Ubisoft Announce Q1 2007 Report News
Chris Leyton
28/07/2006
A strong first quarter for the French publisher thanks to GRAW and HOMM5, who pledges the rebirth of Driver...
Ubisoft today announced a strong first quarter for the period ending June 30th 2006, based around strong demand for Ghost recon Advanced Warfighter and the reappearance of Might & Magic.
Revenue for the period stood at 70 million euros (£47.8 million), representing an increase of 62% compared to the same period last year. Ubisoft also managed to exceed its original sales expectations of 60 million euros (£41 million), with 85% of sales coming from high-margin formats (PC and next-gen).
With over 570,000 cpies sold on the Xbox 360 and PC, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon advanced Warfighter was one of the key successes for the French publisher, who also saw Heroes of Might & Magic V reignite the franchise with over 350,000 copies sold.
A 34% increase in sales across North America was attributed to the rise, which represented 49% of Ubisoft's total revenue compared to 31% during the same period last year.
Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft said "Ubisoft had a very good start of the year thanks to the success of Heroes of Might & Magic(r) V on the PC and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, the highest selling game on the Xbox360(tm) in 2006 . We are also pleased to note the spectacular launch of the Nintendo DS Lite(tm) and the solid performance of the Xbox 360 in the American market, a trend which bodes well for the coming upturn of the video games market."
For Q2 of fiscal 2007, Ubisoft expects sales of approximately 78 million euros based around the release of Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Open Season and Enchanted Arms. The French publisher hopes this will lead to a stable first half compared to last year, with Q3 witnessing strong activity with the release of Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Rayman Raving Rabbids, Red Steel, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas and further titles.
Yves Guillemot added : "Ubisoft continues its investments in order to be a dominant player on next-generation consoles. On July 13th we announced the upcoming acquisition of Driver(r) and its technology, as well as the integration of its development team. Driver(r) is a mythic brand which has already sold more than 14 million units around the world. This striking acquisition allows us to enter the driving game segment, one of the most important segments in the video game industry. We've already proved our ability to relaunch brands and make them into franchises that create strong value. Driver will stand with Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell(r), Prince of Persia(r), Rayman(r), Brothers in Arms(tm), Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon(r) (...), as one of the major Ubisoft franchises."