Ubisoft doubles down on big-budget AAA franchises

Ubisoft announced gains from its triple-A titles in the last fiscal year ended March 31, signalling a strong commitment from the studio to retain its commitment to big-budget franchises. The France-based publisher saw revenue of 928 million euros ($1.2 billion) from its core brands in the 2013 fiscal year, as opposed to 328 million euros ($432 million) from its casual brands. As a result, Ubisoft projects "significant growth" from its core market within the coming fiscal year, while it predicted less than 20 percent of total sales to derive from the casual market. Installments from the publisher's mainstay franchises -- Assassin's Creed 3, Far Cry 3 and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier -- led sell-through sales at retail. In total Ubisoft projects a combined revenue of 1.42-1.45 billion euros ($1.87 billion to $1.9 billion US) in the coming fiscal year. Key drivers for this projection include a more substantial triple-A lineup and new IPs to coincide with the launch of the PlayStation 4, such as Watch_Dogs. Below, see Ubisoft's presentation slide on the best-selling IPs of 2012. Source [PDF].