Ubisoft has reported a sales decline of 51 per cent for the first quarter ended June 30, 2009.

Sales came in at €83 million ($113.71m), compared with €169 million ($231.53m) recorded during the same period last year, and 12.6 per cent below the company’s most recent guidance of €95 million ($130.15m).

"We are currently experiencing a very sharp slowdown in our sales for Nintendo DS as well as sales of back-catalogue titles, in the context of a market that is tougher than anticipated,” said Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. “This will have a significant impact on our first-half showing."

The company also cited “significantly lower back-catalogue sales of titles for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 than in the first quarter of 2008-09” as reason for the decline.

“Against this backdrop, the solid performance of our Wii titles combined with the successful launches of Anno and Call Of Juarez are points of satisfaction and demonstrate that good products are continuing to sell well,” added Guillemot.

The company revised its sales outlook for the second quarter downwards, from its previous guidance of €130 million ($178.1m)  to €80 million ($109.6m). The new guidance represents a 54 per cent decrease on sales from the second quarter of 2008-09. The company’s second quarter releases include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, Academy Of Champions, and “new casual titles for DS and Wii.”

Full year sales guidance was also lowered from €1.1 billion ($1.507b) to €1.04 billion ($1.42b), with current operating income representing at least seven per cent of sales, compared with the previous guidance of at least 11 per cent of sales.

Additionally, the company delayed the launch dates of Splinter Cell Conviction, Red Steel 2, Ghost Recon 4 and I am Alive.