What The HELL IS Happening With Ubisoft?

19.01.2023 0 By admin

seven year low these are words that

nobody wants to hear but Ubisoft is

forced to reckon with now Ubisoft is a

very large developer and publisher of

video games and well they’re not exactly

in any danger of folding or anything but

this doesn’t look good hi folks it’s

Falcon and today on game Rings we asked

the question what the hell is happening

with Ubisoft so Ubisoft shares recently

plummeted about 21 that’s a fifth of

their value now this didn’t just happen

randomly they basically said their

forecast that they would see a 10

increase in profit was incorrect and

instead they would likely see a 10

decrease in profit which as you know

people who buy and sell stock don’t like

that and in the midst of this giving the

reason of worsening macroeconomic

conditions Ubisoft actually canceled

three games now these weren’t games we

knew anything about they were

unannounced but they did say publicly we

had three games that we were going to

release and we’re not gonna now these

three cancellations bring the number of

canceled games in the last six months up

to seven most of these games are ones

that they haven’t announced and we don’t

know what they are so it’s it doesn’t

sting like a gamer too hard like

nobody’s really emotionally invested in

games that don’t exist in terms of

tangible evidence but we do know that

one of them was apparently a VR Splinter

Cell game and while it’s nice to hear

that is at least in consideration I

don’t know that I care a whole lot that

a VR Splinter Cell got canceled I would

like a full-blown regular Splinter Cell

game with next-gen graphics and updated

modern mechanics but I also don’t know

if Ubisoft is really in the position to

be adding stuff to their slate like that

things aren’t looking that great like

they basically said in their press

release sales are are surprisingly slow

they’ve gone into cost reduction mode

and are planning on cutting 200 million

dollars out of their budget and you know

this comes on top of other not good news

for them the Mario and rabid sequel

didn’t do very well like the original

Mario and Rabbids game was a really cool

tactical game that was simple and

approachable very well done really

something I enjoyed a lot and in truth

Sparks of Hope is actually a pretty

worthy sequel it takes the battle system

from the first game and adds a few new

layers in the Sparks a type of additive

mechanic that doesn’t complicate the

battle system but adds more to do which

I like it is one of you know a million

new Switch games that the reviews all

mention performance as a problem but

that’s not exclusive to Sparks of Hope

at all it’s just I don’t know it’s a

worthy sequel in a series that while

people like maybe just doesn’t have the

kind of hype that Ubisoft thinks it does

because the first one was kind of a

surprise hit I mean really the negatives

for Ubisoft keep going on they’re uh

core Tom Clancy writer Richard dansky

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who’s been a vital part of all of their

Tom Clancy games for like 23 years he

left the company and well you know the

other thing that I’m gonna say because

it’s been the thing that we’ve been

saying for about a decade now Skull and

Bones got delayed again you know how

many times I’ve said Skull and Bones got

delayed again Skull and Bones has been

in development longer than I’ve been at

game ranks I think it’s the only high

profile game that is like that I don’t

think that there’s any AAA real game I

mean let’s not talk about Star Citizen

that’s not Ubisoft but skull and bones

is a very real project that they’ve

talked about a lot and hyped not

necessarily in a release cycle but said

hey hey we had a really good idea we’re

taking the ship stuff that you really

enjoyed from Assassin’s Creed IV

Assassin’s Creed 4. and we’re gonna make

that into its own game I still in 2023

think that’s a great idea also

considering they developed the damn

mechanics a very long time ago it

doesn’t seem like it should be that

difficult to make into a game but here

we are to be fair on Skull and Bones

they at least gave an update on it to

the official Twitter rather than just

announcing it via press release or to

stalk people on a call they’re talking

about incorporating feedback from tests

polishing and balancing along with more

upcoming public beta stuff but most

importantly the day that they put out

this update January 12th they said hey

tomorrow we’re gonna put out some

footage of the game a spokesperson

actually had the following to say while

skull and bones is now complete where

you using the remaining time until our

launch to leverage feedback from our

ongoing technical test and the upcoming

open Beta to polish and balance the

experience to me that says the game is

not complete but the fact that they are

quote unquote assembling a Strike Team

to make it as good as it possibly can be

I’m quite happy with so I don’t want to

just say it’s the worst Skull and Bones

update we’ve ever seen it’s actually in

terms of their delays probably not the

worst version of it but I mean the game

is getting delayed again again again

so what the hell is happening this is a

whole lot of negatives for a very big

developer that we all know very well and

has made a lot of very high profile

games that have made them lots of money

I mean Assassin’s Creed Valhalla smashed

records it was a huge game for them they

made so much money on it but alright so

here’s where we start to see why

ubisoft’s release slate has not been

dense lately they just haven’t been

pushing games out as frequently as they

did you know five six years ago so every

time there’s a miss it really feels like

a big mess now Far Cry 6 did well and it

was received quite well but there was

also Rainbow Six quarantine which do you

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even remember that Rainbow Six

quarantine has been released in the last

12 months I mentioned the Mario Rabbids

game and how well it was received but

they really didn’t Market it you know

the first one was kind of a surprise hit

and maybe they were just thinking Ah

that’s gonna happen again we don’t have

to Market it it’s a big old brand now

but it it there was one Mario Rabbids

game if that were the case for a

franchise that had been going strong for

you know two three titles already maybe

but if they do make another one they’re

gonna have to actually Market it and

then there’s Skull and Bones They

delayed it again and obviously I have my

complaints about that it’s almost a joke

at this point but when we’re talking

about all of these problems we have to

start wondering how much money they’re

burning on Skull and Bones like you can

tie in some of the other problems to

that if they weren’t sinking probably

tens of millions if not hundreds of

millions of dollars into this game over

the course of a decade could they have

marketed Mario Rabbids yeah they could

have they’re a huge company like I said

that makes tons of money but they don’t

have infinite money especially if skull

and bones is you know a large chunk of

even a large amount of money they also

obviously sunk a bunch of money in to

the Battle Royale multiplayer free to

play stuff with no viable ongoing

franchise coming out of that there was

going to be a ghost recon spin-off

nobody’s particularly happy about that

so they just didn’t bother like they’ve

been burning money like the Joker and

for Ubisoft CEO Evie geemo it eventually

came to having to send out a message

I’ll quote it for you today more than

ever I need your full energy and

commitment to ensure we get a back on a

path to success 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 basically

stop earning money guys things are not

going well now that being said geemo has

said that the upcoming games for the

next fiscal year is quote unquote the

biggest pipeline in Ubisoft history so

he tries to include a bit of a positive

there but we also kind of have to

remember that this guy’s the head honcho

and a lot of the stuff that he’s maybe

saying hey guys stop earning the money I

probably went through him he probably

made a lot of those decisions so I don’t

know maybe he’s part of the problem in

truth the next year is definitely going

to be a big test Ubisoft has to deliver

and here’s the thing it’s definitely not

all bad and there are some pretty good

things on the horizon Ubisoft has a Star

Wars game they’re developing and

seemingly uh they’re going to have a

fully open seamless Universe like along

the lines of No Man’s sky or maybe

astroneer uh that if delivered upon is

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immediately one of the coolest possible

things that anybody who even kind of

likes star Star Wars would want to play

now there are some concerns with

something that would technically be

probably the biggest damn Star Wars game

ever made that’s a a big chunk to bite

off and we’ll see if Ubisoft can chew it

but if that’s real if that’s what

they’re doing with their Star Wars game

wowie that’s gonna be good and they’ve

also done something very smart by

listening to fans about Assassin’s Creed

scaling down to give us Mirage so Mirage

is probably one of the more exciting

developments for the traditional

Assassin’s Creed fans out there it’s not

that I don’t want them to keep making

the open world formula Assassin’s Creed

games I kind of just want both types of

games and it kind of looks like that’s

what they’re doing they listen to the

fans and the fans are like hey we really

want a more traditional Assassin’s Creed

game too so Ubisoft is listened like

they have heard the demand for a more

intimate character-driven assassin Creed

that maybe doesn’t take a month to beat

and it looks like a really good game

frankly given that Assassin’s Creed kind

of grew out of Prince of Persia seeing

an Assassin’s Creed set in a middle

eastern setting I don’t know I I really

like seeing it so really what we have to

look out for with Ubisoft is do they

deliver on this stuff is Assassin’s

Creed Mirage as good as it could be is

the Star Wars game gonna be as good as

it could be is Skull and Bones gonna

come out and also is it gonna be as good

as it could be because if all of these

questions are answered with yes in all

seriousness Ubisoft has nothing to worry

about those would be three absolutely

huge big wins so let’s hope that’s the

case let’s hope they stop burning the

money and start releasing games that

cause us to say Shut Up And Take My

Money Right ultimately that’s really

what it’s about we would like to play

good games Ubisoft deliver on that and

you shall be doing just fine and that’s

all for today leave us a comment let us

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very much for watching this video I’m

Falcon you can follow me on Twitter at

Falcon the hero and we’ll see you next

time right here on gameranks