Following Ubisoft’s major announcement yesterday which turned out to be that Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is currently in development for a ‘Holiday’ release, the publisher posted its fiscal third quarter earnings report ending December 31st 2009, which saw a significant decline in sales for the company.

For the months of October through December 2009, Ubisoft generated sales of €495 million ($678.9 million), which is 2.7% down compared to the same period in 2008, despite the high sales success of Assassin’s Creed II, which the company says has thus far managed to sell 8 million units since launch.

For the nine months leading up to December 31st, sales dropped by 22.5% compared to the same period in 2008, down to €661 million ($906.6 million). These performance declines, Ubisoft says, are due to a predominantly softer Nintendo DS market, which the publisher has managed to rely on in the past, but has since been halved.

Worse than expected sales performance for the James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game movie tie-in videogame was also cited for the company’s drop in sales, while back-catalogue sales were also down.

To end off the current fiscal year (ending March 31st) on a high, Ubisoft has a few games yet to release, with Assassin’s Creed II: Director’s Cut Edition for the PC, Red Steel 2 for the Wii, The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom for the PC, and Silent Hunter 5: Battle for the Atlantic for the PC.

Looking to the future, Ubisoft plans to mitigate its current state by focusing on releasing quality, higher end games, and more regular releases for its major franchises, while reducing investments in new intellectual property to lower risk and give investors higher visibility, reduce instability, and accelerate cash flow.

Ubisoft also plans to invest more heavily in its online initiatives, such as its Uplay online hub for use with its own games, while still dabbling in the casual game space with Microsoft’s Project Natal technology, Sony’s PS3 motion controller device, and Facebook related media.