ASSASSINS ARE A HIT FOR VIDEO GAME FIRM

SHOOTER games inspired by novelist Tom Clancy and action titles starring Egyptian assassins helped Ubisoft post bumper sales of £1.1bn. The video games developer yesterday revealed it had beaten its sales targets for the final three months of 2017 – after they had already been upgraded. Its franchises include big-hit titles released in the last few months such as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six and Assassin’s Creed ( pictured). Ubisoft said a shift towards digital downloads from physical disks was making the industry more profitable. Digital sales made up more than half of its revenues for the first nine months of the financial year, at a record £596m. The French company posted revenues of almost £650m for the third quarter, beating a target of £623m. This had already been revised up from £560m. It brought total revenues for the first three quarters to £1.1bn.

Yves Guillemot, chief executive, said updating games regularly and improving services for players who competed online against each other had helped boost digital sales.

The firm had also spent additional time developing its games and this had paid off, he added.