GRAW 2 confirmed as Ubisoft profits rise

A confident Ubisoft has raised its sales targets for 2007 after posting a 13 per cent rise in revenues for the first half of the financial year.

The firm now expects sales in the 2006 — 2007 period to reach between eight and 12 per cent, up from projections of five and 10 per cent.

The French publisher has also revealed a sequel to the BAFTA award-winning Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter is in the works, due for release before the end of March 2007, as well as further support for the Nintendo Wii.

Sales for the period ended September 30th reached EUR 172 million up from EUR 153 million in the previous year. Second quarter sales amounted to EUR 102 million, a seven per cent drop from the previous year.

A confident Yves Guillemot used the financial report to reiterate his company's commitment to the next-generation of home consoles, stating: "Ubisoft managed to take full advantage of Microsoft's Xbox 360 and should now benefit from the much awaited PlayStation 3 and Wii launches."

Ubisoft's support for the Nintendo Wii also continues with the publisher pledging another seven titles, including a 'non-announced brand', bringing its intended line-up to fourteen titles by the end of March 2007.

"We have the second largest creation workforce in the industry, which we have built up over the past ten years, and a powerful and wide-reaching distribution network," added Guillemot.

"Ubisoft has ideally positioned itself to outperform the very strong growth of the market in the coming years."

Other titles mentioned in the report included highly-anticipated next-generation title Assassins Creed and Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, which have both been pegged with a release sometime between April 2007 and March 2008.