A report from Insider Gaming provides insights into the state of the gaming developer and publisher Ubisoft. On the one hand, there are concerns about a major wave of layoffs, while on the other hand, the major game set in James Cameron’s Avatar universe seems to have flopped compared to The Division 1 and 2. We summarize the report.
Colleagues at Insider Gaming present the current state of Ubisoft, the sixth largest video game company in the world, in their report. They spoke with sources within Ubisoft. The report paints a grim picture of dissatisfied employees, unsuccessful trend chasing, and financial setbacks.
We have summarized the report for you.
The State of Ubisoft – How is the Company Doing?
How is Ubisoft doing currently? The gaming publisher and developer Ubisoft has been trying for several years to follow current trends, like Square Enix.
According to the report from Insider Gaming, current projects include Ubisoft Quartz, a platform for NFT technology, which is to be integrated into the publisher’s AAA games. Currently, the system is in use in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, among others.
Furthermore, it seems that about twelve different battle royale titles were in development from 2021 to 2022. Many of them were canceled as they did not receive favorable feedback from playtesters.
Currently, Ubisoft is focusing on live service titles, such as the recent Assassins Creed Valhalla, and extraction-based shooters. According to the report, there are currently three different shooters in development at Ubisoft: The Division Heartland, the Far Cry project Maverick, and a new IP set during World War II. Maverick and the new IP are expected to be released in 2025 and 2026 to 2027, respectively. The Division Heartland has yet to have a targeted release year.
Moreover, Ubisoft is facing many internal and public game delays:
- After about 10 years of development, the pirate game Skull & Bones is finally set to be released on February 16, 2024.
- Beyond Good and Evil 2 was officially announced at E3 2017 and has yet to be released. According to Insider Gaming, the game has been in development for 15 years now.
What about the company’s workforce? Recently, Microsoft laid off 1900 employees in the gaming sector, and Riot Games has parted ways with 530 employees. And these are just the largest waves of layoffs in January 2024. Although Ubisoft laid off around 124 employees in 2023, employees fear a much larger company-wide layoff wave according to Insider Gaming.
Additionally, Ubisoft now requires all employees to be present in the office two days a week starting April 2, 2024. This puts many employees, who worked during the COVID-19 pandemic, in a difficult situation.
They now have to find solutions in a relatively short time for commuting, the associated additional costs, and necessary childcare. All these factors had not been significant when choosing a profession due to the previous extended remote work.
According to Insider Gaming, Ubisoft itself sees the two days as a compromise. Other companies are already bringing their employees back to the office every weekday. However, employees fear that the two days are only the first step toward a permanent attendance requirement.
Moreover, the workforce is embarrassed by Ubisoft’s announcement to integrate NFTs into their games. The announcement came at a time when NFTs were already increasingly criticized. Accordingly, the wave of protests was significant:
Avatar Flopped Compared to The Division 1 and 2 – What About Other Games?
Was the Avatar game a flop? Ubisoft’s last major release was Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora from the studio Massive. The game is based on the now two-part film series Avatar by director James Cameron, known primarily for its visual power and fantastic world-building.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was announced in 2017 and was originally supposed to be released alongside the second film. Ultimately, the game was released in December 2023 – about a year after the movie’s theatrical release.
At the release of the Insider Gaming report yesterday, colleagues secured through their sources that the game currently has about 1.9 million players. Ubisoft’s revenue since release is approximately $133,000,000.
However, the game lags significantly behind the last two titles from developer Massive. The Division was released in 2016 and generated around $330,000,000, while the sequel The Division 2 was able to record about $250,000,000 in revenue in 2019. These figures refer to the initial release week of both titles.
Thus, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is far below expectations, at least compared to other titles from the same developer studio. Due to presumably high licensing costs for the Avatar universe, the actual expected revenue was likely even higher.
What does the future line-up look like? Although some Ubisoft titles have suffered from delays and difficult developments, the publisher has a good line-up for the coming years. Provided that there are no major delays, you can look forward to the following titles:
- Star Wars Outlaws – expected for the first half of 2024
- Assassin’s Creed Codename Red – expected for the second half of 2024
- Project Over (Ghost Recon) – expected for 2025/2026
- Far Cry Project Maverick – expected for 2025/2026
- Far Cry Project Blackbird – expected for 2025/2026
- Assassin’s Creed Hexe – expected for 2025/2026
- Assassin’s Creed Invictus – expected for 2025/2026
- Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Remake (Project Obsidian) – expected for 2025/2026
- Splinter Cell Remake – expected for 2025/2026
If Ubisoft manages to release all these titles in the next 36 months, the climate within and around the company should improve. Whether this will be the case will become clear in the coming months.
Do you have a Ubisoft game that you are currently looking forward to? Or are none of the titles appealing to you? Have you played Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora? We look forward to your comments.
