'Assassin's Creed' no saviour for struggling Ubisoft

Topher

Identifies as young
A bumper release for the latest "Assassin's Creed" instalment did not save French video games giant Ubisoft from falling back into the red in its 2024-25 financial year, the company said on Wednesday.

The company had won through to profitability in 2023-24 after a near half-billion-euro loss in the previous period.

But a string of disappointing releases undermined this year's performance, with a net loss of 159 million euros ($178 million) on revenues of 1.9 billion -- down 17.5 percent year-on-year.

Over the past 12 months, Ubisoft's would-be blockbuster "Star Wars Outlaws" fell short of sales expectations on release, while it cancelled multiplayer first-person shooter "XDefiant" for lack of players.

"This year has been a challenging one for Ubisoft, with mixed dynamics across our portfolio, amid intense industry competition," chief executive Yves Guillemot said in a statement.

Ubisoft's preferred performance indicator, so-called "net bookings" -- which excludes some deferred revenues -- also fell by more than 20 percent year-on-year, to 1.8 billion euros.

The group expects the measure to hold steady in the coming 2025-26 financial year, during which it will release a new "Prince of Persia" game, strategy title "Anno 117: Pax Romana" and mobile versions of shooters "Rainbow Six" and "The Division".

Disappointing shipments have been matched by a tumbling stock price.

But in recent weeks the publisher's biggest money-spinner has been as dependable as ever, with "Assassin's Creed Shadows" winning over more than three million players with its story of medieval Japanese intrigue since its March 20 release.

"Shadows" swiftly rose to become the second-best-selling game of the year so far in the United States, according to data from consultancy Circana.

Moving to address its business woes, Ubisoft said in late March that it would create a new subsidiary to manage its three top franchises: "Assassin's Creed", "Far Cry" and "Rainbow Six".

Around 3,000 of the group's 17,000 employees worldwide will work in the new unit, Guillemot has said.

It will not own the games' brands, instead paying royalties to the parent company to use them.

The subsidiary has been valued at more than four billion euros, or twice Ubisoft's current market capitalisation, after Chinese tech giant Tencent agreed to invest 1.16 billion in exchange for a stake of around 25 percent.

Spinning off the biggest-selling games "was the least committal of the available options without simply returning to shareholders empty-handed," said Martin Szumski, an analyst at Morningstar, ahead of the earnings report.

One activist fund with a minority stake in Ubisoft had tried to rally other investors to demand a change of course.

Leaving investors "underwhelmed", according to Szumski, the subsidiary plan has not kept the mothership's stock from eroding further in value, hit in part by fears over US tariffs.

Since January, the shares have lost more than 12 percent, touching their lowest price in over a decade in April.

Ubisoft has promised details of more restructuring moves by the end of 2025 and aims to save a further 100 million euros over the coming two years as part of a cost-cutting drive launched in 2023.

The company on Wednesday also reported net debt of 885 million euros, down from 1.4 billion in September.

Ubisoft's restructuring means Tencent, which climbed aboard as an investor in 2018, will have a bigger say in the French firm -- although Guillemot insisted to French senators at a hearing last week that he will "retain control" over the new subsidiary.

Looking ahead, "if Ubisoft is unable to use the money Tencent invested in a meaningful way, it is certainly possible that Tencent pursues buying the firm outright" even in the face of fierce resistance from the founding Guillemot brothers, Szumski suggested.

Ubisoft's belt-tightening programme has brought closures of several foreign studios and thousands of job cuts.

Worldwide, the company is replacing only one in three departing workers, Guillemot told the Senate.



Ubisoft also said in its press release that Assassin's Creed Shadows outperformed Odyssey in consumer spending and player count.
 
They're everything shit about modern gaming and I haven't bought any of their games in fucking ages.

Video Games Explosion GIF by PlayStation
 
But in recent weeks the publisher's biggest money-spinner has been as dependable as ever, with "Assassin's Creed Shadows" winning over more than three million players with its story of medieval Japanese intrigue since its March 20 release...
when you're looking for 'players', you won't be getting sales. by no means the sole source of ubi's problems, but absolutely a contributing factor, imo...
 
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That's what most of us knew would happen, 2nd best selling game in the US from 1 source but still no numbers to go along with it, Ubisoft is treating customers badly and not making games that are selling well enough that's the truth, in recent times Odyssey and Origins and Valhalla (the biggest seller) are better than Outlaws and Shadows, and they still say we don't own them!.
 
If Tencent really doesn't have any input, then they are going to waste it all and Yves will go down kicking and screaming until kicked out.

But I'm very skeptical about what he asserted to the senate. I think he's just saving his pride.
 
Shadows is a great game, good to see it did well

Ubisoft is a trash company, I lose no sleep over them struggling. Hopefully anyone who loses their jobs (if at all) can land back on their feet very quickly though.
 
The game could sell 30 million copies and it still wouldn't save them, just delay the inevitable. They need a change of direction for the entire company. It's sad, because the game itself is great.
 
Trying to recall the last Ubisoft game I bought....

Think it was Far Cry 5. I will be dead honest and say I enjoyed that game and the story was decent. The whole "bible thumping cult leader" trope. But he was a decent antagonist
 
Only one option left - reboot, with Desmond Miles Morales, a virtually unchanged character from the original series, except he's black. It takes place in Poland.
 
I like AC Shadows but their whole "you don't own your games" thing they doubled down on recently pissed me off. Fuck em.
 
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UBI had been making money for years. So as much people hate their repetitive AC and open world games, it was going good for a while. But looks like it finally caught up with them and some recent clunkers put them in the red.

Stock price has dropped 90% since it toped out at $100+ years ago. It dipped to $8 when tariff meltdown happened but back to $11. It;s been at $10-12 since October.
 
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Ubisoft falling into the red despite AC Shadows selling well while a "bored" former Ubisoft dev and a bunch of junior devs drop a game that is selling at a faster pace, has more acclaim, and will probably win multiple awards including GOTY.

I imagine Ubisoft top brass being Obidiah Stane in the first Iron Man movie, looking at Expedition 33 like:

DPLBxsM.gif
 
Good…
Die Ubisoft. I hope the Prince of Persia IP gets bought by a reputable developer.

Lost Crown (2024) was their best game since Rayman Legends (2013) & Origins (2011).
 
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i'll buy black flag unless they ruin the story by trying to alter it. especially a character like Mary Read and make her a tranny or something foolish.
 
That's what most of us knew would happen, 2nd best selling game in the US from 1 source but still no numbers to go along with it, Ubisoft is treating customers badly and not making games that are selling well enough that's the truth, in recent times Odyssey and Origins and Valhalla (the biggest seller) are better than Outlaws and Shadows, and they still say we don't own them!.

This has nothing to do with the OP, though.

The article implies Shadows sold well standalone. Ubisoft's losses from Star Wars Outlaws and XDefiant were too big to be overcome by one relatively successful game.
 
Nothing really new here. Shadows was not the third atomic bomb that Japanophiles and CCU fetishists wanted it to be but it was also never going to be enough to reverse Ubisoft's fortunes. They've had too many failures this gen like Outlaws and Skull and Bones for that to happen.
 
So I was interested in playing the latest Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown since I love metroidvanias.

But I skipped it because it's a Ubisoft game. Not even kidding....

THAT'S how much I am over this company. I know not everyone skips games due to a developer or publishers....but Ubisoft have lost SO much goodwill from their consumers where it just feels like shit to buy any game with their label on it.

They have absolutely shit the bed with their reputation they once had: Predictable, easy and non-innovative games, full of open world bloat filled with mediocre filler, TERRIBLE and unthoughtful writing, WAY, WAY WAYYYYY too much hand holding & UI clutter, trying to pander to everyone and not their core audience that made them, no clear concise vision (too many unnecessary chefs in the kitchen), their delusional take on thinking some of their games deserve to be labeled as "quadruple A", overly greedy monetization for single player games. They are the epiphany of everything wrong within the AAA games industry.
 
AC Shadows shows that even Ubisoft can learn form their mistakes.

After the delay it turned out to be a great, polished, game that eventually sold very well.
 
I barely notice Ubisoft's output. The only games I can think of in the last few years is Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Mario & Rabbids: Spark of Hope.
 
Shadows is pretty damn good. Too bad there was a string of shitshows before it, like skull, outlaws and avatar.

Played Rayman Legends with my four year old this evening, what a nice quality experience... *chef's kiss*
 
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Oh wow the outcome everyone speculated to happen in the "spirited lead up" but then Ubisoft Public Relations wordsmithing gave the gullible and those that really wanted to believe some umbrage.

I want to know how many people 'interacted' with your product. Like saw it in passing, might dipped their feet into it, had it packaged in with hardware sales, etc. Count them all together. Not the sell through, though! That's a meaningless metric. Sales? Ha! Who the fuck cares. Really, what is the meaning of money? (also we can be sued for lying about sell through numbers) I want to know, even if the crowd was smaller... did they have fun? Did they swing swords? How many times were swords swung?

These are the true metrics of success. I know this to be true as I know there were black Samuari cause some white British scholar told me so before he was forcibly ejected out of Japanese university system.
 
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AC Shadows would have done twice as well and saved the company if it wasn't trying to push an agenda.

They have nothing I care about coming up.

I think they're screwed. Should have embraced your fans when you had the chance instead of embracing a progressive future that could never exist. They are always so quick to throw us under the bus the second they think they can get by without us.
 
Its the first Assassins Creed game I didn't buy at launch.

I will probably try it when it gets the usual discount (which I expected to happen now)
 
3 million players? For a game with the budget and push of Shadows, I'd have expected 5 million _sales_ was the floor by now. They really set themselves up for failure.
 
Give me 10 minutes and i'll get them back on track...

boot the personality hairs and slacktivists to the curb, get the companies down to a lenient number, implement AI to fill in for them (so basically making blog posts and social media posts).

Eject any "consulting" firms and rip their contracts up, and piss on the papers for good measure.

Start making games on a reasonable budget. SP linear games are not dead.

Then Greenlight a new Splinter Cell game in the vein of old with Spy vs Merc.

greenlight Rainbow Six Patriots (keep the name because that would kill in today's scene), keep Siege going too, but give us that sweet campaign tactical shooter again.

Greenlight a new Prince of Persia game.

Give all the games a quick turnaround, 3 years max of development time, if it can't be done in 3 years, then the idea gets the boot, make sure they share tech and work on the same engine..

Make sure all the main characters are likeable and just eradicate any potential activist controversial elements from day 1.

"Sir, how about Body type A..." "keeeeyaaaaah" kick 'em out the building, literally.
 
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