We’ve been talking a lot about Ubisoft recently because they keep making bad decisions and not taking responsibility for what they’ve done. Just look at recent events, where they disbanded a team that made the highest-rated title that the publisher had in 2024, even though the game they made sold over a million units, and they wanted to make a sequel. Then, there was the delay of Assassin’s Creed Shadows due to major issues within the game, which obviously skewers any chances of having a “truly big hit” during this year. However, even with all that’s going on, that isn’t stopping the company from making big claims.
In a special financial report, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot made some bold claims about what the company will do going forward. Its goal is to get back to the “Golden Era” that he claims the company had from 2010-2020:
“Despite recent setbacks, we are continuing to deeply transform Ubisoft in order to restore the level of creativity and innovation that built Ubisoft’s success while delivering stronger execution and predictability. Even if our first-half performance fell short of our initial expectations, the double-digit growth of our back catalog excluding partnerships reaffirms the quality, uniqueness and value embedded in our brand portfolio and the strength of our Live services.”
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That’s certainly one way of looking at things, but you can also tell that he’s stretching the truth in various ways. The fact that more people are interested in the company’s “back catalog” than new titles says a lot, and the live-service market hasn’t been doing well across all publishers outside of a very small selection of games.
Yves also said that restructuring teams and lowering the cost of spending on the titles themselves will help restore the company to past glory. In theory, this could work, but as we highlighted earlier, if you disband the wrong teams, then you’re asking for trouble. The money issue is actually one that the industry as a whole is reeling from, so if they pull it off, it could help set a trend.
However, the problem with trying to “regain past glory” is that you might think you know how to get it back while not actually being able to implement your goals. The biggest issue with Ubisoft is that they keep making incredibly average games, and then people like Yves hype them up to oblivion to try and get sales. Then, gamers and critics get the games, aren’t impressed, and the sales numbers don’t happen.
If they can’t fix that problem? The company will remain in this rut.
