Ubisoft released two big games over the 2022 holiday season but it turns out their financial performance left something to be desired at the company.
In a recent press release, co-founder Yves Guillemot outright stated he was “clearly disappointed by [the company’s] recent performance”, specifically citing both Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Just Dance 2023 in the final weeks of December and early January – the holiday season.
Guillemot also mentions that the Mario + Rabbids sequel recieved critical acclaim, solid reception from players, and an ambitious marketing plan, but it appears it wasn’t enough.
As a result of these low sales across the board, Ubisoft will be implementing the following changes, subject to approval from the company’s Board of Directors:
- Ensure all our energy is focused on building our brands and live services into some of the most powerful within the industry. As a consequence, we have decided to cancel three unannounced projects, on top of the four already announced in July 2022.
- Depreciate around €500m of capitalized R&D, concerning upcoming premium and Free-to-Play games and the newly cancelled titles. This notably reflects the increased cautiousness related to the current challenging videogame market and macroeconomic environment as well as the necessary increased focus on fewer titles.
- As part of our increased strategic focus, adapt our organization to a more challenging market, with an expected net reduction of our non-variable costs base of more than €200m over the next 2 years. This will be achieved through targeted restructuring, divesting some non-core assets and usual natural attrition. Ubisoft will continue to look at hiring highly talented people for its biggest brands and live services.
It’s worth noting the big piece of news – three unannounced projects have been cancelled, joining four cancellations that were announced back in July 2022. We’ll just have to wait and see if any information regarding these titles is released. Ubisoft will instead focus on live-service games and its biggest brands for the foreseeable future.
As for Ubisoft, it’s been a rough few years for the company, with serious allegations hitting the news back in the summer of 2020. We’ll bring you more on the situation, and what this may mean for the Mario + Rabbids developers, as it comes in.
Written by Tom Brown
Whether it’s an exciting new entry in a series long established or a weird experiment meant only for the dedicated, Tom is eager to report on it. Rest assured, if Nintendo ever announces Elite Beat Agents 2, he’ll be there.
