Business booming at UbiSoft
Another French publisher rising to global domination?
UbiSoft has become the latest company from the land of Evian and rare steaks to report a boom in business, and as with fellow French publisher Infogrames this is no doubt thanks in part to a string of high profile take-overs. UbiSoft has absorbed brands such as Red Storm, Mattel Interactive, SSI and Blue Byte in recent months, and recently picked up the license to publish games based on the stunning martial arts epic Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon. It is now Europe's second biggest publisher.
In the year to March 31st 2001 the company saw turnover soaring by almost 40% to €260m, although net profits were down by almost 60% to €4.6m. Most of the improvement happened in the second half of their financial year, following the arrival of the PlayStation 2 in Europe, and with GameBoy Advance on sale from tomorrow and the GameCube and Xbox set to launch early next year, UbiSoft are expecting even better things to come. Sales are predicted to rise another 40% over the next twelve months, with profit margins set to more than double.
"We are coming out of two difficult years in the world of video games", company chairman Yves Guillemot explained. "We are happy to see things brightening up and should be back to good results again soon."