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Ubisoft Marks Close Of Fiscal 2013 With Increased Sales, Operating Income

May 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Ubisoft's performance in its most recent fiscal year evidences a strong position going into the new generation. The publisher announced today that sales jumped 13.5 percent (adjusted for currency fluctuation) to 1.256 billion euros ($ 1.6 billion)and non-audited operating income nearly doubled from 56 million euros last year ($ 72 million) to 100.3 million euros ($ 129 million) in 2013.

Assassin's Creed and Just Dance are firmly in the top 20 best selling franchises, with the former sitting at number five and the latter in the twelfth spot. Last year's Assassin's Creed III sold 12.5 million units between retail and digital, with Far Cry 3 moving an impressive 6 million copies. Just Dance 4 continues to carry the series forward with 8.5 million units, though revenue declined from the previous entry by 14 percent.

Ubisoft also mentioned two unannounced titles, one of which is an entirely new intellectual property. With Assassin's Creed Black Flag, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Watch Dogs, South Park: The Stick of Truth, and the two other mystery games, Ubisoft is projecting another increase in sales to between 1.42 billion euros ($ 1.83 billion) and 1.45 billion euros ($ 1.86 billion).

Following the firing of Patrice Désilets, 1666 (the title he was working on at THQ Montreal, since acquired by Ubisoft) does not appear on the schedule of upcoming titles. According to CEO Yves Guillemot, the game has been put on hold.

[Source: Ubisoft (1), (2)]

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Ubisoft doubles down on big-budget AAA franchises

May 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Ubisoft announced gains from its triple-A titles in the last fiscal year, signalling a strong commitment from the studio to retain its commitment to big-budget franchises in 2014. …


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Ubisoft ends fiscal 2013 with €64.8 million in profit

May 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment


Ubisoft has released its financial information for the 12 month period ending March 31, 2013, which by all accounts seems to have been a pretty legit fiscal year for the publisher/developer conglomerate. The company crossed the finish line with €1.256 billion ($ 1.615 billion) in revenue and €64.8 million ($ 83.3 million) in profit, an 18.3 and 73.7-percent year-over-year increase, respectively, when compared to the €1.061 billion ($ 1.364 billion) in revenue and €37.3 million ($ 47.9 million) in profit recorded at the end of 2012.

Ubisoft contributes its stellar year to the continued success of its main three franchises, Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance and Far Cry, the latest entries in which have all sold between six and 12 million copies.

JoystiqUbisoft ends fiscal 2013 with €64.8 million in profit originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 15 May 2013 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Desilets’ 1666 ‘suspended’ by Ubisoft following firing

May 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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The creative director on Assassin’s Creed and Assassin’s Creed 2, Patrice Desilets, was fired by Ubisoft last week and now 1666 is also on the outs. Desilets began working on 1666 at THQ, which Ubisoft acquired as part of the THQ asset auction earlier this year.

“After more than two months of discussions with [Patrice], we couldn’t align our vision both on the project development and the team management,” said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot during the company’s year-end financial call today. “So, consequently, our collaboration has ended, and we have suspended 1666 for an undisclosed period of time.”

Desilets took a job at THQ and began work on 1666 after his Ubisoft non-compete expired in 2011.

[Image: Alexey L via Shutterstock]

JoystiqDesilets’ 1666 ‘suspended’ by Ubisoft following firing originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 15 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pre-Order Rayman Legends, Get Ubisoft Themed Skins

May 15, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Rayman Legends won't be here until September, unfortunately, but if you commit to buying the game early, you will get access to Assassin's Creed or Splinter Cell skins depending on where you plan on playing the game.

Both the PlayStation 3 and Wii U pre-order bonuses will get you Assassin's Creed themed skins for Rayman or Barbara.

If you pre-order the Xbox 360 version of the game, Rayman will wear Sam Fisher's iconic night-vision goggles.

Rayman Legends will be available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii U on September 3. The game was supposed to be a Wii U exclusive, but it received a hefty delay so that it could also be released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, something Rayman's creator wasn't particularly pleased with. To help ease the sting of the delay a little bit, however, new content is being added, and you can play the game's online challenge app on the Wii U. Today also saw the release of a new trailer for the game, which you can check out here.

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ZombiU sequel being prototyped by Ubisoft

May 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Ubisoft is toying with the idea of developing a sequel to the surprising Wii U launch title, ZombiU. When asked about a possible sequel on Twitter, Ubisoft creative director Jean-Philippe Caro stated that “the team is working hard on a prototype.” He added, however, that “it’s too soon to tell you more.” As IGN notes, the fact that Ubisoft is working on a prototype doesn’t necessarily confirm a sequel. Still, it’s nice to know that the publisher is at least considering the possibility.

Ubisoft hasn’t shared ZombiU sales data, so it’s hard to gauge the game’s success. At the very least, Nintendo thought the game was good enough to include it in a special Wii U console bundle. We also know that Ubisoft had logged 300,000 deaths in the game as of mid-January. Of course, given how frequent death is in ZombiU – we died seven times while reviewing it – that number isn’t as helpful as it may sound.

JoystiqZombiU sequel being prototyped by Ubisoft originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 14 May 2013 14:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ubisoft tells us what piracy was all about with the latest trailer for Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag

May 13, 2013 by Leave a Comment

A new trailer has been released for Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag.

Black Flag will take the Assassin’s Creed franchise to a pirate setting for the first time ever, and will let players take on the role of a pirate called Edward Kenway. The trailer, called “The True Golden Age of Pirates”, introduces us to the setting of the game, by giving us a brief rundown of how piracy emerged during the 18th century, and which characters you can expect to meet once the game is out.

Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag is set for release on October 29th for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and WiiU. The game will be released for the PlayStation 4, PC, and other next gen consoles, but no release dates have been confirmed, as of yet, for these systems.


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Ubisoft asks Super Ubi Land dev to change game’s name

May 9, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Andrew Augustin successfully funded Super Ubi Land through Kickstarter last month, his upcoming 2D platformer for PC and Mac about a little alien called Ubi who crashes on Earth and must find his way home. Ubisoft is none too pleased with the game’s title, apparently, and has asked for it to be changed, Augustin confirmed through his studio Notion Games’ Twitter account.

“Been exchanging emails with Ubisoft. Unfortunately, we have to change the title of #SuperUbiLand. Stay tuned,” the initial tweet read. Notion Games doesn’t seem to be too upset over the disagreement, however, and isn’t even fighting the claim, a follow-up tweet explained. “Ubisoft is not doing anything wrong. They’re protecting their business just like any small business would.” Finally, a third tweet hammers it home that Ubisoft is just “being fair” in trying to protect its brand in the eyes of Notion Games.

Super Ubi Land still has some time left in the oven and is slated to launch this year on PC and Mac. A demo is currently available for all Windows, Mac and Linux users, which you can download over on Notion Games’ website right here.

JoystiqUbisoft asks Super Ubi Land dev to change game’s name originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 09 May 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another Ubisoft Creative Is Let Go

May 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The casualties mount for those brought over from Ubisoft's acquisition of THQ Montreal. Today Jean-Francois Bolvin, a producer on the Assassin's Creed franchise before he moved over to THQ was let go.

Bolvin's departure was tweeted by friend and colleague Patrice Désilets, whose employment was terminated yesterday.

Bolvin's LinkedIn profile – before he moved back to Ubisoft – says he was senior producer on a triple-A project at THQ Montreal alongside Désilets.

The departure of Désilets yesterday, and now Bolvin, would seem to cast doubt as to whether the properties they were working on at THQ (1666 and Underdog) will be continued now that Ubisoft owns the studio, or if they are, that they may be different than Désilets and Bolvin intended.

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Ubisoft fired another THQ Montreal veteran yesterday, Desilets says

May 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Ubisoft fired another THQ Montreal veteran yesterday, Desilets says

Ubisoft fired original Assassin’s Creed creative director Patrice Desilets yesterday, after his rocky transition from Ubisoft, to THQ Montreal and back to Ubisoft. One of his colleagues, Jean-François Boivin, was also fired yesterday, Desilets tweeted. Boivin traveled from Ubisoft to THQ Montreal, before being pulled back in at Ubisoft, just as Desilets did.

“Thinking of my good friend and producer @JFBoivin who also got fired yesterday,” Desilets wrote. “I’m sharing your support with him.”

Boivin’s LinkedIn profile says he joined Ubisoft in 2005 and held a variety of production roles – including production manager for Assassin’s Creed and Assassin’s Creed 2 with Desilets – until 2011, when he joined THQ Montreal to work on a new IP. Desilets left Ubisoft in 2010 and began work at THQ Montreal after a one-year non-compete agreement. When the agreement was up in 2011, THQ brought over three people from Ubisoft, whom Desilets said he needed.

During the THQ bankruptcy auction in January, Ubisoft bought THQ Montreal, effectively rehiring Boivin and Desilets. There’s no word if Boivin’s firing was as dramatic as Desilets’.

JoystiqUbisoft fired another THQ Montreal veteran yesterday, Desilets says originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 08 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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