Key Titles, Back Catalog Help Ubi Beat Expectations

Strong performance from Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Assassin's Creed and Rayman Raving Rabbids helped Ubisoft exceed its estimates for its fiscal first quarter, the company said today. Ubi saw net sales up about 26% to €169 million ($263.65 million), while the publisher did €134 million ($209.05 million) over the same period last year. Its Petz, Imagine and MyCoach series from its "Games for Everyone" line also pitched in, representing a third of the publisher's total sales. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 has sold 6 million units, Assassin's Creed has now sold 7 million units, and Rayman Raving Rabbids has sold 1.5 million units. Nonetheless, Ubi owes about 55% of its sales to its back catalog.As it gets ready to publish Soulcalibur IVon Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 in Europe, along with Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC in September, Ubisoft expects its full-year performance to come out a little bit higher than it expected — €1.02 billion ($1.59 million) instead of €1 billion ($1.6 billion). It also plans to announce more casual titles for Wii and DS that it says will help with sales. We have a dynamic market, a good lineup, and a good start for the first three months," said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. All this means we can have a very good year for the company."