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Assassin's Creed reaches 2.5 million sold, 5 mill expected. Other stuff delayed

J

Jim

Member
Good for AC! Well deserved.

Ubisoft announces outstanding sales performance for Assassin's Creed and raises guidance for fiscal 2007-08

Assassin's Creed expected to sell more than 5 million units in 2007-08.

Today Ubisoft, one of the world's largest video game publishers, announced record sales performance for its Assassin's Creed video game, raised its guidance for fiscal 2007-08, updated its games release schedule, and issued its initial forecasts for 2008-09.
Record performance for Assassin's Creed

Assassin's Creed has greatly outstripped Ubisoft's sales expectations and currently ranks among the two or 3 best-selling games for the PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system in the vast majority of geographical regions. In less than four weeks Assassin's Creed recorded more than two and a half million units in sell-through sales worldwide, and is the fastest-selling new video game intellectual property in the US ever. Consequently, Ubisoft now forecasts that it will sell a minimum of five million units of the game in 2007-08 compared with its previous estimate of approximately three million.

2007-08 guidance raised and games release schedule updated

As a result of this outstanding sales performance and solid showings from Ubisoft's other games – particularly its "casual" range – Ubisoft has significantly raised its forecasts for 2007-08. At the same time it has strengthened the line-up of games for next year, with titles such as Tom Clancy's EndWar, Brothers In Arms Hell's Highway and Far Cry 2 now scheduled for release in fiscal 2008-09 rather than the fourth quarter of 2007-08.

The sales target for 2007-08 has been raised to more than €840 million, with around €410 million for the third quarter, versus previous forecasts of €825 million and €330 million respectively.

The target for current operating income before stock options has been significantly revised upwards to at least 12 percent of sales, compared with the previously announced forecast of at least 9 percent. This reflects the combined impact of the stellar performance turned in by Assassin's Creed and the ensuing major leverage effect on profitability, as well as lower-than-anticipated research and development costs due to the postponed release dates for Tom Clancy's End War, Brothers in Arms and Far Cry 2.

Yves Guillemot, Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft, stated: "With the exceptional performance of Assassin's Creed, the fastest-selling new video game intellectual property in the US ever, Ubisoft's teams have once again demonstrated their expertise in creating and promoting major brands. These regular-sequel franchises are a source of very high profitability both in the short and long term. Drawing on its strong internal development capacities, Ubisoft is currently in an ideal position to continue to develop numerous new creations – an essential condition for winning market share and ensuring strong growth going forward."

Initial forecasts for fiscal 2008-09 Today Ubisoft announced its initial forecasts for fiscal 2008-09. The Company estimates that it will achieve sales of approximately €975 million and current operating income representing at least 11 percent of sales. These forecasts are notably based on the launch of four new brands, including Tom Clancy's EndWar, seven franchises including Brothers in Arms, Far Cry 2 and Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, and new games in the Imagine, Petz and MyCoach series. More details on Ubisoft's games portfolio will be provided when the sales figures for third-quarter 2007-08 are released on January 23, 2008.
Click to expand...
 
C

Concept17

Member
Good to hear. The game truly deserves it, regardless of a couple small technical flaws.

Nice to see an original title that isn't Mario, MC, or a shooter sell this well.

EDIT: Also nice to see that, regardless of many mediocre reviews, the game is still selling very well. Less affect reviews have on sales, the better.
 
K

Kaako

Felium Defensor
Mainstream game = great sales.
Congrats to the AC team and Ubi. They've got another franchise under their belts.
 
T

TheUnknownForce

Member
This is a surprise while at the same time, not.

Looking at Europe's sales, they are certainly eating it up. Also, based on this PR, it is selling very well in America, too.

I have a feeling AC will be the top game for the month of November. Or very close to it.

Now we just have to hope that AC2 won't suffer from sequelitis.
 
W

Walshicus

Member
This just goes to show that my friends list is not a good indicator or what's selling and what isn't. I'm really surprised by the fact that this one's selling...
 
U

underfooter

Banned
I played AC the other day for about 45 minutes and absolutely hated it. I could almost see where that 4.5 came from.


This disappoints me, to say the least. I'd rather games like Viva Pinata and Zack and Wiki not bomb.
 
K

kylej

Banned
the TV ads were brilliant. I know a lot of people who were dying to play the game after watching one of those ads.

Congrats to the devs and Ubisoft. Nice to see a new IP succeed.
 
Z

ZealousD

Makes world leading predictions like "The sun will rise tomorrow"
DeaconKnowledge said:
I wonder what the split between PS3 and 360 was.
Click to expand...

Probably pretty relative to the userbases. 3:1 seems like a safe bet.
 
kbear

kbear

Member
Concept17 said:
Good to hear. The game truly deserves it, regardless of a couple small technical flaws.

Nice to see an original title that isn't Mario, MC, or a shooter sell this well.
Click to expand...
QFT

It's really nice to see a truly original IP like this be successful. I'm looking forward to the sequel, which I'm sure will rectify most complaints people had.
 
A

Agent Icebeezy

Welcome beautful toddler, Madison Elizabeth, to the horde!
I fucking loved Assassin's Creed. Glad to see we will be seeing more of it in the future.
 
S

Spire

Subconscious Brolonging
I loved the game, so this is good news. Knowing Ubi-Soft though, it'll only be a couple years before they've milked it to death.
 
C

Concept17

Member
underfooter said:
I played AC the other day for about 45 minutes and absolutely hated it. I could almost see where that 4.5 came from.


This disappoints me, to say the least. I'd rather games like Viva Pinata and Zack and Wiki not bomb.
Click to expand...


ummm no

stop playing video games, please
 
M

Mrbob

Member
As glad as I am to see the sales success to AC, UBI is just going to run this franchise into the ground like every other one they have.
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
Gears sold 1 million in the US in about 3.5 weeks right? If AC is selling faster than that, the NPD numbers should be huge, even if it is split between two platforms.

ZealousD said:
colbertcalledit.gif
Click to expand...

calledit.gif


And yes, this game completely validates the multiplatform approach for HD gaming.
 
T

traveler

Not Wario
Everyone I know who is a gamer was determined to pick this up well in advance of any of the reviews or ads. While I'm not sure GT's title "Most Hyped Game of the Year" is accurate, it sure is up there. That said, it's pretty disturbing to see audiences rush headlong into purchasing it, regardless of the flaws with the game. On one hand, I'm glad because I think the concept is sound and I'd like to see a sequel with that crap fixed, but, on the other hand, I wish people wouldn't reward shoddy execution like this or take advertisements over critical evaluation when it comes to purchasing decisions, which they clearly have.
 
X

X26

Banned
Awesome game for me, makes me feel warm and fuzzy to know a sequel is a lock

But as much as I loved the game I really hope they take the criticsm to heart
 
D

Dunlop

Member
good stuff,

Gonna pick it up next week when I am done Mass Effect (My most anticipated game of the year...and most disappointing, it's a very good game but just not great)

After I saw a demo on a 52" plasma, I was hooked.

Plus I live in Montreal so I guess I have to support the home team :D
 
R

-Rogue5-

Member
I think that commercial that plays every ten minutes on a lot of stations ("you will all bow before me!") probably has something to do with it... I mean the commerical really is awesome.

Great game; deserves it... Now let's just hope Mass Effect hits the same numbers (as it also deserves it.)
 
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