Ubisoft finds success with casual, freemium

In 2010, 40 percent of Ubisoft's revenue came from its casual games lines - and it sees huge growth in the free to play market.

Ubisoft executive director Alain Corre revealed the figure to GamesIndustry at gamescom.

"In the long term there's no reason why the casual would not overcome the hardcore business because there are more people that are interested in buying casual," added CEO Yves Guillemot.

In addition to a booming casual market, Guillemot sees huge potential in the free to play market, where the company's Smurfs game have seen tremendous success.

"Smurfs went from zero to 4.2 million without marketing in two weeks," he said.

Guillemot also pointed out that free to play negates piracy, meaning it's worth Ubisoft's time to invest in territories where previously it believed the illegal game trade too rampant to combat.

"So this huge revolution is extremely positive for the games industry because it's going to help the companies that are already present in the industry to actually expand their brands to a very broad audience in all the world," he enthused.