Ubisoft, which is already not in particularly good shape at the moment, has recently had a series of problems, with, among other things, big bugs and lawsuits.
Business is going pretty bad at the moment for Ubisoft. Between a share price at a fairly alarming level, to the point of considering privatization and numerous internal problems, the French giant is going through a very bad period. New worries have recently been added to the pile. One is not really his doing, unlike the other. Let’s look at all this in more detail.
The Ubisoft boat continues to take on water
Following Star Wars Outlaws which clearly did not have the expected commercial success, Ubisoft is showing more than ever significant financial health concerns. The relocation of the teams behind the very good Prince of Persia The Lost Crown didn’t help either. Assassin’s Creed Shadows therefore represents in some ways the last chance game for the French giant. But the numerous controversies surrounding it do not seem very encouraging in this regard.
Between now and its release postponed to February 14, 2025, however, Ubisoft faces much more pressing problems. On the one hand, the last update currently being deployed Windows 1124H2 version, seems to have, so to speak, broken many games from his stables. Major bugs such as the inability to launch them, or black screens in game have since been reported. These concerns seem to particularly affect Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar Frontiers of Pandora. The Ubisoft and Windows teams are currently working jointly on emergency fixes.
On the other side, Ubisoft is hit by a lawsuit following the obligation in September return to work in offices at least three days a week. This in order to “ strengthen creativity and teamwork “. This caused discontent among many employees working only remotely because they live very far from the group’s closest premises, and therefore a strike last October. The fault in particular is a change made “ suddenly and without transparency ”, with the potential to “ create logistical problems, the offices not being designed to accommodate all the employees hired while teleworking ».
So much so that the situation recently escalated to a lawsuit against the French giant. More specifically, the Barcelona unions (both AAA and mobile teams) ask Ubisoft to ensure protection for teleworking and that the group backpedals on this controversial obligation. It now remains to be seen how this situation will evolve in the coming days or weeks.
Sources : Microsoft ; GamesIndustry.biz
