In their fourth fiscal quarter earnings report today, Ubisoft officially announced Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 4, the next installment of the shooter franchise which they previously said would be coming our way in fiscal 2010. Let's get the dirty financial details out of the way first. Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft's CEO, said:
"In a highly competitive environment Ubisoft reported full-year sales growth of 18% at constant exchange rates in 2008-09 as well as the second best profitability among comparable companies in its industry. ... In 2008-09, we also continued to invest heavily in Ubisoft’s future potential, hiring some 1,300 talents for our studios with a view to driving the Company’s expansion, further strengthening our franchises and preparing for the next generation of handheld as well as home consoles."
The publisher confirmed that we will definitely see another entry in the Shaun White series, and likely another H.A.W.X., since the first installment reached 1 million units sold. Full-year sales were up 14% to $1,409,636.
Ubisoft states that their line-up for this Holiday (and through their fiscal 2010, which ends in March) will be made up primarily of titles in seven franchises including Assassin's Creed 2, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, Rabbids Go Home, Red Steel 2, Ghost Recon 4 and Anno 1404. Additonally, four licensed games in the form of James Cameron's Avatar, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Arthur and the Invisibles will join their release schedule along with 3 brand new IP: their new RTS R.U.S.E. , the survival action game I Am Alive and new unnamed Wii sports title.
See, Conviction really is coming out! And this year! Maybe. Taking a glance at their line-up and the way they say these titles are all going to hit during this Holiday, I can't help but think Ubisoft will fall into the trap that EA and Microsoft are advising against. That's a LOT of product for one season. Interestingly, there's still no word on the new Rainbow Six. 2010, perhaps.
