on-year increase of over 100 percent from last year's Assassin's Creed: Revelations.

During a post-earnings financial call today (attended by Joystiq), Guillemot dropped another morsel of news. The executive said Ubisoft's futuristic third-person action game Watch Dogs is slated to arrive sometime in 2013. This game was announced during Ubisoft's 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo media briefing in June.

In terms of specific financial figures, Ubisoft posted a €32.3 million ($41.35 million) loss for the six-month period, compared to a €37.1 million ($47.55) loss this time last year. Revenue for the period came in at €279.2 million ($357.88 million), up 12.1 percent from the €248.5 million ($318.13 million) the company hauled a year ago. Major contributors to the uptick in sales were Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and back catalog sales. Additionally, Ubisoft said its online segment jumped 59 percent year-over-year to €28 million ($35.9 million).

As for the period's loss, Guillemot explained that this was to be expected based on the cost of the company's marketing spend for its major third quarter titles including Assassin's Creed III and Far Cry 3. Additionally, the executive added that it is those very titles that are expected to lead Ubisoft to a record second-half financial performance.

To that end, Ubisoft has updated its full-year sales guidance, which is now expected to come in at between €1.2 billion ($1.54 billion) and €1.26 billion ($1.62 billion). This is compared to a previous target of between €1.16 billion ($1.49 billion) and €1.2 billion ($1.54 billion).