Ubisoft revenues up, several games delayed

Ubisoft reported its financial results for the first quarter (ended June 30) today, and the publisher saw a sizable spike in revenue that it attributed primarily to sales of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter for the Xbox 360 and PC and Heroes of Might and Magic V for the PC.

The Xbox 360 and PC were particularly kind to Ubisoft. Between the two of them, the platforms accounted for 73 percent of the publisher's revenue in the first quarter. For the same stretch of time last year, the PC only made up 30 percent of the publisher's business, while the Xbox 360 had not yet been released.

The company's take of 70 million euros (almost $89 million) for its fiscal first quarter is nearly 63 percent more than it brought for the same period last year. That quarter's biggest release for the company was Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance.

For the company's second fiscal quarter (July-September), Ubisoft expects to rack up sales of 78 million euros (about $99 million), a significant shortfall from the 110 million euros it took in for the second quarter last year. Ubisoft's expectations would no doubt be higher, but the publisher also confirmed that it has delayed the release of Splinter Cell Double Agent to "the end of October," pushing it out of the company's second quarter entirely. Instead, Ubisoft will have to bank on the performance of new releases Open Season and Enchanted Arms, as well as Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow for the PlayStation 2 and PC, which it is publishing in Europe.

Looking a little bit further out, the holiday-encompassing third quarter could be a good one for Ubisoft. It now plays host to a handful of big releases from the publisher. In addition to Double Agent, the company is expecting to launch Rayman Raving Rabbids, Red Steel, and Rainbow Six Vegas by the end of 2006.

[UPDATE] Two more Ubisoft titles were pushed back, as Dark Messiah of Might and Magic and the PC edition of Resident Evil 4 were mysteriously absent from the publisher's list of games launching through September. An Ubisoft representative told GameSpot that Dark Messiah of Might and Magic had in fact been delayed to mid-October.

As for Resident Evil 4, PC gamers might need to muster all the patience of a "Las Plagas" colony in stasis to get their hands on the game. The rep had no revised release date for the game and couldn't give an official reason for the delay.