There were a lot of dance games out last year. Aren’t you worried that the market is becoming over-saturated? Market saturation in any genre is a possibility, and our teams are constantly thinking about how to create and develop new genres and new segments of games for the future. That said, there is a wide variety of people who love Just Dance, whether it’s because they love to dance, love to play it as a party starter or love to have a game they can play between all ages of family and friends. We think that if we keep making great new games that focus on improving and innovating on the interaction between the players – rather than on just the hardware – there’s still a big opportunity to win new customers as well as repeat buyers who are looking for the latest music or moves.
Last year, you stated that Ubisoft wants to challenge the
established publishing order of EA and Activision. Is your success over Christmas a clear sign that you are doing that? We’re challenging them, certainly. Just Dance 3was the second-best selling game at retail in the US market for 2011, and we were the only publisher with three games in the Top Ten for the year. One of our goals is to be the best at providing people with incredible interactive entertainment.
Do you still think you can be No.1? And if so, when? I won’t put a timeframe on it, but if we keep our focus on delivering high-quality games and on attracting and retaining top talent, I’m confident we’ll reach that goal.
What is Ubisoft’s market share in Europe and where do you want to take it? Our market share in EMEA for 2011 was just slightly under nine per cent, and in the UK it was right at nine per cent. We were the second-largest independent publisher in Europe for the month of December 2011. We intend to grow market share in 2012, and we think we have the right line- up and strategies in place to do so.
Digital sales are obviously not included in any of these numbers. Did that grow over Christmas? Digital and online games are one of our key focus areas and one in which we’re making big strides. Last year, this part of the business grew 100 per cent and we also made a few key acquisitions – like Owlient and RedLynx – that added talent and brands on top of what we’d been building internally. I can’t give out the exact figures for the holiday quarter since we don’t announce our official results until February. However, I can say that we held the top spot on XBLA for new games released in 2011, and we recently revised our estimates for the quarter upward, with the growth in our digital business definitely playing a role.
How much growth did you see for Assassin’s Creed? What does this mean for the next one and the future of the brand? Are the yearly instalments working? Assassin’s Creedis an incredible franchise and there are a lot of expectations that it will continue to grow. We are pleased with our continued success so far: in the US, Assassin’s Creed Revelationswas a Top Ten title for the entire calendar year, which shows that the demand is definitely there. We think that delivering regular instalments and expanding the brand to other platforms and mediums will continue to satisfy the demand, while at the same time attracting new fans. And, we’re confident that the next instalment of Assassin’s Creedwill be the biggest to date.
The games industry is still focused heavily around Q4. Is this detrimental to the market?
The focus on the holiday season is understandable because it’s still when most people are shopping for new games for themselves or to give as gifts. It’s not unusual to see between 50 to 60 per cent of a year’s total sales happen during the holiday period. This holiday season was particularly competitive because of all the great games that were released.
January 27th 2012 17
9%
Ubisoft’s market share in the UK during the last calendar year
Ubisoft was the UK’s No.1 publisher over Xmas thanks to a festive line-up that included Just Dance 3, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and Rayman Origins
Still, there are a few benefits to spacing out releases. One is that launching a few months after the rush means that people who have finished playing the games they bought during the holidays are ready for something new. That puts a game like Ghost Recon: Future Soldier in a great position: there’s less head- to-head competition in the shooter genre and more likelihood that players are ready for something new. We’re in the fortunate position of having the talent and the variety of hit brands to do both: we can compete during the holidays and still put out great games throughout the rest of the year. Also, as we develop more games that are delivered digitally or played online, we expect our ability to consistently release games throughout the year will become an even stronger advantage for us.