Ubisoft: Years Of Assassin's Creed To Come

Assassin's Creed as a brand will be around for "years to come," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said during today's conference call.

Assassin's Creed has sold 6 million units since launch, Guillemot said, as he summarized a corporate strategy that relies on enduring in-house brands balanced against the introduction of new franchises.

No mention of February 2008's Assassin's Creed: Altaïr's Chronicles for DS was made during the call, but Ubisoft's enthusiasm for the original game's "better-than-expected" performance seemed to indicate an interest in more adventures for Altaïr in the future.

Take-Two Only Lost $38 Million Last Quarter, Seems Pleased

Take-Two Interactive had plenty to sing about today. There was the official word on BioShock 2, even more Carnival Games for little girls and boys to enjoy and a reaffirmation of Grand Theft Auto IV's worldwide ship date of April 29. Yay! Sure, there were some delays, but all in all, not bad. The best news? The company managed to only lose 38 million bucks in its first fiscal quarter of 2008! That's better than the Take-Two gang had expected, with Strauss Zelnick, Chairman of Take-Two, saying he was "pleased." This is how you lose money, people—with a faint hint of a smile on your face.

In a call to investors and analysts, Zelnick and crew chalked up the better than planned for quarter to sales of stuff like Carnival Games and Manhunt 2, plus portions of Take-Two's back catalog. I'm not much of a gambler, but I'd be willing to wager that next quarter, they'll do much, much better.

Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2008 Financial Results [Take-Two]

Ubisoft Makes Money, Plans More Prince of Persia

French publisher Ubisoft was rather pleased with itself for its performance for the previous quarter, raking in some $650 million in revenue on strong sales of Assassin's Creed and some Petz or Babyz nonsense. Whatever the cause, champagne corks were popping on news that sales were up some 44% over the same quarter the previous year. Good news for those at Ubi, but maybe not for someone looking to acquire the company.

The only bad news? Haze was pushed back. Again. Prince of Persia fans, however, have something to look forward to.

GameStop Raking In The Dough, Another Record Quarter

If we could do the whole birth thing all over again, we would make sure that GameStop was our uncle. Because their sales last quarter were through the roof, rising 59% from last year and totaling $1.6 billion. Hardware sales and software sales both had large gains, with the top titles being Madden NFL 08, Guitar Hero III, BioShock and Wii Play. Now we understand where GameStop got all that cash to open over 5,000 stores. You know, us.

GameStop Raises Forecast on Record Q3 [nextgeneration]

It may not have been the biggest entertainment launch event of the year, or however Halo 3's launch was marketed by the team at Microsoft, but Activision's haul for the launch week of Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was more than respectable. The company posted quarterly earnings today—some $317 million and a record for Activision—bolstered by healthy sales of the fourth game in the Guitar Hero series.

The company expects an even better follow-up quarter with something along the lines of a billion dollars in revenue, a good portion of it spread across the four separate releases of Guitar Hero III.

Guitar Hero Leads Activision's Record Q2 [Next-Gen]

Microsoft's Games Division Doesn't Lose Money Again

Best Buy's Big Game Gains