Ubisoft is rumored to once again be working on a battle royale.
As reported by Insider Gaming, the company is apparently working on a copycat of Respawn’s Apex Legends. Codenamed Scout, Ubisoft’s developers were copying it so much that they were using an Apex Legends thumbnail.
One may want to argue that it’s common for many games in the same genre to be similar in design, and the Street Fighter vs. Fighter’s History lawsuit was literally settled decades ago. But this may be much closer than that. Part of Ubisoft’s design is to make their own versions of Apex Legends characters such as Pathfinder, Wraith, and Lifeline.
Furthermore, one of Insider Gaming’s sources said this:
“I think the goal is to capitalize on the player count of Apex dropping and them thinking there’s room in the market for another hero Battle Royale.”
Insider Gaming also claims that Ubisoft’s internal research team is advising against these plans, citing the decline in the battle royale genre in terms of MAUs, and subsequently, revenue.
Some gamers may remember that Ubisoft already tried the battle royale genre before, competing with Apex Legends and Fortnite with Hyper Scape. Hyper Scape, which must be said was a clearly distinct game than Apex Legends in spite of being in the same genre, launched in 2020 and closed within 18 months.
We should also consider this rumor in terms of Ubisoft’s more recent moves in the online multiplayer space. Last year they chose to abruptly shut down XDefiant in less than a year after launch, as the Call of Duty-like military shooter with an Ubisoft crossover theme was apparently not doing well enough to be profitable.
In stark contrast to that, they responded to the dropping player base for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege by announcing Siege X, a major overhaul designed to revitalize the game and its community. Unlike XDefiant, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege had more time to build an audience, and its success is really an unlikely comeback story.
But even more unlikely than that is the recently announced fully featured second season of Skull and Bones. This game and For Honor, as entries in niche genres, seem unlikely survivors of Ubisoft’s current business crisis. Perhaps they are profitable because of lower expectations, and undisclosed lower development costs.
Whatever the case, whatever potential outrage it could be generated for Ubisoft to make a flat out Apex Legends copycat would be displaced by the question, why? And certainly, why now? Ubisoft’s development resources would seem to be better served working on maintaining Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ success, and perhaps delivering on long promised projects like the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake and Beyond Good & Evil 2.
Maybe it hasn’t been announced or confirmed because in spite of this leak, Ubisoft isn’t actually working on it anymore. But we’ll see how prudent the company is being in their upcoming development slate soon enough.
