Watch Dogs will release before June, Assassin’s Creed 4 ships 10 million units

Well the release date for Watch Dogs has been narrowed down somewhat, although Ubisoft wouldn’t give a definitive date beyond the three month period during their latest sales report.

Ubisoft did have plenty to mention, but the information gamers want to know is when specifically Watch Dogs will launch. The futuristic open-world stealth title is due in the first quarter of the publisher’s new financial year – so anywhere from April to June 2014.

The Wii U version, however, has been delayed, and will release at a later date than the PC, PlayStation 3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One versions.

The Wii U delay will allow Ubisoft Montreal “to focus the team’s resources where they could have the broadest possible benefit for both our customers and Ubisoft”, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said during a post-release conference call with investors.

General performance declined
Ubisoft noted a general decrease in sales over the quarter ending December 31 2013, dropping 35.2% to $709.5 million compared to the same quarter one year ago.

For the nine months of the financial year to date, Ubisoft has made $1.1 billion in sales, a 24.8% year-on-year decrease.

The publisher attributed the sales dip to the console transition, which is likely to have lowered sales across the board. In a statement, Guillemot said the generation is off to a great start, though.

“The launches of the PS4 and Xbox One were both hugely successful, with sales of these machines more than doubling those for the previous generation and confirming the growth potential of the console market in the coming years,” he said.

Highlights
Ubisoft noted that Assassin’s Creed 4 has shipped 10 million units, which is in fact two million less than Assassin’s Creed 3 managed in the same period – but as noted above, it did it during a console transition, when buyers are more conservative. Ubisoft also made an unclear reference to an upcoming title, which came as no surprise.

Just Dance 2014 has shipped 6 million units, which is again 2 million below the performance of the last one, but the franchise still holds the “leading casual brand on consoles” title and met expectations.

Unfortunately, Rocksmith 2014 was not so lucky, shipping 1 million for “lower-than-expected” sales.

Inside the numbers
Unusually for a big western publisher, Ubisoft provided a breakdown of sales by platform and region. In terms of next-gen, the PS4 versions of Ubisoft titles outsold the Xbox One equivalents, at 12% and 9% of total sales respectively.

The PS3 also outsold the Xbox 360 at 28% to 27% respectively, but both platforms noted a quarter-on-quarter decline in sales total percentages – dismantled by next-gen sales, is likely why this happened.

North America remains the strongest territory in terms of sales for Ubisoft.

You can leave a comment below on the news about Watch Dogs and if you’re still interested in the game.