The French gaming publisher Ubisoft has halted development on 7 games between July 2022 and January 2023, including titles like Ghost Recon Frontline and Splinter Cell VR. The head of the publisher, Yves Guillemot, now assures investors: it was necessary. They want to focus on quality rather than quantity.
Which games were canceled? In July 2022, Ubisoft announced that they would halt work on 4 games:
- Ghost Recon Frontline – a Free2Play “Battle Royale” shooter with 102 players. The title faced criticism from the start.
- Splinter Cell VR – a virtual reality game
- 2 more games that were canceled had not yet been announced by that time
In January 2023, Ubisoft announced that they would halt 3 more games: none of the games had been announced at that time.
Additionally, Ubisoft said in January 2023 that they were postponing the pirate game “Skull & Bones”, which is coming between April and December 2023. Furthermore, the CEO declared a savings plan – the union reacted with a threat of a strike.
Ubisoft was very dissatisfied with its earnings in January 2023
What did they know about the reasons? Ubisoft expressed dissatisfaction with the current results in January 2023. They blamed the poor performance on “mega-brands and long-lasting titles” that reach players worldwide across all platforms and business models. Thus, a saturation of the market by games like Fortnite, LoL, or Call of Duty: Warzone.
Especially titles like “Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope” and “Just Dance 2023” fell short of expectations.
Cancelling 7 games should now help the games that are truly coming
Why are they ceasing work on so many games? During a recent “Earnings Call,” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said:
We have canceled a few games because we need to make more room for other games that are being developed in the company, and that really helps the other games to progress in development. We now feel we have the right number of games, and we know that in the fiscal year 2024 we will be releasing a lot of games that will make room for the other games in the company.
Guillemot says: In the next 24 months, the number of games being developed at Ubisoft will significantly decrease, and that will make more room for all the games they want to release.
Moreover, they will support many of the games even after the release, which requires numerous teams and talents.
What kinds of games are coming out? Among the games we expect from Ubisoft from April 2023 to March 2024 are:
- Assassin’s Creed Mirage
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Mobile
- Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence
- Tom Clancy’s Division: Heartland
- The Crew Motorfest
- Skull and Bones – which has been postponed so many times that it can already be referred to as a running gag
At Ubisoft, it seems that quite a lot has gone wrong since a sexism scandal in 2020:
Insider report paints a grim picture of Ubisoft – sexism as a system
