Ubisoft Full-Year Sales Jump 36% on Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Assassin's Creed

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Ubisoft Full-Year Sales Jump 36% on Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Assassin's Creed
Ubisoft's on a roll. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 has sold around two million and Assassin's Creed has passed six million, leading to a nice sales boost for the company over the last year.
Posted by James Brightman on Thursday, April 24, 2008


French publisher Ubisoft today announced its fourth quarter and full-year fiscal results for the period ended March 31, 2008. Fourth quarter sales were up 10 percent to 217 million euros ($339 million). Full-year sales grew 36.4 percent to 928 million euros ($1.45 billion).

Ubisoft said its strong results were driven by "better-than-expected performances" from Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2, which reached almost two million sell-in units, the Games For Everyone (G4E) brands, which topped 230 million euros in sales for the year, and Assassin's Creed, which has sold over six million units since its release.

Ubisoft also noted that during the first three months of the 2008 calendar year (Q4 of its fiscal), the company posted 38 percent growth in the U.S. (compared with 28 percent for the U.S. market as a whole), with market share of 7.2 percent versus 6.7 percent in the first quarter of 2007. In Europe Ubisoft saw growth of 43 percent (compared with 26 percent for the European market as a whole), with market share of 9.5 percent versus 8.4 percent in the first quarter of 2007. This made Ubisoft the number 3 independent publisher in the U.S. and the number 2 independent publisher in Europe.

"2007-08 was a remarkable year for Ubisoft, underpinned by three strategic achievements: Continued strengthening of existing franchises such as Rainbow Six, Rayman, The Settlers and Ghost Recon which recorded excellent sales levels," commented Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft. "The sharp ramp-up of the 'Games For Everyone' casual range, whose sales figures tripled over the year. A steady output of new releases with Assassin's Creed and Imagine that have performed exceptionally well. These strategic focuses will once again be the key to our success in 2008 which is set to be another record year for the industry with growth expected to reach at least 15%. Ubisoft's games line-up is particularly strong, with no fewer than seven existing franchises, five new releases and new brands in the casual segment."

For the first quarter of the 2008-2009 fiscal year, Ubisoft will release Haze for the PS3, Assassin's Creed and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for PC, and new casual games for the Nintendo DS and Wii. Sales for the period are expected to total about 154 million euros, which would be a 15 percent increase.

For the 2008-2009 year Ubisoft is maintaining a sales target of about 1 billion euros. The company is also raising its guidance for current operating income before stock options to at least 12 percent of sales (up from 11 percent). Ubisoft noted that this "takes into account savings on royalties resulting from the acquisition of the Tom Clancy name for video games and ancillary products as well as the Group's stronger back-catalog following better-than-expected performances in the fourth quarter of 2007-08."

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Guillemot: Ubisoft Open to Big Merger, Looking to Hire 900 People in Next Year
Ubi CEO Yves Guillemot hasn't ruled out a big merger with another party, but in the meantime Ubisoft is on a hiring spree. He also notes that PS3 sales will outstrip 360 sales in Europe, while the Wii will continue to dominate.
Posted by James Brightman on Thursday, April 24, 2008


Following the impressive fiscal results for Q4 and the full year, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot shared his thoughts on Ubisoft's growth and the console war in a conference call.

Ubisoft has been on a terrific growth path, and it's clear that it plans to use its capital to get even bigger. "Our goal is to use the cash if we can find good companies to buy... and we are actively looking at all the opportunities to increase the number of brands, the number of people that can create games and [to improve our] technology," said Guillemot. He added, "As for big mergers, if they are great opportunities we'll take them but we can't say more about that."

Ubisoft noted that it's looking to add another 900 people by next March, which would bring its worldwide staff to 4,500 employees.

Guillemot also talked a bit about the incredibly successful DS. Although some may think the DS handheld will see a slowdown this year following years of explosive growth, Guillemot believes it will continue to sell very well. "We think the DS will continue to grow. Nintendo gave figures today that are very encouraging. What we see on the market is that the DS is performing extremely well and we think that it will [perform even better] than what they expect. We don't think it's [peaked] yet. ... We have lots of new customers coming into the business, so we think the DS will continue to grow very fast."

As for the Wii, Ubisoft is hopeful it can further increase its market share on the popular console. "We have lots of products on the way, including some new party games that we didn't announce yet ... to make sure we can take advantage of the growth and the new population that's [purchasing Wiis]. For next year we also have lots of 'high-end' products for that machine," Guillemot said.

He then weighed in on the console battle in Europe and America. "In Europe the PS3 will continue to grow faster than the Xbox 360," he stated. "In America it's difficult to say because Microsoft is ahead and the installed base will allow them to keep a very good market share. ... But the Wii will be the number one console in the U.S. and Europe, growing extremely fast with new customers and also the quality of the software."