Ubisoft appears to be in a state of panic and confusion right now as it announces the delay of its upcoming Assassin’s Creed: Shadows.
There were signs that something was wrong at Ubisoft yesterday when it abruptly pulled out of the Tokyo Game Show at the last minute. Later it was reported that the media preview of “Assassin’s Creed: Shadows” scheduled for next week has also been cancelled.
Ubisoft has been struggling for years. In 2018, its share price reached an all-time high of over 100 euros, but has since fallen and is currently at its lowest price in nearly a decade (a measly 11.42 euros), which seems to be the reason why Ubisoft’s stock price is now falling. 2023 has been particularly difficult, with the stock price down 50%.
Just last week, the French company’s stock took another hit after it became clear that sales of Star Wars: Desperados weren’t as strong as they had hoped.
Ubisoft said in a statement: “Furthermore, while First Party and Epic store ratings (Metacritic 76) and user ratings (3.9/5) reflect an immersive and authentic Star Wars universe, Star Wars Initial sales for War: Outlaws were lower than expected.
“In response to player feedback, the Ubisoft development team has been fully mobilized to quickly implement a series of updates to polish and improve the player experience in order to attract a large audience during the holidays and build “Star Wars: Outlaws” into a long-term strong game. actor.
Ubisoft seems to be responding to its predicament by making several major announcements.
First of all, Ubisoft’s biggest game of the year, “Assassin’s Creed: Shadows”, has now been postponed to February 14, 2025.
“While the game is feature-complete, the lessons learned from the Star Wars: Outlaws version have given us additional time to further refine the game,” Ubisoft said. “This will make the biggest addition to the series. The game is able to fully realize its ambitions, especially by delivering on the promise of our dual protagonists’ adventures, with Naoe and Yasuke bringing two distinct playstyles to the table.”
It also looks like they will be ditching their existing season pass model, with Shadow having no season pass at all. At least, that’s what the company seems to be saying, as the wording is rather vague: “We’re moving away from the traditional season pass model. All players will enjoy the game simultaneously on February 14th, and those who pre-order the game will receive the first expansion for free. .
Since its launch, Dark Shadows has sparked a number of controversies, the first of which concerns the real-life historical figure Yasuke, the first black person ever recorded in Japan. In Ubisoft’s game, he is a samurai, which sparked heated debate since Yasuke was never called a samurai in historical terms. There has been some other controversy surrounding the game and its depiction of Japanese culture.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot seemed to have a statement on this today: “Finally, let me address some of the polarizing comments surrounding Ubisoft as of late. I want to reiterate that we are an entertainment-first company, serving the most… Creating games for a broad audience, our goal is not to push any particular agenda, we remain committed to making games for fans and players that everyone can enjoy.
As part of the delay, Ubisoft announced that all pre-orders will be refunded, and anyone who pre-ordered will now receive the game’s first expansion for free.
In addition to delaying the release of Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, Ubisoft also announced that all of its games will be available on Steam from day one.
Ubisoft hasn’t released a game directly on Steam since 2019. In 2022, Ubisoft changed this strategy. “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla” came to Steam two years after its release, followed by “Anno 1800”. Released to Steam, but only a few months after they released it on Uplay and Epic.
Finally, in the same financial statement that revealed Shadows’ delays and Star Wars: Outlaws’ dismal sales, Ubisoft’s executive committee and board of directors will launch an investigation and review of the company.
“In light of recent challenges, we acknowledge the need to improve efficiency while delighting players. Therefore, in addition to the first important short-term actions taken, the Executive Committee, under the oversight of the Board, is initiating a review aimed at further improving our execution, particularly within this player-centric approach, and accelerate our strategy on the path to a higher performance model that benefits our stakeholders and shareholders.
Despite today’s announcements, Ubisoft is trying to keep its focus on open-world games and games-as-a-service.
“While the actual benefits of the company’s transformation will take longer than expected to materialize, we will continue to execute on our strategy to focus on two key verticals – open world adventures and GaaS native experiences – with the goal of driving growth, repeatability and strong free cash flow generation in our business, Ubisoft said.
I wonder if the company’s intense focus on making open-world games using the same basic template and its pursuit of GaaS cash aren’t the reasons it’s achieved this status.
