Ubisoft has officially presented its financial results for the fourth quarter of the 2008 financial year and for the full year and they look pretty good, despite a drop of about 5 % in the final months of the year. Year over year the sales increased by a whooping 14%, with the overall value reaching 1.5 billion dollars.

The biggest performers in the fourth quarter of last year were titles like Rayman Raving Rabbids: TV Party and Shaun White Snowboarding: Road Trip. Of course, Ubisoft sees the potential behind these franchises and, after announcing that a Raving Rabbits title is in the pipeline, the Chief Executive Officer of the company, Yves Guillemot, stated that “You can expect more Shaun White in the future.”

Prince of Persia, a reboot of the franchise that is more focused on platforming and features a new companion in Elika, has sold about 1.5 million units, which is well above the sales numbers for other games in the franchise, released on many more platforms. Far Cry 2 also managed to outperform the original game in its series, with an increase in copies sold of more than 50%.

And, despite the recession, Ubisoft is continuing to hire new people, adding about 1,300 during 2008 with the aim of having the capacity to develop all its significant projects at the same time, with no delays and resource limitations. The company expects to see a revenue drop in the first quarter of 2009, but that's mostly because it has had a great first quarter in 2008, releasing the PC version of Haze, Assassin's Creed and Rainbow Six Vegas 2.

Still, its lineup for 2009 is strong, with Ubisoft preparing to release titles like: Red Steel 2, Assassin's Creed 2, James Cameron's Avatar, Splinter Cell Conviction, Rabbids Go Home, I Am Alive, R.U.S.E., Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and Arthur And The Invisibles.