By
Godfrey Benjamin
February 2nd, 2024
Due to the bad news, which includes the canceled games and financial challenges, Ubisoft plans to “depreciate around €500m of capitalized R&D”.
French video game publisher Ubisoft saw its shares slump 20% after the company shared some bad news. The video game publisher announced delaying the release of its game “Skull and Bones”. It is indeed bad news from Ubisoft as the Skull and Bones game will be delayed again. That means that it will no longer launch on the 9th of March which was the most recent schedule. With no specific date fixed, the French company now expects to release the game anytime from April 2023 to March 2024.
Bad News from Ubisoft
In addition to the postponement of the Skull and Bones Game, Ubisoft also mentioned canceling three other projects. The Assassin’s Creed creator said it is dismissing the three projects to focus on its existing brands and live services. The delayed game, unannounced game cancellations, and disappointing sales all summed up the bad news, leading to a lower share price for Ubisoft. Ubisoft also mentioned the underperformance of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope toward the end of last year and early this year. It also complained about the poor performance of Just Dance 2023.
The latest game cancellations make it seven games in total that Ubisoft canceled in the last six months. Some of the tried and failed games included Prince of Persia and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which will be delayed until 2023-2024. At the same time, the company has ceased the development of the Splinter Cell VR title, Ghost Recon Frontline
Evidently, the recent report indicated that Ubisoft may be struggling, and investors did not take the bad news in good faith. The French video game publisher’s stock on the Dow Jones took an initial hit of 10.5% and continued in its downturn. Also, the stock prices have plunged to reach their seven-year low.
Ubisoft’s Plans Amid Downturns
Due to the bad news, which includes the canceled games and financial challenges, Ubisoft plans to “depreciate around €500m of capitalized R&D”. The company is also looking to reduce internal costs by €200m for the next two years. The reductions will cut across reselling off assets, restructuring, and “natural attrition.”
Recent years have seen the game industry shift toward mega-brands and sustainable titles that can reach audiences around the world. The shift also focuses on reaching players on different platforms and business models. Although Ubisoft has attempted to do the same, it has yet to be successful. CEO Yves Guillemot stated that the company is disappointed in its recent performance. He added:
“We are facing contrasted market dynamics as the industry continues to shift towards mega-brands and everlasting live games, in the context of worsening economic conditions affecting consumer spending.”
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