UbiSoft have released their sales figures for the first half of 2008-09, and guess what? It's good news.

Ubi's sales for the first half of 2008-09 came to $441 million, up 31.5% compared with the $335 million recorded for the same period of 2007-08. Second-quarter sales amounted to a total of $224 million, an increase of 37.3% from the $163 million posted for the second quarter of 2007-08. These figures were largely attributed to the successful releases of console games SoulCalibur IV and the latest Brothers in Arms, but also to the steady sales of casual titles. UbiSoft now raises their estimated earnings for the full year to $1.347 million.

In the same press release, a list of upcoming releases is made, and there's no Heroes or M&M on the list... but... there is a mention of an "as-yet unannounced franchise" which was scheduled for release 2008-09, but has been pushed back to 2009-10. Shall we have a guess at what it could be?

Personally, I think it's a good thing that the producer of Heroes is making money; that they haven't ended up in dire straits as a result of the global economy recession. I remember the days of 3DO and NWC's fall, and how economic pressure caused a premature release of Heroes IV - a game with lots of potential, but which was pushed into the market before its creators could finish it. That UbiSoft are earning a profit from their games signals (to me at least) that the makers of the next Might & Magic related game are less likely to be pushed into releasing it before it's been polished.

More than that, it also shows that while the banking and finance sector suffers from the crisis, the gaming industry is still in full bloom. Cars, housing and holidays are big expenses which will inevitably fall into a slump when recession hits, whereas smaller things like games remain relatively unaffected. We're still buying games despite the economic hardships, because they're relatively cheap, and... well, because we gotta. Thank goodness for addicted geeks like us, eh? Keeping the wheels rolling.