Faced with “lower than expected sales”, Ubisoft once again postpones the release of “Assassin’s Creed Shadows”

The French video game giant Ubisoft once again postponed the release of the next episode of the saga on Thursday, January 9 Assassin’s Creednow scheduled for March 20, which, combined with other disappointments, led him to lower his financial objectives.

Faced with “lower than expected sales during the end-of-year holidays” of Star Wars Outlaws and the cessation of XDefiantUbisoft also announced that it was studying “various transformative strategic and capital options, in order to extract the best possible value for stakeholders”.

The manufacturer, which employed 18,666 employees worldwide at the end of September, including around 4,000 in France, is the subject of takeover rumors which have multiplied in recent months, notably by the Chinese tech giant Tencent and the Guillemot family. Several options would be on the table, including a buyout and an exit from the stock market.

“We have taken significant steps to reorganize the group to provide players with the best possible experience, improve operational efficiencies and maximize value creation”specified the CEO, Yves Guillemot, in a press release.

Job cuts and studio closures

The French publisher, which is playing big with the new episode of its biggest franchise, Assassin’s Creed Shadowshas decided to postpone its release for another month in order to “better integrate player feedback collected over the last three months and create the best possible conditions for the launch of the game”added Mr. Guillemot.

The release was originally scheduled for November 12 and had already been postponed to February 14. The group also reported that the « net bookings » (its reference indicator) for the third quarter of its 2024-2025 financial year (ending March 31) is now expected at around 300 million euros, compared to the 380 million initially planned.

That “mainly reflects lower than expected sales during the end-of-year holidays, particularly for Star Wars Outlaws »as well as the announcement in December of the discontinuation of its online shooter XDefiant. This flop led to the elimination of 277 positions and the closure of three production studios, notably in San Francisco and Osaka. Over the year, Ubisoft now expects a « net bookings » has “around 1.9 billion euros”.