Splinter Cell Conviction and R.U.S.E. Delays Details

Ubisoft has released a very sad press release that details its lowered expectations for the rest of the fiscal year of 2009/2010. It also states that both Splinter Cell: Conviction and R.U.S.E. will slip.

Here's the important bit from the gamers' point of view; stating reasons for the lowered earnings, the release points to:

"The postponed release dates for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction and R.U.S.E, which were previously scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2009-10, and will now be released in 2010-11. Splinter Cell Conviction™ is now expected to hit the stores in April 2010."

In terms of actual figures, "The sales targets for third-quarter and full-year 2009-10 have been revised downwards to €495 million and around €860 million respectively, from the previously announced figures of €540 million and €1,040 million."

Factors blamed include the failing fortunes of Ubi's DS titles "After several years of very strong growth, the significant correction of the DS market in 2009 particularly affected Ubisoft. As a result, despite relatively robust sales for Wii casual games, and particularly the success of Just Dance, sales in the casual segment are expected to be down for the full year by around €160 million, representing a drop of around 50%."

For console titles, there is a brief upside, with Assassin’s Creed 2, "which has achieved sell-through sales topping 6 million."

But this is countered by other AAA titles not performing; specifically, "with James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game and several non-casual Wii titles reporting lower-than-expected sales."

It's all so different from CEO, Yves Guillemot, statement last year that,"The excellent response to our games at E3, as well as the high buzz generated for titles such as Assassin's Creed 2, Splinter Cell Conviction and Avatar, reinforce our belief that the company can achieve strong growth in the second half of the fiscal year."

Read the full thing here.