Strong sales from Rayman and Shaun White helped Ubisoft increase their bottom line.
Ubisoft has been a strong supporter of the Wii since its launch. Evidently, this support paid off this past fiscal year when robust sales of the company's Wii titles helped to boost full-year profits by 14 percent to 1.06 billion euros ($1.5 billion dollars).
While earnings were down a little over 5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008-09 compared to the previous year, Ubisoft still managed to rake in 206 million euros ($292.52 million dollars) thanks to the sales success of Wii games like Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip, Rayman Raving Rabbids: TV Party, and My Fitness Coach. The million-selling Petz and Imagine franchises were also cited as strong performers in the fourth quarter. In fact, Ubisoft's casual game business grew by over 40 percent.
During Ubisoft's financial call yesterday, CEO Yves Guillemot implied that a sequel to Shaun White Snowboarding is in the works. Last November and December, Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip sold over 470,000 copies on the Wii in North America. In addition, sales of the Rayman Raving Rabbids franchise jumped over 50 percent.
Guillemot also noted that that Ubisoft's strategy for success has been altered. The company is aiming to deliver "bigger games with higher quality." He explained that even though the initial investment is larger, "in the end it will reduce risk and increase each game's potential."
Games slated for release by Ubisoft during the 2009-2010 fiscal year include Rabbids Go Home, Red Steel 2, and a plethora of new titles in the Petz, Imagine, and My Coach franchises.