Ubisoft sees game industry peak in 2009

By Scott Hillis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Video game companies will have a tough time topping 2007's spectacular growth, but the industry won't hit its cyclical peak until next year, a senior executive with France's Ubisoft (UBIP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Wednesday.

"Stronger financially is going to be difficult. It was a good year last year," Laurent Detoc, Ubisoft's president for North America, said in an interview when asked if 2008 would be as strong as 2007.

Europe's largest games publisher, Ubisoft has titles such as "Assassin's Creed" and military-themed games created with political thriller author Tom Clancy. The company said last month that its fiscal 2008 revenue jumped 36 percent to $1.5 billion.

Detoc said console makers -- Nintendo Co Ltd (7974.OS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sony Corp (6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) -- were poised to sell more hardware than ever, up to 36 million units this year alone.

"I don't even think this is the peak. The peak could be next year," Detoc said.

Detoc spoke a day before market research firm NPD is to release April game sales data for the United States. Sales of gaming hardware, software and accessories rose 43 percent in 2007, and the industry has carried that momentum into this year, with March sales soaring 57 percent from a year earlier.

Detoc said the concern is whether new console buyers, which include a lot of first-time older and female gamers drawn to Nintendo's Wii, can be enticed to keep buying new games.

"I'm a little cautious right now in terms of hardware and how that translates to software," Detoc said.