Ubisoft prepares new push into sports

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot

has told MCV

that the publisher has its sights set on claiming a greater chunk of the sports games market during 2009.

The firm’s Shaun White Snowboarding title helped it generate over €500 million in the three months to December 31st – a 12 per cent year-on-year rise.

The game was the quarter’s number two sports title in the United States and recorded 2.3 million unit sales worldwide.

And now Guillemot has his sights set on doing battle with the likes of Electronic Arts and 2K in the wider sports games market – and hasn’t ruled out the acquisition of a development specialist to help him do so.

He told MCV: [Sports] is a difficult genre to break into and I am extremely pleased with the results; Shaun White Snowboarding was our first tie-in with a professional athlete and it has been a huge success worldwide.

Working with Shaun White has been great and I think that shows in the fun and excitement of the game when you play it. This is definitely an area in which we plan to grow our presence.”

He added that Ubisoft was always on the lookout” for studios or brands that will help us to continue our strategic growth.”