Dance games made it rain on Ubisoft's holiday quarter
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Ubisoft today reported sales figures for its fiscal-year third quarter, which ended December 31, 2010. For the period, the French publisher recorded €600 million ($809 million) in total software sales, up just over 21 percent from the same quarter in 2009 (though factoring in constant exchange rates -- nearly 60 percent of sales were made in North America -- year-over-year growth was closer to 15 percent).
In 2010's three-month holiday period alone, Ubisoft shipped a staggering 10.5 million copies of dance titles, which included Just Dance, Just Dance 2, Just Dance Kids, Michael Jackson: The Experience and Dance on Broadway. Additionally, the company claimed an 18 percent market share of the Kinect platform in the US (and 21 percent in Europe), following its push to become the "top third-party publisher" for Microsoft's successful motion-control add-on. Ubisoft put its Kinect game shipments at over 2 million -- "a very nice level of profitability," CEO Yves Guillemot said in an investor call today -- for the fiscal third quarter.
Add in all those copies of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Ubisoft outsold its projected quarterly sales total by €80 million ($108 million), bringing its nine-month fiscal 2010-11 year sales up to €861 million ($1.16 billion) -- a marked increase over the €661 million in sales generated during the same period in 2009, and making it a near certainty that the company will return to profitability at the end of its current fiscal year (on March 31, 2011). With a relatively quiet fourth quarter of scheduled releases, however, the publisher anticipates its total fiscal-year sales to reach only €1.02 billion. Still, "cash flow generation is expected to be positive."
In 2010's three-month holiday period alone, Ubisoft shipped a staggering 10.5 million copies of dance titles, which included Just Dance, Just Dance 2, Just Dance Kids, Michael Jackson: The Experience and Dance on Broadway. Additionally, the company claimed an 18 percent market share of the Kinect platform in the US (and 21 percent in Europe), following its push to become the "top third-party publisher" for Microsoft's successful motion-control add-on. Ubisoft put its Kinect game shipments at over 2 million -- "a very nice level of profitability," CEO Yves Guillemot said in an investor call today -- for the fiscal third quarter.
Add in all those copies of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and Ubisoft outsold its projected quarterly sales total by €80 million ($108 million), bringing its nine-month fiscal 2010-11 year sales up to €861 million ($1.16 billion) -- a marked increase over the €661 million in sales generated during the same period in 2009, and making it a near certainty that the company will return to profitability at the end of its current fiscal year (on March 31, 2011). With a relatively quiet fourth quarter of scheduled releases, however, the publisher anticipates its total fiscal-year sales to reach only €1.02 billion. Still, "cash flow generation is expected to be positive."
Reader Comments (11)
Posted: Feb 14th 2011 1:45PM TCJJ said
I happened to see "Just Dance Kids" and "Michael Jackson: The Experience" at the same time. Coincidence?
Posted: Feb 14th 2011 1:48PM mywhitenoise said
We had a party Saturday, normally we play Rock Band or something, but for some reason my girlfriends cousin wanted to play Just Dance 2....all of the sudden everyone (but me and 2 other people) got into it.
I really don't understand the hype of that game. The song selection is minimal and horrible, and there's only about 20 songs up for DLC.
I really don't understand the hype of that game. The song selection is minimal and horrible, and there's only about 20 songs up for DLC.
Posted: Feb 14th 2011 2:33PM SEGA Scream said
@mywhitenoise
It sounds like your friends came down with a nasty case of "Saturday Night Fever." It seems to be going around these days.
Reply
It sounds like your friends came down with a nasty case of "Saturday Night Fever." It seems to be going around these days.
Posted: Feb 14th 2011 1:54PM ND92 said
Dancing games are the new fad, ousting peripherals. I don't think it will last.
Posted: Feb 14th 2011 4:35PM GuitarHero666 said
@ND92 I thought the dancing genre was dead when Konami put In The Groove out of production.
MARVELOUS!
Reply
MARVELOUS!
Posted: Feb 14th 2011 5:19PM Jack Kevorkian said
@ND92 They are much cheaper than other music games so if it goes away I'm okay with it. Rock Band takes up an awful amount of room if you aren't playing it.
Reply
Posted: Feb 14th 2011 2:38PM CaptainProtonX said
As Gamestop says "Power to the Player."
Posted: Feb 14th 2011 2:41PM Lerkero said
As long as that profit is invested back into making other quality games I cannot say I mind.
Posted: Feb 14th 2011 5:31PM Airdemon said
so can we finally get a damn Rainbow Six game
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