Support NeoGAF

[Pooya]

[/B]

They really should have.

I will be surprised if they don't in a few months, there are so many hints that it's coming.
The game is meh though, PS3 isn't missing anything big, man I wan a new Splinter Cell like the old ones .

 

[The Technomancer]

I'm in two minds about Ubisoft. On the one hand, they undeniably release loads of shovelware on the Wii and DS. On the other, they do put out some really good games. Its like....do I hate them? Do I like them? I don't know!

 

[JJConrad]

Here is the estimated sales per system based on the posted charts: (rounded to the nearest million €)

[U][B]System      09/10    08/09[/B][/U]
 DS          121      307
 PC           70       95
 PS3         200      212
 PSP          35       32
 Wii         226      190
 360         192      201

The cause of their loss, as their mentioned in previous quarters, is mainly the massive 30-50% erosion of their casual DS titles, particularly in Europe, not covering up their real losses.

Fixed. Their DS sales before were pure gravy. Even after the massive declines in DS sales, they're still bringing in about €121 million from the system. Sure, that may only be €3 million per title, but I still find it hard to believe their actually losing money on it.

 

[Dalthien]

Here is the estimated sales per system based on the posted charts: (rounded to the nearest million €)

[U][B]System      09/10    08/09[/B][/U]
 DS          121      307
 PC           70       95
 PS3         200      212
 PSP          35       32
 Wii         226      190
 360         192      201

Fixed. Their DS sales before were pure gravy. Even after the massive declines in DS sales, they're still bringing in about €121 million from the system. Sure, that may only be €3 million per title, but I still find it hard to believe their actually losing money on it.

Very true. They are still making a fortune on their DS offerings - just a much smaller fortune than before.

Their losses are most definitely not coming from their DS operations.

 

[ZealousD]

The cause of their loss, as their mentioned in previous quarters, is mainly the massive 30-50% erosion of their casual DS titles, particularly in Europe.

Hmmm. Imagine that.

 

[SlipperySlope]

Very true. They are still making a fortune on their DS offerings - just a much smaller fortune than before.

Their losses are most definitely not coming from their DS operations.

I wonder what did cause the losses. The Wii had to have been profitable, given that Just Dance alone would have more than covered the budgets from all of the other Wii offerings combined by itself. It was a low budget game to boot.

A game only gets put on the books when it's released, correct? Or are game costs continually put in R&D, released or not? I never understood video game accounting.

 

[Saty]

Seen this brought up a couple of time, so to clarify the data presented is up to the end of March (the end of the FY). Conviction was only released last month, so the PS3 didn't out-perform the 360 while it had that 'exclusive'.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Fixed. Their DS sales before were pure gravy. Even after the massive declines in DS sales, they're still bringing in about €121 million from the system. Sure, that may only be €3 million per title, but I still find it hard to believe their actually losing money on it.

That doesn't change my point.

If you sell marshmallows and electric motors and every year your electric motor division brings in $10 million and costs $30 million and ever year your marshmallow division brings in $25 million and costs $10 million...

... and then one year you only sell $15 million of marshmallows, it doesn't matter that marshmallows are a profit item, the cause of your loss is erosion in your marshmallow business.

Every company runs profitable divisions, marginal divisions, and money losing divisions (accounting, R&D are by definition money losers, but plenty of companies run money losing products or services as well). Microsoft finances all their different divisions with Windows and Office. Every other division is marginal or money losing. Sony hasn't made money on televisions in the last... jeez, I don't know, maybe a decade now?

In Ubisoft's case, they had an approximately 180 million Euro swing. They had an approximately 180 million Euro swing in their DS business. They also had a 20 million boost in their Wii business and a 40 million erosion in their PS360PC business. Their costs also changed slightly, so that also has an impact. By far and away the largest factor in their loss this year was the decline of their DS business.

This is all Business 101.

 

[Shiggy]

Did they say something about I Am Alive? I don't think that project will ever turn a profit.

 

[Dalthien]

That doesn't change my point.

Yeah, but none of what you said changed his point either. I don't think he was saying that your comments were wrong, he was adding clarity to the overall picture.

Yes, Ubisoft's overall profits (loss, actually) were down YOY largely due to a drop in DS profits.

And yes, even though the company lost $55 million overall, the DS division itself was profitable. Therefore, the actual losses came from other divisions within the company, not from the DS division.

Both are true, and his comments help paint a more complete picture of the situation.

It's definitely useful to understand that the DS profits dropped significantly YOY, but it's equally useful to understand which divisions of your company can stand on their own and which ones cannot.