Ubisoft profit warning sends shares down 25% Ubisoft lost a quarter of its market value on Tuesday after the French video games publisher warned on profits and said its highly-anticipated title Watch Dogs would be delayed until next year. The action game, in which players control a vigilante computer hacker named Aiden Pearce, was previously due to be released next month ahead of the lucrative Christmas shopping season. Ubisoft, which said it had also postponed the release of racing game The Crew, cut its full-year revenue target by more than €400m to a range of between €995m and €1.04bn. It added that it now expects to make an operating loss of between €40m and €70m for the 12 months to March 2014. Previously it had forecast an operating profit of between €110m and €125m. Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft co-founder and chief executive, said the "tough decision" to delay the games was necessary to improve their quality and maximise their potential to become blockbuster franchises. "We are convinced that, longer term, they will prove to be the right decisions both in terms of satisfaction for our fans and in terms of value creation for our shareholders," he said. Delays to console games have become increasingly common as developers strive to create technical masterpieces with production values on a par with blockbuster movies. Take Two Interactive's Grand Theft Auto V , which generated sales of $1bn in just three days after it was released last month, was originally scheduled for release in the spring. The game cost more than $250m to develop and market. Unlike established franchises like Grand Theft Auto, Watch Dogs is an entirely new piece of intellectual property and is expected to contain never-before-seen types of gameplay. Given the execution risk in releasing a new game, Ubisoft's decision to take its time to perfect Watch Dogs is understandable, said Ed Barton, head of digital media analysis at Strategy Analytics. "If Watch Dogs [is rushed out] and doesn't establish itself as a key new intellectual property for Ubisoft, on which it can make a number of sequels, it would have much more serious longer-term financial implications," he said. Ubisoft on Wednesday expressed confidence about its growth in the coming years. The company said it was targeting operating income of at least €150m for 2014-15 and €200m for 2015-16, using calculations that are not based on International Financial Reporting Standards. Ubisoft shares opened more than 25 per cent lower in Paris. By midday they were trading down 25.6 per cent at €8.25.