Ubisoft FY Q1 sales fall 36%

Publisher Ubisoft’s Q1 2011 sales have hit 90.7m, a drop of 36.3 per cent compared to the year before.

But this is significantly up on the company’s expectations of just 79.2m.

Last year the publisher generated 141.8m, but this was boosted by the release of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Splinter Cell: Conviction. Comparatively, Ubisoft’s main Q1 titles were Child of Eden and Michael Jackson: The Experience, both for Kinect.

The reason for the higher than expected results is due to back catalogue sales, the likes of Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood and the dance titles generated almost 60m.

Another big performer for Ubisoft was online sales, which has risen 45 per cnet year-on-year to 11m. This was driven by XBLA titles Outland and Might and Magic Clash of Heroes.

Ubisoft has also revealed its sales expectations for the full year (2011/2012). The company is predicting revenue of between 915.8m and 951m, with an operating income between 35.2m to 52.8m.

For Q2 Ubisoft is expected revenue of 87.2m, with Driver: San Francisco, Call of Juarez: The Cartel, From Dust and Trackmania 2 Canyon due for release.