According to this guy at neoGAF, Ubisoft is not quite so negative on the Wii as Kotaku reporting might lead you to believe, via gonintendo.com:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=18712666&postcount=617

For all the BS in this thread, I'm surprised no one has taken kotaku to task for this ridiculous reporting. It's so far out of context, it's a complete lie. This site really deserves to be banned.

First, the conference call is regarding Ubisoft's first half-year outcome.... which ended September 30th. Ubisoft released their sales data earlier in November for this same period. This is their platform breakdown:

The Wii is clearly not to blame for their loses, nor has Ubisoft ever blamed the system for their loses.

Second, Guillemot's statement is being over-analyzed and taken out of context. The purpose of that statement was to distract people from otherwise poor results... nothing more. It was comments about recent sales and next quarter's guidance having nothing to do with the rest of the report. Guillemot was not bashing the Wii at all... in any way, shape, or form.

Third, its quite obvious that that article is merely reciting the press release without actually listening to the conference call. Nothing beyond the first page of the release is quoted, nor is any additional information from CC noted. There is a lot information being ignored for this article to reach its conclusion.



Highlights from the conference call:
- It was a pain in the ass to understand. Why can't the french speak better english?

- Ubisoft is not changing the future guidance; it's too early in the season to know how sales will go.

- Regarding AC2... online breakdown is about 55% on 360 to 45% PS3 (although when he first says this it sounded like he said 65% 360 to 45% PS3)

- Regarding Wii software sales... 'some games are meeting expectations, some are not.' They refused to say which titles did what, claiming that they were still waiting for more numbers and that it was too early to know...

- ... They did claim that "Rabbids Go Home is taking off."

- Two investors phrased their questions in a way that would make this thread proud. One called Wii software sales a "malaise," the other saying that the Wii wasn't helping the industry. The Ubisoft reps shot down both suggestions, stating that they expect the Wii to have huge December and that 'the system has a high penetration and can be very profitable with quality software.'

- Ubisoft expects most of THEIR growth for the next year to come mainly from the 360 and PS3. (Looking at their current results its not surprising)

- 10 Natal and 5 PS3 wand games are currently expected within the first year of each accessory. 70% of those titles will be new IP's. They are focusing on the casual market.

- New PoP will cater to both hardcore and casual gamers... with 'lots of action' and I got the impression that they were saying that they were going to make it easier for the casual gamer.

Looking at the games Ubisoft released in the six months ending Sept 30, I'm not sure exactly what "quality" Wii software is yielding 22% of Ubi's revenue. I guess it's mostly legs from games already released, since Ubi's biggest release this year for Wii is Gold's Gym in the EU at 167k according to VGC:

http://vgchartz.com/yearly.php?date=40139&console=Wii&maker=Ubisoft&boxartz=1#

Compare that with HD releases like Call of Juarez, HAWX, and Vin Diesel: Wheelman.

Do the PS3 and 360 numbers seem... odd, to anyone else? From both 2008 and 2009?

Also, if the Wii releases have been less than stellar, how has their income doubled, via legs?  Did legs sales miraculously double by themselves?  Does that seem... odd to anyone?

Do we have a link to the source document, rather than a NeoGAF posting?

Here's a source that confirms the revenue numbers:

http://gamerinvestments.com/video-game-stocks/index.php/2009/11/04/ubisoft-reports-first-half-2009-10-sales-wii-and-ds-account-for-45-of-sales/

As for the rest of this content, it's from an investor conference call, so you're not going to get any source besides a witness account. Trust it or don't, as you will.

I agree, it's perplexing to see revenues so high with a release schedule so thin, but legs is the only explanation I can offer.

Wii sells software, it just unfortunately the software most of us more core oriented gamers would rather never even have to look at.

Nah those numbers seem ok.

Ubisoft had a huge hits with AC on Holydays 2007 and that carried through 2008.

Comparatively PoP and Far Cry2 didn't do so well during Holydays 2008...

360 grew in revenue share and PS3 fell.

Why would Ubisoft have over twice as much revenue from PS3 as 360 in the 6 months ended Sep 30 in 2008? Seems odd, but I dont know what games released then.

Likewise, more PC revenue than either PS3 or 360? I thought PC games sold like crap, they almost never chart...so where is the revenue coming from? I could understand if they had a subscription based PC game like WoW...

Wow. The lengths the industry will go through to condemn the Wii should be blatantly obvious after this one.

The Gamasutra article is the one that's called into question here. Leigh Alexander said "the instability of the Wii software market in particular has harmed [Ubisoft]". Wow.

So, Ubisoft believes that with quality software you can be very profitable on Wii. Now, does this mean we will actually see more quality games from them? Will they bring the next Prince of Persia to the Wii?

Note that the chart is presented in percentage form.  We don't know the raw numbers.  It could that the Wii numbers are up, or it could be that most everything else is down and the Wii is flat, or some combination of both possibilities.

http://www.vgchartz.com/forum/thread.php?id=94017