The fall gaming season grows sparser still today, as Ubisoft announces the delay of Splinter Cell Conviction and Red Steel 2, with I am Alive and Ghost Recon slipping into the next fiscal year.
Splinter Cell Conviction and Red Steel 2, two of the breakout titles from this year's E3 Expo, won't be making their original 2009 release dates, according to Ubisoft's first-quarter 2009 sales report. The two titles are now slated for release in the 4th quarter of 2009, which in Ubisoft's case places their release sometime in the window of January to March 2010. Two additional titles, I am Alive and Ghost Recon, have been pushed to fiscal year 2010-2011, which kicks off in April of 2010. From Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot:
"We are disappointed that we have to postpone the release of several major games but we consider that this choice is the best one in the long-term interests of Ubisoft. Lastly, we are having to adjust our full-year targets to take into account the fall in business over the first half. The excellent response to our games at E3, as well as the high buzz generated for titles such as Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell Conviction and Avatar, reinforce our belief that the company can achieve strong growth in the second half of the fiscal year."
During the conference call, Yves furthe rexplained that the team working on Red Steel 2 requested more time to polish all of the maps, and that the demo shown at E3 didn't reflect the quality of the rest of the game in its current state.
On the bright side, we should have plenty of money to buy presents for other people this Holiday season, right?