Earlier today, publisher Ubisoft warned that it wasn't going to have quite the year it was expecting, in part due to big delays, in part due to its efforts on the Nintendo DS and Wii. So it's changing course.
Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft put the blame on Ubisoft's worse than expected 2009-2010 on "considerable contraction in the DS market" and "non-casual Wii titles reporting lower-than-expected sales." Oh, and Avatar sales apparently sucked too, maybe due to the game being released weeks before the billion-dollar blockbuster landing in theaters. Maybe.
So Ubi's going to "continue to refocus our development resources on our major franchises and on the Xbox 360 and PS3, the two consoles which are expected to see sales growth in games for gamers in 2010," according to Yves.
Sounds like Ubisoft still plans on pumping out casual-friendly games for the Wii market, very happy with its success with Just Dance for Nintendo's console.
We're not sure which of Ubi's recent "non-casual" Wii releases are to blame—Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage? Academy of Champions: Soccer? Rabbids Go Home? CSI: Deadly Intent? Your Shape featuring Jenny McCarthy? Cook Wars? The Price is Right? Family Feud? TMNT: Smash-Up? Where's Waldo?, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs?—or even which of those the company files under "non-casual," but the publisher is definitely changing gears in 2010-2011.
Oh, and Ubisoft's new projection for the 2009-2010 year, ending in March? Down to €860 million from €1.040 billion.