Is Ubisoft Okay? Ubisoft Does Not Seem Okay

Games Is Ubisoft Okay? Ubisoft Does Not Seem Okay Paul Tassi Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience.

Got it! Jul 24, 2022, 10:28am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Beyond Good and Evil 2 Ubisoft When you’re a giant video game publisher, chances are you are currently embroiled in some sort of controversy or challenge or another, but even though Ubisoft has flown under the radar lately in the face of larger scandals from its rivals, at this point, I really have to wonder… Is Ubisoft okay? The company does not seem to be in the best of places right now, aimlessly looking toward the future while making bets on every new trend that happens by. Let’s recap what has made me pose this question in the first place: In a recent earnings call , Ubisoft announced the cancellation of Ghost Recon: Frontline, the big battle royale they were planning on making that was drowned in YouTube dislikes when it debuted. Previously, Ubisoft tried and failed to get a battle royale off the ground with Hyperscape, and this was meant to be their second major attempt, this time tied to a major IP.

That same call revealed the delay of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, the Avatar game that will not be coming out alongside the new movie this holiday. You could argue that agreeing to take on a massively budgeted licensed Avatar game in the first place is a pretty big risk on its own. Avatar Ubisoft Ubisoft cancelled Splinter Cell VR, as part of a lean away from that tech, which has struggled to break out of its niche.

An unannounced projects also delayed is reportedly Assassin’s Creed Rift, a smaller game in that franchise, which is reportedly running “far behind schedule. ” Ubisoft is currently in the midst of attempting to figure out where Assassin’s Creed goes from here, moving from yearly releases to essentially now making Valhalla a live service, to a new Assassin’s Creed “platform,” Infinite, meant to spawn smaller experiences more often. But it all seems somewhat incoherent at the moment.

Ubisoft has a release date for Skull and Bones this fall, which is good in the sense that a game everyone thought was dead several times over is actually coming out, but reception to what’s been shown so far, ship-only combat with no pirate swashbuckling, has been muted, and it’s unclear how the final product will perform. MORE FOR YOU ‘Demon Slayer’ Season 2 Finally Has An Actual 2021 Release Date Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Not A Sure Thing, Says Director ‘Genshin Impact’ Still Refuses To Increase Anniversary Rewards, Despite Fan Outcry Skull and Bones Ubisoft Beyond Good and Evil 2, announced in 2016 to massive hype, has effectively disappeared entirely, although Ubisoft claims it is not shelved yet and has told investors it’s still coming, someday. Ubisoft was the first company to openly embrace the use of NFTs in their games, putting them in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, which caused them to be mocked by the industry, and reportedly their NFT/blockchain plans have now shrunk or evaporated as a result.

I could go on with more nitpicks (The Division 2 ceasing live development, then restarting it, then moving into a live service future with Heartland, the last few Far Cry games barely registering), but you get the idea. Ubisoft does not seem like they have a clear direction across many of its studios, and their recent attempts at trend chasing, ranging from battle royales to NFT production, have all failed or blown up on the launchpad. It’s weird to think that the biggest, most unequivocal Ubisoft success story in the last decade may be Rainbow Six Siege, and I’m just not sure anything has lived up to that, except maybe a bunch of Valhalla sales making that game a hit.

It’s a strange time for the company, and in this age of “everyone’s getting acquired,” I wonder how this shapes their prospects on that front. Follow me on Twitter , YouTube , Facebook and Instagram . Subscribe to my free weekly content round-up newsletter, God Rolls .

Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy . Paul Tassi Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.