Ubisoft’s decline apparently due to making games that are ‘not what gamers wanted’

UBISOFT had a disappointing 2022, and it seems that not giving gamers what they wanted is to blame.

The company reported that it saw a 10% decline last year, when a 10% growth was predicted. 

Four unannounced games were cancelled previously, and a further three were cancelled around the time of the announcement.

Skull and Bones, a highly-anticipated pirate-style game from the company, was also delayed for the sixth time.

There has been a lot of speculation as to the cause of the decline.

In a leaked email to staff at Ubisoft, CEO Yves Guillemot apparently claimed the “ball is now in your court.”

It read: “Today more than ever, I need your full energy and commitment to ensure we get back on the path to success”.

According to GameDeveloper, since this email, Ubisoft Paris has been called to strike over what union Solidares Informatique called a “catastrophic communication”.

People have compared the downturn of Ubisoft to Nintendo’s decline around the release of the Wii U.

Then, Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s CEO at the time, took full responsibility for the Wii U’s failure and cut his salary in half.

A report by Metro states that internally staff knew that 2022 would not be a prosperous year for Ubisoft.

Playtests of upcoming games returned negative feedback that the games were “not what gamers wanted.”

There were also apparently around a dozen live-service games in the works, some of which have since been abandoned.

Live-service games are a lucrative industry, where the microtransaction model often earns more than full-price games.

However, their success depends entirely on whether they create a passionate community, and many games disappear quickly after they are released.

Ubisoft has a number of big games that are set to be released within the next two years, including Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Skull and Bones, and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.

Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.