Nintendo DS Proves Strongest for Ubisoft

on 25.10.2008 at 04:51 User Icon

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Tags: Ubisoft, Financial Report, Wii, DS, Imagine, Sports Party

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Ubisoft has released its latest financial document and revealed that the Nintendo DS has been the biggest profit maker for it by far.

Whilst last year's offerings from Ubisoft may have helped to rake in the money, this year appears to be even bigger for the company, mainly thanks to the Nintendo DS. Last year's titles are still going strong, with Assassin's Creed (PS3, 360, DS) now well over five million globally and Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 on Wii/DS upwards of a million sales units, whilst Ubisoft is hoping for sales between two-to-three million for Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia (a version of which is to hit DS) and Shaun White Snowboarding (coming to Wii and DS, amongst several other platforms). It is also hoping that the third Rayman Raving Rabbids (Wii/DS exclusive) and Tom Clancy's EndWar (also coming to DS) will both surpass a million each with ease. It was also stressed how Ubisoft had sold more games in the UK over the past two weeks on the DS than Nintendo itself, a first in the format's three-plus year history.

Strong sales of Ubisoft's casual line-up (38% of the company's total sales this period), including the likes of UK chart mainstays Imagine Teacher and My Secret World by Imagine, both on DS, as well as PlayZone Sports Party on Wii, have helped the company to state its expectations of hitting roughly ?500 million for the entire of this Fiscal Year, which would be an 11% increase over last year's result.

Below are the breakdowns of where Ubisoft's main sales stem from, as well as what formats are the best performers for its products:

Breakdown of Sales by Geographic Region
1.) Europe - 65%
2.) North America - 29%
3.) Rest of world - 6%

Breakdown of Sales by Platform
1.) Nintendo DS - 39% (sixteen new titles during period)
2.) Xbox 360 - 20% (three new titles)
3.) PlayStation 3 - 20% (three new titles)
4.) Wii - 11% (six new titles)
5.) PC - 6% (six new titles)
6.) PlayStation Portable - 2% (one new titles)
7.) PlayStation 2 - 1% (zero new titles)

"Ubisoft delivered a robust performance in the second fiscal quarter against an uncertain environment. We are carefully and regularly monitoring changes in the economic context in order to factor them into our market forecasts and financial targets. Going forward, we are confident that the video game industry will be able to continue its dynamic growth in 2008 and 2009, buoyed by the increase in the installed base for consoles coupled with the steady influx of new consumers. At the same time, we believe that thanks to the diversity and quality of Ubisoft's games line-up ? which caters to both hardcore and casual gamers ? we are ideally positioned to continue to win market share in the coming years. Holiday 2008 will be another demonstration of this, as we are introducing a gaming experience for everyone."
- Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer.

For those interested, Ubisoft is still one of the strongest Third Party developers in the world today. Its market share in the first nine calendar months of 2008 saw the company rank as the fourth biggest independent publisher in the United States with a 5.1% share; third in Europe with 8.1%; second in France with 7.5%; fourth in the United Kingdom with 8.4%; and third in Germany with a 7.6% market share. Also of note, it seems the next entry into the ANNO strategy series is being delayed from the 2008-9 Fiscal Year to help strengthen the 2009-10 window instead, along with an as-of-yet unannounced franchise that was also initially scheduled for before the close of March 2009.

What could the unannounced franchise be? Could Red Steel have been put back until the next Fiscal Year in order to make full use of the Wii MotionPlus control system?

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