UPDATE 1-INTERVIEW-Ubisoft eyes online gaming partners in China

(Adds details, background)

By Sophie Taylor

SHANGHAI, July 11 (Reuters) - France's UbiSoft Entertainment SA (UBIP.PA), which creates, publishes and distributes console games, is scouring China for partners to help it enter the country's booming online gaming market, an executive said on Wednesday.

Ubisoft -- which aims to have 1.1 billion euros ($1.51 billion) in sales by 2010 -- would be open to any kind of partnership, including a joint venture, acquisition or non-equity arrangement, said Yannick Theler, vice president of sales and marketing at Ubisoft.

"We are exploring the market and we are looking for partners and maybe working with third-party partners in China ... we are thinking about the online market because we are not in the market," Theler told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of ChinaJoy, China's biggest video game conference.

He declined to comment on which potential partners the company had approached.

Ubisoft, known for the hit game "Prince of Persia", is Europe's second-largest independent video games publisher for gaming consoles such as Nintendo's (7974.OS) Wii and Microsoft Corp.'s (MSFT.O) XBox 360.

Theler added that Ubisoft would try to move into online gaming in China first, after which "we'll see what can happen".