Ubi Soft, a producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software, employs over 1000 people in 13 countries. It distributes its products in 47 countries. Created in 1986, Ubi Soft now ranks among the top 25 software publishers in the world.
The company has posted fast growth and excellent performance as a result of the quality of such products as POD, F1 Racing Simulation, and the Rayman line. During the 1996/97 fiscal year, the group posted turnover of FF345 million and earnings of FF15.8 million (+79% over 95/96). Global sales for 1997/1998 reach FF632.2 million.
(For 1997/1998 reach 102,13 million US $ (+83% over 96/97 - all figures have been translated at the march 31st 1998 exchange rate : 1US $ = 6,19 FRF)).
Innovative Teams
Ubi Soft boasts expertise in all three steps of multimedia production : design, production, and distribution. Its script-writers, illustrators, modelers, animators, game designers, sound specialists, and other experts stress quality at every stage. The team pools its creativity, audacity, humor and sense of poetry to delight, excite and surprise the public. The richness and variety of the software's content, stories, worlds and characters are one of Ubi Soft's great strengths.
Counting on High Technology
Ubi Soft systematically incorporates the new technical capabilities of PCs and consoles to produce higher quality software. Its products are all resolutely innovative: in concept, in image processing, in fluidity of motion, and more. Ubi Soft was one of the first publishers to employ Intel's MMX technology (in its POD game) and to incorporate quadraphonic sound into its games. It continues to work closely with Intel and will be launching Tonic Trouble, one of the first games fully optimized for the Pentium II AGP processor, in the fall.
Original Products
Ubi Soft's products fall into four lines: games, arts instruction, academic instruction and software for children. Ubi Soft has been focusing on developing true product lines: characters and concepts that can be spun off into series of products.
Ubi Soft also distributes, on a local and international scale, products from over 50 other publishers, including LucasArts™, Brøderbund® & RedOrb®, Europress, 3DO…)
A Logical Progression to Other Media
┬╖ Internet : all of Ubi Soft's newest software features on-line add-ons and updates.
┬╖ DVD-video: Ubi Soft is launching a catalogue of DVD-video titles this fall, with products such as Cosmic Family, Guitar Hits and The Adventures of Valdo and Marie.
┬╖ Drawing on its experience with modeling and broadcast-quality 3D animation, Ubi Soft is actively developing its plans for an animated television series.
A Few Figures
┬╖ Creation of Ubi Soft in 1986 by the Guillemot brothers.
┬╖ 1997/98 turnover: FF632.2million, up 83.09 percent.
┬╖ On the Second Market of the Paris Stock Exchange since July 1996:
Market capitalization: FF1,334 million as of 3/31/98.
Share price on April 30, 1998: FF788 (FF250 on July 1, 1996).
┬╖ Best sellers:
POD: 3.5 million since February 1997
RAYMAN: 2 million since December 1995
F1 Racing Simulation: 350,000 since December 1997
F1 P├┤le Position: 400,000 since November 1997
Outlook for the Interactive Entertainment Software Market
Ubi Soft is well positioned in a booming market, thanks to record sales of multimedia computers. With PCs priced under $1,000 and the recognized pedagogical value of educational software, multimedia is becoming increasingly popular and more people are equiping their homes with computers. Sega's introduction of the Katana gaming console in late 1998 will give a shot in the arm to the consoles market, which has reached maturity with the PlayStation® and Nintendo® 64. The industry, which does an estimated $12 billion in business, is expected to grow by 20 to 30 percent a year over the next decade. Ubi Soft aims to become one of the top 20 international publishers by the year 2000.
