Ubisoft 2000 Annual Report Download - page 38

UBI SOFT / REFERENCE DOCUMENT
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4.2.3. Sales
a) Annual consolidated sales
in millions
2000/2001 1999/2000 CHANGE
F 1,704 F 1,223 + 39.3%
 260  186
Ubi Soft sales rose 39% in 2000/2001, and 13.5% on a like for like
basis, in other words excluding the acquisitions of 3D Planet (Italy),
Sinister Games (United States), and Red Storm (United States),
which have been consolidated since October 1, 2000, and Blue Byte
(Germany), which has been consolidated since 6 February 2001. The
foreign exchange impact on sales was 3%.
These figures once again show Ubi Soft’s ability to outperform the
market, which shrank by about 5%. It demonstrates the soundness
of the Group’s strategy, which can be summarized as follows:
>acquisition of leading brands;
>internal growth;
>establishment of a global distribution network;
>early positioning on new platforms.
Four lines had sales of more than a million units for the 2000/2001
financial year:
Rayman®2 The Great Escape, Rayman®2 Revolution and Rayman® 2,075,377
Tom Clancy Rainbow Six™ (the series)11,382,152
Disney's Jungle Book Groove Party 1,114,145
Disney's Dinosaur 1,049,242
The Ubi Soft catalogue includes over 1,000 titles. The ten leading tit-
les account for 48% of sales for the 2000/2001 financial year, 12% of
which are for the Rayman® line.
b) Sales by type of activity
Ubi Soft sales are broken down into the Development, Publishing and
Distribution of interactive games.
Development sales reflect total revenue for titles designed,
produced and marketed by Ubi Soft, as well as revenue from games
developed by third parties, for whom Ubi Soft provides supervision
and co-production and stands as a guarantor of product quality.
Publishing sales reflect total sales for titles designed and produced
by developers, for which Ubi Soft finances and supervises production
in exchange for acquiring the license. Ubi Soft is responsible for
adaptation, localization, manufacturing, marketing and sales. The
company receives the revenue from product sales and pays royalties
to the developers and/or owners of the trademark.
Distribution sales correspond to revenue from sales of the pro-
ducts of publishers with whom Ubi Soft has concluded distribution
agreements and handles marketing and sales.
ACTIVITY SALES SALES
IN MILLIONS 2000/2001 % SALES 1999/2000 % SALES
Development FF 1,120 66% FF 819 67%
 170  124
Publishing FF 528 31% FF 281 23%
 80  43
Distribution FF 56 3% FF 123 10%
 10  19
TOTAL FF 1,704 FF 1,223
260 186
c) Production volumes
Number of titles produced in-house and in co-production (third-
party):
2000/2001 1999/2000 1998/1999
Number of titles 61 34 20
The company attaches strategic importance to its development acti-
vity, as this leads to:
>improved profitability, especially on titles with great sales poten-
tial, thanks to multi-platform development, better game quality
and rigorous control of timescales and budgets.
>improved control of timescales. This allowed Disney’s Dinosaur to
be produced in less than ten months and released at the same
time as the film associated with the license.
>the development of tools and technology which can be reused
from one game to another.
>the creation of ad-hoc tools, such software engines, to meet
game-playing requirements.
d) Sales by type of platform
The breakdown of 2000/2001 sales shows how quickly Ubi Soft has
adapted to changes in the types of platform. Our early positioning
on the PS®2, sales of which doubled in the third quarter, is worthy
of mention. From that point on, PS®2 product sales exceeded the
1Number of games sold in the Tom Clancy Rainbow Six series (Rainbow Six,
Rainbow Six: Covert Ops, Rogue Spear) since acquisition of Red Storm in
August 2000.