Topic: Ubisoft Investor Call Details Software Sales

[NWR_pap64]

Red Steel 2 sells according to expectations, downloadable content does well, and the Wii version of Avatar impresses.
 http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=23123

 In a recent Ubisoft investor call some details regarding software sales were revealed. In the last fiscal year, Ubisoft saw 18 million Euros in revenue generated by digital sales. Due to this fact, Ubisoft plans to include downloadable content right off the bat. Some Wii games will also be included in this plan.    

At the beginning of the year, Ubisoft proclaimed that sales of the Avatar videogame were poor despite the filmÂ’s success at the box office. Thanks to the home video release of the film, sales of the game rose. The Wii version of the title sold the best with 2.7 million units moved.    

Plans for a new fitness game were unveiled, though no console platforms were announced. Finally, sales of the Wii exclusive shooter Red Steel 2 are doing well, and are in accordance with the companyÂ’s own sales expectations. Months before release, http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=20794>Ubisoft lowered sales expectations of the game to 500,000 copies. NPD sales data indicated the title had http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/newsArt.cfm?artid=22924>sold 50,000 copies in its first month of release.    

Ubisoft also expressed that their big franchise titles sold best on the Wii, explaining why releases like Prince of Persia, HAWX, and Ghost Recon have their own Wii SKUs.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I like that you guys are referencing previous stories you've written, but gotta work on that forum re-post formatting

messed up your links.

[Zoltan]

I remember the newscast talking about the previous story on Red Steel 2 sales, that somehow a weak first week sales proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that 3rd parties don't sell well on Wii.  What no one seems to realize is that Wii games just sell differently then 360/PS3 games.  While developers of HD games want to get there money's worth as fast as they can by hyping up a big launch, Wii games have a tendency to be a slow burn even for games that you wouldn't expect. 

Take Call of Duty, it was said to have bombed due to weak initial sales but eventually went on to sell over a million (why else do you think we keep getting the games on the system) this also seems to be the case with Red Steel and other games Ubisoft has mentioned.  It seems the Wii is not only introducing a new audience to gaming but also introducing a new ways games seem to sell.  It is until publishers see this that they'll notice that the Wii isn't just owned by grandmas and kindergardeners and that things other than party games can be sucessful.

[NWR_pap64]

I like that you guys are referencing previous stories you've written, but gotta work on that forum re-post formatting

messed up your links.

Don't know what is going on with that. I have to let everyone know about it.

[KDR_11k]

Should be HAWX2, the first game wasn't on the Wii.