Yesterday, Ubisoft published a press release that announced a “major organizational, operational, and portfolio reset.” The French video game publisher has been struggling for a while now, as they just recently shut down their Halifax-based studio. Essentially, this restructuring sees the closure of several studios and the cancellation of games like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake. The remake had already been delayed several times since its initial announcement back in 2020.
A total of six games, including the Prince of Persia remake, were cancelled, and seven other titles are delayed. We don’t know which games are getting the axe, but it looks like the rumored Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag Remake is also in trouble. Since the news broke, Google Finance shows that Ubisoft shares have plummeted by 36%, at the time of writing.
The New Strategy For Ubisoft
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A major part of the restructuring is Ubisoft’s new “operating model to support strategic focus.” After closing studios in Stockholm, Sweden, and Halifax, Canada, the new strategy comprises just 5 studios in total. Vantage Studios is the only one that’s named in the document, and that one has its own ongoing controversy with the former Assassin’s Creed boss suing the publisher.
From the document, it appears that Vantage Studios will be responsible for Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and the Rainbow Six brands. Ubisoft labels the rest of the studios as Creative Houses, and Vanntage Studios is Creative House 1. CH2 is responsible for The Division, Ghost Recon, and Splinter Cell. CH3 is responsible for The Crew, For Honor, Riders Republic, Brawlhalla, and Skull & Bones. CH4 will see to Anno, Might & Magic, Rayman, Prince of Persia, and Beyond Good & Evil. Finally, CH5 focuses on Just Dance, Idle Miner Tycoon, Ketchapp, Hungry Shark, Uno, and Hasbro.
AAA Woes Continue
Here’s what Yves Guillemot, Ubisoft and Founder of CEO has to say regarding the change:
“On the one hand, the AAA industry hasbecome persistently more selective and competitive with rising development costs and greaterchallenges in creating brands. On the other hand, exceptional AAA games, when successful, have more financial potential than ever. In this context, today we are announcing a major reset built to create the conditions for a return to sustainable growth over time. We are transforming Ubisoft’s operating model to produce exceptional quality games on the two core pillars of our strategy, Open World Adventures and GaaS-native [Games as a Service] experiences.”
Ubisoft also announced that there are four new IPs currently in development, and March of Giants is one of them. Here’s another quote from the press release that raises some eyebrows:
“The new operating model will further empower the execution of the Group’s strategy, centered on Open World Adventures and GaaS-native experiences, supported by targeted investments, deeper specialization, and cutting-edge technology, including accelerated investments behind player-facing Generative AI.”
For now, this is all talk. Time will tell whether or not this new strategy works for Ubisoft. A refocus was certainly needed, and this isn’t necessarily a bad decision all-around. However, there’s substantially more to be done behind the scenes, which you don’t see in the press release.
