The company managed to beat its projections for Q2 2014-2015

Oct 31, 2014 12:43 GMT  ·  By

Ubisoft has reported that its global software sales for the first half of this fiscal year are up an impressive 65 percent over the figures recorded during the first half of 2013-2014.

Publisher Ubisoft has revealed a lot of interesting information pertaining to its titles in its latest fiscal performance report, covering the second quarter of FY 2014, as well as the first half of the fiscal year.

In the report, the company shows that Watch Dogs, the open-world hacking extravaganza that the company launched earlier this year, managed to shift 9 million copies to date, marking a very good overall year for the French publisher.

The game sold 4 million copies during its launch week, making it Ubisoft's biggest launch ever, and the biggest new IP launch ever, at least until Activision's Destiny came along and snagged that title in the United Kingdom.

Although the second quarter of the 2014-2015 year only totaled $156 / €124 million in sales, versus the $274 / €218 million recorded in the same period last year, marking a 43 percent decrease, the figures were still significantly higher than the company's target of $107 / €85 million, revealed when the figures for the first quarter of the fiscal year were posted.

A very solid year for Ubisoft so far

Year over year, Ubisoft registered a 65 percent rise in sales for the first half of the year, compared to the same period last year, largely due to the ongoing success of Watch Dogs and the strong back catalog of titles, with Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Far Cry 3 and Rayman Legends raking in $143 / €114 million.

The company also noticed an incredible 90 percent surge in revenues for its digital segment, accounting for $170 / €135 million in sales for the first half of the fiscal year, including digital distribution, mobile operations and sales of items and DLC, and representing 28 percent of Ubisoft's total sales ($609 / €484 million).

"Our performance in the first half of the fiscal year has strengthened our confidence that we will reach our annual targets. It demonstrates that our strategy of creating strong brands and investing in digital is paying off," Ubisoft Chief Executive Officer Yves Guillemot commented on the issue.

"This strategy is underpinned by a creative force of an unrivalled scale as well as constantly enhanced execution. It has positioned us at the forefront of the new console cycle and will be a determining factor in creating value for our shareholders in the short, medium and long term. We also are standing by our target for 2015-16," he added.