UbiSoft is Making Money

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Kalah
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UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby Kalah » 23 Oct 2008, 23:34

UbiSoft have <a href="/http://www.ubisoftgroup.com/index.php?p ... eleased</a>, their sales figures for the first half of 2008-09, and guess what? It's good news.



Ubi's sales for the first half of 2008-09 came to $441 million, up 31.5% compared with the $335 million recorded for the same period of 2007-08. Second-quarter sales amounted to a total of $224 million, an increase of 37.3% from the $163 million posted for the second quarter of 2007-08. These figures were largely attributed to the successful releases of console games SoulCalibur IV and the latest Brothers in Arms, but also to the steady sales of casual titles. UbiSoft now raises their estimated earnings for the full year to $1.347 million.



In the same press release, a list of upcoming releases is made, and there's no Heroes or M&M on the list... <i>but...</i> there <i>is</i> a mention of an "as-yet unannounced franchise" which was scheduled for release 2008-09, but has been pushed back to 2009-10. Shall we have a guess at what it could be?



Personally, I think it's a good thing that the producer of Heroes is making money; that they haven't ended up in dire straits as a result of the global economy recession. I remember the days of 3DO and NWC's fall, and how economic pressure caused a premature release of Heroes IV - a game with lots of potential, but which was pushed into the market before its creators could finish it. That UbiSoft are earning a profit from their games signals (to me at least) that the makers of the next Might & Magic related game are less likely to be pushed into releasing it before it's been polished.



More than that, it also shows that while the banking and finance sector suffers from the crisis, the gaming industry is still in full bloom. Cars, housing and holidays are big expenses which will inevitably fall into a slump when recession hits, whereas smaller things like games remain relatively unaffected. We're still buying games despite the economic hardships, because they're relatively cheap, and... well, because we gotta. Thank goodness for addicted geeks like us, eh? Keeping the wheels rolling.

If you would like to take a look at the original page visit this link:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/1224804889
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UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby archcorenth » 24 Oct 2008, 02:08

I'm not certain I agree with your reasoning for HOMMIV's failure. For one thing, as I recall from the time, the game was already way overdue past when it was promised to come out, and furthermore the reasons why most people who don't like don't like it (graphics, heroes on the map, separately moving creature stacks, the destruction of COLONY, etc.) would not have been fixed with more time as they were part of the essential game design. I feel like it was fairly polished as far as the creators must have been concerned as it's not as though there were any bugs in the program -- at least I've never had it crash or freeze or anything, and I don't remember any glaring typos (Heroes V).

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UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby Roman » 24 Oct 2008, 04:34

I feel generally supportive of companies that make products that I like (unless I feel they betray my trust somehow or try to misuse this trust, but Ubisoft has not done that), so I am also rather happy to see Ubisoft doing well. HOMM V + Expansions are excellent games, so I am definitely glad that Ubisoft is making a profit and I hope Nival is also doing well!

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Re: UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby Asheera » 24 Oct 2008, 10:31

Kalah wrote:In the same press release, a list of upcoming releases is made, and there's no Heroes or M&M on the list...
They never put Heroes on the list - I'm starting to doubt if they really considered a "success" as they called it. ;|
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UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby Yurian Stonebow » 24 Oct 2008, 12:15

Well, I suppose it's good news that some old men in their expensive suits and their fancy company paid dinner parties continue to make money. Let's hope that they will not meet financial doom in the near future. Otherwise, I guess, there would be no MM X and Heroes VI. Enough said. As for the next major success to come from UBI, I have a hunch that it will be a real time strategy related to the war in Middle East. Something like "Codename: War against Liberty"
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UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby infael » 24 Oct 2008, 13:31

Games are a great way to escape reality for a short time. When I have a migraine, playing makes me forget my migraine. When I stop, the migraines are sometimes gone.
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UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby CloudRiderX » 24 Oct 2008, 14:12

"That UbiSoft are earning a profit from their games signals (to me at least) that the makers of the next Might & Magic related game are less likely to be pushed into releasing it before it's been polished."



Unfortunately for Ubisoft, their word 'polishing' means ' release an expansion'. It's kinda hard to call it polishing if it requires money and feedback of the base game first.



I'm only glad to see Ubi doing well so that they hopefully release a Heroes game that holds my interest for more than a few days.
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UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby Roman » 24 Oct 2008, 14:17

Well, at this point I am still rather satisfied with HOMM V and the expansions, so I don't really feel the need for HOMM VI yet. Still, if it were being made, I would certainly welcome it. I have never actually played the MM RPGs back in the day (apart from playing a little of MM VI, where I did enjoy the system of character progression reliant on training and so on), but I do like RPGs, and would thus also welcome MM X.

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Re: UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby Zamolxis » 24 Oct 2008, 14:48

Asheera: "They never put Heroes on the list - I'm starting to doubt if they really considered a "success" as they called it."
Calling a product a success even when it's not, it's just another form of marketing if you didn't know.

;)
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Unread postby Grumpy Old Wizard » 24 Oct 2008, 16:37

The last I heard HOMM5 + expansions made money. So that is a success.

While there are balance issues I would like addressed the game overall is quite good.
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Unread postby Asheera » 24 Oct 2008, 16:44

Well I like the game so it's a success for me :D

But they just rarely mention it. They seem to mention games like Prince of Persia, Brothers in Arms, Tom Clancy games, etc, a lot, but rarely Heroes.
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UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby astral76minor » 25 Oct 2008, 02:52

I welcome the collateral money that UBI makes from teenager type games - the real money makers. In the meantime, I would not mind if H6 was to be made with DX10 and still keep the turn-based element that makes it the greatest game. There are important features in H4 that should be in H6. Even H3, had some minor elements that made it fun. Remember the H5 Beta that allowed you to move creatures over the adventure map?!?! But when it comes to classic Might and Magic by 3D0, we can only hope for a solid (turn-based battle) RPG similar to King's Bounty. The massive multiplayer online world is just about pushing buttons fast. And those consoles keep it alive. In theory, a true Heroes OR Might and Magic game is about judgement and not about how fast you are with your fingers.....

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Re: UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby Zamolxis » 25 Oct 2008, 11:35

astral76minor: "Remember the H5 Beta that allowed you to move creatures over the adventure map?!?!"
Actually I don't...
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Unread postby Kalah » 25 Oct 2008, 12:05

@archcorenth: H4 wasn't polished when it came out - it was full of bugs; it didn't even have multiplayer! My point was that if the producers hadn't been in financial difficulty, they might have post-poned the game's release until they'd finished it. As for Heroes 6 (which has not yet been announced, so we don't know if it's coming any time soon), I'm hopeful the producers will take their time developing it properly, including a lengthy beta test. The fact that they seem to be in a solid financial state supports this, methinks.
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UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby Moragauth » 25 Oct 2008, 19:25

"Well, I suppose it's good news that some old men in their expensive suits and their fancy company paid dinner parties continue to make money."



Yeah, as well as the firm's shareholders more generally...



At any rate, consumer goods generally are less prone to recessions than capital goods (and durable consumer's goods which are sensitive to interest rates)... lucky thing that games fall squarely in the former category.

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Unread postby Avonu » 25 Oct 2008, 21:24

Strange, I read this news for first time as "UbiSoft is Milking Money".

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Unread postby jeff » 25 Oct 2008, 23:16

Not to be a spoil sport, but if they do not produce a better game with H-VI than they did with H-V then I don't care if they make money or not. B-)
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Unread postby Asheera » 26 Oct 2008, 11:36

I'm sure they learn from their mistakes :D

... or maybe not :devious:
No matter how powerful one becomes, there is always someone stronger. That's why I'm in a constant pursuit of power, so I can be prepared when an enemy tries to take advantage of me.

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UbiSoft is Making Money

Unread postby MER » 26 Oct 2008, 14:44

I hope H6 wont be rushed in 2009 or 2010. they have to sit and think about what they did wrong and take their time to actually make a decent game this time.

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Unread postby Asheera » 26 Oct 2008, 14:52

Heroes 5 wasn't really 'rushed', they began working on it in 2003.

But Nival had a lot of disagreements with the publishers (Ubisoft)

Here's a link to story of heroes 5 creation from the perspective of Nival main game designer: http://www.dtf.ru/articles/read.php?id=41640

It's in Russian, but here's a (not perfect, but decent) English translation: http://translate.google.com/translate?u ... l=ru&tl=en
No matter how powerful one becomes, there is always someone stronger. That's why I'm in a constant pursuit of power, so I can be prepared when an enemy tries to take advantage of me.


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