
Looks like Ubisoft hasn’t had a great couple of months, either. The France-based publisher reported today a 52 percent decline in sales for the six months that ended on September 30 compared to the same period last year. (Fiscal years tend to begin in March.) A 52 percent drop translates to €166 million, or around $246 million.
Why the sharp decline? It’s not too hard to figure out, really: what big game has Ubisoft published from March to September. Exactly. The company’s entire year will live and die by how well Assassin’s Creed II does. If it’s a hit, then everything’s A-OK. If it’s a stinker, then Ubisoft’s stockholders will be reasonably upset.
Ubisoft blames soft sales for its games on the Nintendo DS, and soft sales for its older titles. Games it wants you to look out for: the new Splinter Cell (that game is still around? I tapped out after the first one~!), Red Steel 2 and R.U.S.E.
Yeah, they’ve bet the house on Assassin’s Creed II, all right.
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Another big day in gaming: Assassin’s Creed II, Left 4 Dead 2 & Tony Hawk Part 900