Ubisoft’s CEO reportedly tells staff the onus is on them to reverse the company’s fortunes
“The ball is in your court to deliver this line-up on time and at the expected level of quality”
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has reportedly told staff the onus is on them to reverse the company’s fortunes after it provided a dire financial update on Wednesday.
Following weaker than expected software sales over the holiday season and a new delay for Skull and Bones, the company slashed its revenue forecast for the current fiscal year.
It also cancelled three unannounced games and said it plans to make some €200 million in cost cuts over the next two years “through targeted restructuring, divesting some non-core assets and usual natural attrition”.
Skull and Bones will now be released during Ubisoft’s next fiscal year, which begins in April and runs until March 2024.
During this period Ubisoft said it’s also planning to release Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, “and other yet-to-be-announced premium games, including a large one, as well as promising free-to-play titles for some of our biggest brands”.
Like Skull and Bones, the Avatar game was planned for release in 2022 prior to a delay, and so too was Assassin’s Creed Mirage, according to reports.
In an email sent to employees on Wednesday and viewed by Kotaku, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said these delays had “weighed on our costs and decreased our associated revenues”.
“Today more than ever, I need your full energy and commitment to ensure we get back on the path to success,” he wrote. “I am also asking that each of you be especially careful and strategic with your spending and initiatives, to ensure we’re being as efficient and lean as possible.”
Guillemot also urged staff to deliver on what he called “the biggest pipeline in Ubisoft history”, writing: “The ball is in your court to deliver this line-up on time and at the expected level of quality, and show everyone what we are capable of achieving.”
Further reading
Commenting on Ubisoft’s financial update on Wednesday, ReedPop’s head of games B2B Christopher Dring claimed Ubisoft was suffering compared to other big publishers because of its lack of a significant live service game to fill release gaps.
“The big issue for Ubisoft isn’t its structure, not really. It’s the fact it doesn’t have a live service game of any significance,” he wrote. “Look at the publishers worth billions… it’s all about that one title that prints money continuously. GTA Online, FIFA, CoD, Fortnite etc.
“It means that Ubisoft is so reliant on having a good release schedule to drive performance. I think what it’s trying to do with Assassin’s Creed is the right play”.
