Ubisoft Beats First-Half Sales Forecast As Losses Narrow

French publisher Ubisoft today reported smaller losses and better than expected revenues for the fiscal first half ended in September, with sales in areas like online and catalog titles increasing significantly. Total sales were down nearly 5 percent from the year before to €248.5 million ($342.6 million), though that result was still 30 percent higher than the company's targets for the period. The company specifically cited online revenues of €30 million ($41.4 million), up 85 percent from the year before, thanks to the success of titles like Facebook top-performer The Smurfs and Co. as well as sales of Driver: San Francisco, Trackmania 2: Canyon and The Settlers Online. Back-catalog sales for titles such as Just Dance 2, Michael Jackson: The Experience and Assassin's Creed series also showed improvement, increasing 38 percent from the year before to €107 million ($147 million) for the period. Net losses of €37.1 million ($51.1 million) for the fiscal first half were down 58 percent from the year before. In the current quarter, Ubisoft said the recently released Just Dance 3 has seen initial sales up "significantly" compared to the best-selling Just Dance 2, with double digit growth on the Wii. The Just Dance franchise has now sold 17 million copies since 2009. The company also revealed that the Assassin's Creed series has now sold 31 million copies since its debut in 2008, alongside 18 million sales for the Ghost Recon series and 19 million for the Rayman series (excluding the Raving Rabbids spin-offs). Looking forward, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said he was confident second fiscal half titles like Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Just Dance 3 would help the company reach its full year revenue targets of at least €1.04 billion ($1.43 billion). Farther in the future, the company expects a return to positive cash-flow in the next fiscal year, which starts in April 2012.