Ubisoft to focus more on franchises instead of licensed product

Ubisoft has revealed its to start focusing more on "high end franchises" and less on "licensed" product, thanks in part to Avatar: The Game selling half of what was expected by the company.

Selling almost 2.5M units worldwide across six formats, Ubisoft estimated the game would sell between 3.5-5M copies, reports GI.biz. Comparatively, the game's reception pales to the film's, which has so far raked in $1.6B in sales.

"Our plan is to take more care of our high end franchises, we will leave less place for licensed games," stated Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. "It doesn't mean we will stop, but we're going to spend less in licenses in the future.

"Our plan is to take more care of our high end franchises, we will leave less place for licensed games. So the goal is to reuse the investment and licenses and put more emphasis on the making of our brands bigger and make sure they can come more often with high quality.

"So it doesn't mean we will stop but we're going to spend less in licenses in the future."

Currently, Ubisoft has discounted the title with UK retailer GAME in order to get the game out into the pubic.

Previous licensed titles produced by Ubisoft include Beowolf, King Kong, and Open Season with upcoming movie tie-ins for Scott Pilgrim Vs the World and Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson's Tintin flick.

Last week, it was revealed that Ubisoft had lowered its sales expectations for Wii exclusive Red Steel 2.