Ubisoft confirms latest installment in Tom Clancy tactical shooter series will avoid holiday fray with January-March release window.

When Ubisoft first teased Ghost Recon: Future Soldier in January 2009, it expected to have the game out before April 1, 2010. However, by the time Ubisoft officially announced the game in February 2010, it said the game had been bumped back to the final quarter of that year. Since then, the game has been pushed to the first quarter of 2011, and then again to sometime before the end of March 31, 2012.

As part of the publisher’s strong fiscal year-end earnings report this morning, Ubisoft confirmed that Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will be arriving toward that back end of that revised schedule. In a post-earnings conference call, CEO Yves Guillemot said that the game is now scheduled to release during its January-March 2012 quarter.

“It will be released in fiscal Q4 as we want first to have the best quality possible, as well as to avoid the very crowded Christmas landscape in the shooter genre,” Guillemot said. Shooters that are expected to arrive during the holiday quarter include a new Call of Duty game, Battlefield 3, Resistance 3, and Gears of War 3.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier gets its name from the “Future Soldier” programs being conducted by the US and its NATO allies. The initiative, currently part of the US Army’s Brigade Combat Team Modernization Program, focuses on outfitting infantrymen with networked communications and high-tech equipment.

The latest installment in the Ghost Recon franchise has been announced for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, Wii, and DS. For more on the game, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.