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Ubisoft's Wii U roundtable, now on video
Remember the second developer roundtable that Nintendo held during E3 2011? The one that featured Killer Freaks From Outer Space? First and foremost, it's rude to refer to Nintendo head Satoru Iwata and Ubisoft head Yves Guillemot as killer freaks, not to mention accuse them of being from other outer space. Oh, right, yes, the game. That one. Anyway, the full HD video of that roundtable discussion has been uploaded by Ubisoft, showing the entirety of what we saw, previewed, and broke out in its original presentation. Interested in watching foreign men struggling with the English language in front of dozens of journalists? Or in live gameplay of Ghost Recon Online and Killer Freaks? Here's your chance!
Wii U Assassin's Creed details loosed at Nintendo roundtable
After just barely revealing that an Assassin's Creed title is in the works for Nintendo's Wii U, Ubisoft reps took to the Nintendo roundtable this evening and spoke to some of the features we'll see in the still untitled game (we're calling it "Assassin's Cwiihd"). Well, okay, first Ubisoft wanted to talk about the console itself. First and foremost, the Wii U has "powerful multi-core architecture" which allows Ubisoft to port its engines and assets directly over. And if you're anything like us, you're all about graphical shaders -- you'll be happy to know, then, that the Wii U is totally capable of handling that. Beyond that, the game will, like previous AC titles, have the usual Eagle Vision sense ability. Specific to the Wii U, however, is an interactive map and database -- presumably for use with the WiiPad -- as well as some form of "alternative" puzzle solving. Ubi wouldn't confirm whether the title will be Assassin's Creed 3 or a Wii U version of Revelations or something else entirely, but you can bet we'll be hounding them for answers as the week progresses.
Five Wii U games in development at Ubisoft
During Nintendo's second developer roundtable at E3 2011 this evening, Ubisoft CEO and founder Yves Guillemot spoke to his company's current Wii U development, announcing that five games are currently in development for next year's Wii successor. Among the titles were three announced yesterday during Nintendo's keynote address, as well as one surprising addition: Killer Freaks From Outer Space. What's that, Yves? Spill it! He also reiterated the titles revealed on Tuesday in Assassin's Creed, Ghost Recon Online, and a Raving Rabbids title. It's possible that we missed it during the roundtable, but it seems that one more title is still under wraps. We'll update this post as the presentations progresses, so keep it locked! Update: Killer Freaks From Outer Space is being developed by Ubisoft Montpelier, and it's a "competitive first-person shooter." Apparently it'll be arriving sometime in 2012 alongside the Wii U. Our man on the ground JC Fletcher describes the teaser trailer as taking place in a destroyed London with only one type of "freak" shown. Players will aim WiiPad a la Face Raiders at the various freaks before shooting their faces off.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier scheduled for Q1 2012
During an investors call today, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is now scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2012 (the company's 2011–12 fiscal Q4). This places it at the tail end of the fiscal year, which was the previously given (and rather large) release window. "We want first to assure the best quality possible," Guillemot explained in a moment of déjà vu, "as well as to avoid the very crowded Christmas landscape in the shooter genre." It was as if he was still reading last year's script. On May 18, 2010, Guillemot had offered those exact same reasons about Future Soldier's readiness then, saying, "Due to a very competitive environment, we decided to move the game out of the Christmas [2010] quarter, and into the March [2011] quarter." He added, "It will also provide additional time to our development teams to realize their vision." At this rate, Ubisoft is going to have to change the title to "Ghost Recon: Soldier." Wait a minute -- we already used that one ... These delays are getting old.
Rayman Origins to be 'a big event,' Ubisoft CEO says
Pictured above: Rayman, floppy-haired hero and decliner of limbs, along with dim-witted partner in mischief, Globox. They've been missing since December 2010, but we're happy to report that they're not dead. In an MCV interview published today, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said Rayman Origins was "very much" a Michel Ancel project. So, a bizarre information blackout following a promising announcement was to be expected. "There will be a new Rayman game, Rayman Origins, by Michel Ancel," Guillemot said. "It will be HD in 2D and it will be a big event for the whole industry." It's unclear whether the game will still be episodic, as originally planned, or if it will still be a downloadable title. Ubisoft has not answered any of our specific questions regarding Rayman Origins during the last three months. Aside from being a return to Rayman's roots, the game serves as a showcase for the UbiArt development framework, which allows the incorporation of detailed drawings from a variety of sources into a skeletal animation system. In other words: game so, so pretty.
Ubisoft on next-gen portable dev: 3DS / PSP2 first, 'the other machines' next
After some success getting in on the ground floor with Kinect – Ubisoft was gunning to be the "top third-party publisher" – it's looking to repeat that formula with the upcoming 3DS, dropping six games for the portable's European launch. But with increasingly competent smartphones eating away at the dedicated handheld gaming market, what's Ubisoft's long-term plan for supporting the new portable landscape? While the PSP had, at one point, been a solid platform for Ubisoft – Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines has sold roughly 500,000 units, a Ubi exec noted on this afternoon's earnings call – "today it's a bit more difficult as you have the PSP at the end of its cycle," CEO Yves Guillemot said. With a stated goal to invest in "future consoles, notably the 3DS and the NGP," Ubisoft is hoping to extend the lifespan of its portable productions by focusing on two phases of release. "We are working to make sure that the games we create for the portable machines can be adapted for those platforms so that after making good revenue on 3DS or PSP2," Guillemot said, "we can go to a second phase which is going at a lower-price to the other machines." The other machines he's referring to here are the gaming smartphone platforms, typified by the iPhone and its hyper-competitive (and budget-priced!) App Store offerings. Publishers are eager to capitalize on new hardware, and the excitement that inevitably follows, but want to continue to invest in the potentially lucrative phone ecosystems. This two-phase solution might allow them to have it both ways.
Ubisoft announces five new MMOs "in development"
EA recently announced their controversial Online Pass program, a business model that looked pretty appealing to Ubisoft. CEO Yves Guillemot says that they are "looking very carefully at what EA is doing," so we will probably see them adopting a similar program in the future. The Online Pass program requires players to either purchase the games new, or pay EA $10 to unlock online content on used or rented games. According to a recent report at Gamespot, that's not the only project going on at Ubisoft right now. While they are considering something similar to Online Pass for the future, the focus is more on the development side for the time being -- specifically the development of MMOs. They say they've got five free-to-play MMOs in the works, including the Heroes of Might and Magic MMO that we heard about last month. Heroes of Might and Magic, currently in closed beta, is the game we have the most information on, but we'll keep an eye out for news on the other four titles Ubisoft has planned.
Assassin's Creed 2 ships close to 9 million, Conviction sales reach 1.8 million
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot was fairly pleased to report during today's investor's briefing that two of the company's biggest games of the past year have been flying both onto and off of store shelves at breakneck speeds. According to Guillemot, Assassin's Creed 2 has shipped nearly 9 million units during the fiscal year, while Splinter Cell: Conviction, which only just launched April 13, has hit 1.8 million in sales. Guillemot is banking on the continued sales of the latter title to increase Q1 revenues 75 percent year-over-year. We doubt the company will have any problem with that. Games which task the player with discreetly dispatching enemies are apparently in no danger of going out of style.
Ghost Recon: Future Soldier delayed into 'March quarter' 2011
This is how it all starts, folks. In today's Ubisoft investor's briefing, CEO Yves Guillemot revealed that Ghost Recon: Future Soldier has been pushed from its initial Holiday 2010 launch window. "Due to a very competitive environment, we decided to move the game out of the Christmas quarter, and into the March quarter," Guillemot explained. "It will also provide additional time to our development teams to realize their vision," he added. We don't know about you guys, but we're flashing back to last year, when every release in November and December was pushed back a few months for those very reasons. If you're hoping to check out Future Soldier in the foreseeable future, you better make your way to E3 2010, where the game will be showcased to the public for the very first time.
Ubisoft reports $76.2 million operating loss in fiscal year 2009-10
Ubisoft today released its financial earnings report to investors for fiscal year 2009-10 (ending March 31), reporting sales of €871 million ($1.1 billion) with an operating loss of €60 million ($76.2 million). CEO Yves Guillemot softened investor reaction by saying: "The global economic crisis had a pronounced impact on the video game industry in 2009, which contracted by nearly 10 percent year-on-year. Ubisoft's sales were hit particularly hard, falling 18 percent over the full year despite a stabilization in the second half of the year." Ubi's Q4 sales were up 1.9 percent year-over-year to €210 million ($266.7 million), outpacing internal guidance by €10 million ($12.7 million). The company says the inflated numbers are due partially to "a strong increase in sales of Just Dance," the "ongoing exceptional performance delivered by Assassin's Creed 2 which sold-in nearly 9 million units during the year," and higher-than-expected sales of both Red Steel 2 and Avatar. And Guillemot predicts a sunnier 2010-11. "We forecast a return to profitable growth in 2010-11 with positive cash flow generation, driven by a games line-up that is more closely tailored to growth segments based on strong franchises." He also notes his excitement for new technology driving increased sales, saying, "Lastly, the upcoming launches of new consoles, including Natal and Sony Move, should enable us to capitalize on the technology investments that we have undertaken in recent years and re-energize the casual games segment." Source -- Ubisoft FY2009-10 Sales & Earnings Report (warning: PDF link)
Ubisoft's Guillemot not trippin' about franchise fatigue
Ubisoft's current focus to iterate its "major franchises" seems to expose its key brands to franchise fatigue and, with it, dwindling sales -- just look what happened to sales of Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk when Activision implemented a similar strategy. However, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot remains unconcerned about so-called franchise fatigue, as he emphasized today that the publisher's goal is to "increase and come out more often" with games. Speaking during a financial earnings call for investors, Guillemot expressed his belief that Ubisoft has taken plenty of time to develop the next installments in the Driver, Ghost Recon, Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell franchises -- development time that will ultimately result in more iterations in less time, in turn improving brand visibility and training consumers to expect these franchises more often, and plan their gaming budgets accordingly. He also pointed out that sales of these upcoming titles should boost sales of their franchises' legacy games. Of course, with that said, Guillemot re-emphasized that quality is still important and that the company has invested (and continues to invest) in building game engines and tools that can be used for the next 10 years. The CEO noted that Ubisoft development teams our given enough time to ensure very high quality work, adding that Ubisoft "takes those elements into consideration."
Ghost Recon also headed to Wii, PSP, and DS; Wii version developed by a different team
Among the handful of Ubiscoops about 2010's releases coming out of today's investor call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot brought up the tactical Tom Clancy franchise Ghost Recon. Beyond the already revealed platforms for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, Guillemot detailed the franchise's further ubiquity, saying the next Ghost Recon game will "be on all platforms: 360, PS3, Wii, PSP, [and] DS." He noted that the Wii version of Ghost Recon will "be done by a different team" with a "different approach ... created for that Wii population." Presumably, the game will involve standing on the balance board to approximate a sniper's breathing -- and it'll also be made up entirely of mini-games. Whoa, whoa -- calm down there killer. We're just joshin' ya! He also confirmed something we've been mentioning for months now: "There will be more competition in the first eight months than in the last four." Get your calculators and spreadsheets out, folks -- early 2010 is gonna be a bruiser like we've never seen before (on our bank accounts, that is).
Assassin's Creed 2 ships 8 million, next game returns to Rome
Speaking in an investor call, following the release of Ubisoft's fiscal third-quarter financial results, company CEO Yves Guillemot made it abundantly clear as to why another Assassin's Creed will unsheathe its stabby things before April 2011. According to Guillemot, Assassin's Creed 2, which launched in November 2009 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, has shipped 8 million copies. The original Assassin's Creed had sold just as many by June 2009 -- roughly 18 months after its debut. Although details regarding the new Assassin's Creed -- set to star Ezio and some online friends -- remain slim, Guillemot wasn't mum on milieu: "This time, [Ezio] will strike directly against the templar's order in Rome." Can this Rome be built in a year, just in time for Holiday 2010?
Ubisoft reports fiscal Q3 sales of $679 million, hints at unannounced titles
Sure, $679 million may sound like a lot of money (it sure does to us!), but when you're a company CEO reporting that number to investors and it's 2.7 percent lower than last year's equivalent time period ($697 million), it's not quite as impressive. And that's just what Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot had to do earlier today when the company reported its fiscal Q3 (October 1 through December 31) sales for 2009. Given the publisher's French HQ, we're not privy to the period's revenue until later this year. In discussing plans for the upcoming year, the company cited "at least seven franchise titles" being launched this year, calling out this morning's (finally) officially-announced Ghost Recon: Future Soldier among others, leaving one (presumably unannounced) title unmentioned. The publisher then indicates "at least two new brands (R.U.S.E. has already been announced)" will see the light of day in 2010 -- leaving one unannounced new brand. Getting murkier yet, it appears "at least 5 online games" will be heading to the information superhighway, though only three are mentioned (yep, you guessed it -- that means two have yet to be revealed). With GDC, PAX East, and E3 not too far off (already?!), there's still plenty of 2010 left for announcements.
Ubisoft to 'refocus' on Xbox 360, PS3 and 'major franchises'
As Ubisoft today sent its financial forecast soaring downward for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, CEO Yves Guillemot pledged to steer the company away from the suffering casual market. Specifically, "with a view to further reducing our exposure to the DS, we intend 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," Guillemot said. For the fiscal 2009-10 year, Ubisoft has revised its sales target to €860 million (roughly $1.25 billion) -- down from an estimated €1,040 million -- resulting in an anticiapted €50 million operating loss. The publisher cited a near 50 percent year-over-year drop in casual game sales as the leading cause for the revised financial target, despite "robust" sales of casual Wii games (especially sales of Just Dance). Poor retail performances by James Cameron's Avatar: The Game and unspecified "non-casual" Wii titles, along with weak back catalog sales, were also to blame. The last-minute delays of Splinter Cell: Conviction and R.U.S.E. affect the current fiscal year, as well. As for fiscal 2010-11, Ubisoft has indeed planned a lineup of "major" franchises, including the aforementioned Splinter Cell game, along with new entries in the Ghost Recon and Prince of Persia series, in addition to a newly announced Assassin's Creed "episode," and Rabbids and Driver installments. "The 2010-11 line-up -- which is stronger in franchises for Xbox 360 and PS3 -- reflects our refocusing efforts and should enable us to both win market share and enhance our profitability," Guillemot concluded.
Ubisoft first-half profits plummet into loss
Among the comprehensive list of numbers in Ubisoft's first half fiscal 2009-10 report, measuring performance in April through September 2009, one figure stands out: the French company's reported €52,027,000 in not-profit. That's right, Ubisoft's profits are down by more than €70 million (over $100 million) from the same period last year to rest firmly in the red. From a profitable first half of fiscal 2008-09 of roughly €24 million to just over €52 million in losses in the first half of fiscal 2009-10, Ubisoft's profits have experienced a year-over-year change of -316.53 percent. However, CEO Yves Guillemot remains steadfast that projected sales figures for Assassin's Creed 2 and Avatar will ease Ubisoft's financial woes. This is, after all, the most important Q4 in the company's history.
Ubisoft planning 10 games for Natal, '4 to 5' for PlayStation Motion Controller
During the question and answer portion of an investor conference call this afternoon, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot clarified his company's commitment to developing games for both the Xbox 360's still-codenamed Project Natal and the PlayStation 3's hopefully-still-codenamed PlayStation Motion Controller. "We have about ten games that will come for Natal during the first six months of the launch of Natal, and we expect between four to five games for the new controller from Sony," Guillemot explained. "That's the picture at the moment, it can change in the next twelve months." (That "twelve months" reference doesn't bode well for Sony's purported "Spring 2010" third-party launch lineup for the motion controller.) When asked if those games were all new properties, or motion-enhanced updates of existing franchises (like Prince of Persia), Guillemot responded, "I didn't count the games that in fact are supporting the new functions that those accessories will bring. I was more speaking about casual games that we are doing on those two machines; we can consider that on those games it's 70 percent new property." Or – if you consider Guillemot's suggestion of ten games for Natal and "four to five" for PlayStation Motion Controller – that's roughly ten new casual properties coming from Ubisoft.
Ubisoft aims to 'quickly' soar to a 10% market share
During the BMO Capital Markets Digital Entertainment Conference, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told attendees his company aims to capture a 10 percent market share in the flooded games industry. According to Guillemot (via GamesIndustry.biz), Ubisoft currently stands at "around 6 percent," but the executive believes his company can expand its reach using a multi-tiered strategy to raise its share very "quickly." At its core, Ubisoft's plan was detailed as a three-pronged approach: A focus on present and future consoles, online and social networks and entertainment convergence. In June 2009, Ubisoft revealed the cross-game interface social media and digital platform, Uplay -- a web-based service it hopes will allow developers to better connect with players. Apart from this "confluence" concept, Ubisoft has continued its convergence strategy by expanding its marketing reach to gamers through various forms of media and through the use of its movie license agreements. "We have many opportunities to gain market share," Gillemot said during the event, echoing statements made during its Q2 earnings call last week regarding the importance of leveraging upcoming technology from Microsoft and Sony. And let's face it, if pre-order data is to be believed, Ubisoft will soon be diving into giant wells of loot following the release of Assassin's Creed 2... and that has to help the company inch closer to its 10 percent goal.
Ubisoft talks dancing, fitness and party games on Natal, PS3 Motion Controller
On the conference call covering Ubisoft's Q2 earnings, management had a chance to discuss its strategies for the company, including support for both Microsoft and Sony's motion control accessories. "We will also be ready with some very nice innovations when Natal and Motion Controller are launched on the Xbox 360 and PS3 next year," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said, reminding us that a 2010 release for Project Natal is all but confirmed at this point. He later explained that Ubisoft will "also have some games that will come on the new machines that are going to come in the future" and "are working to be ready for the new accessories or new machines that will come soon." Whether Guillemot is talking about the aforementioned motion control accessories or new consoles altogether (or both!) wasn't clear.
Ubisoft's Guillemot expects some Spring 2010 games to be delayed again
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot finally noticed the trend he helped start: too many games being pushed into an increasingly crowded Q1 of 2010. "We now have a situation where there are a lot of good games due for release in the first half of next year," Guillemot told MCV, "but I think some publishers will move again." Guillemot said that because "the first quarter of 2010 is looking pretty crazy," the "other players" will further delay their already-delayed games. What he didn't say was whether Ubisoft would be delaying its games. To us, this sounds like a preliminary statement to soften the eventual impact of another delay of Ubisoft games.
