The major restructuring at Ubisoft is far from over. Instead of unleashing a new wave of layoffs, the decision-makers have now chosen to abandon a genre that is booming on Steam.
Which genre is it? The decision-makers at Ubisoft have announced that they will no longer develop the cozy game Alterra. The project is being halted and the employees reassigned to other titles.
In a statement from Ubisoft to IGN, they explained:
“As part of our portfolio management approach and our evolving, internally driven creative model, we continuously evaluate projects at every stage of development to ensure that they align with our strategic priorities, quality goals, and long-term market potential […] Projects that no longer meet these expectations may be discontinued.”
Alterra was meant to be Ubisoft’s answer to Animal Crossing, making it the company’s first major cozy game.
Here you see another competitor to Animal Crossing:
A decision against the trend
Why is the decision unusual? Animal Crossing, Dreamlight Valley, Heartopia, Palia, and many other cozy games have become a popular genre in recent years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since then, there have been almost weekly new, relaxing games that combine elements of survival, MMOs, and RPGs into a simpler, relaxing environment that you can experience at your own pace. The genre is a true goldmine for many developers.
Cozy games come without expensive multiplayer servers and require relatively small updates with new characters, for which a sufficient number of players are willing to pay a little money. Looking at how often these video games are searched on Google compared to large MMORPGs or multiplayer shooters, Dreamlight Valley and Animal Crossing rank higher than Call of Duty and Guild Wars 2.
Accordingly, Ubisoft’s reasoning for not releasing Alterra due to “strategic priorities” and “long-term market potential” seems unusual.
What do the fans think? Players find the cancellation of the game unusual as well, but emphasize that given Ubisoft’s strong monetization strategies, it would likely have become an expensive endeavor. They express their views on Reddit:
- KazMiller20: “Honestly, knowing their business model, this could have been a good thing.”
- dead_is_death: “Hey, this new person wants to live on your island. – A character DLC appears to purchase her”
- JimmyJackJericho: “Since Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Pokopia, and Tomodachi are incredibly popular, this game would not have stood a chance”
- Rosebunse: “Do they hate money?”
For the players, it was already clear before any details about the game were released that Ubisoft would have relied heavily on monetization, which they would prefer to avoid.
The fact that Ubisoft has not mentioned any layoffs this time and is “only” canceling a title may seem positive for the remaining employees, but it is clear that the company is still restructuring, and the future for Ubisoft remains very uncertain. You can find out more about the state of Ubisoft here: Ubisoft’s next hit is not expected until 2-3 years, fans think it is not about quality – and I agree with them
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