Release of the biggest new games postponed
Ubisoft wants to give its most important brands more development and shifts several games back. This is intended to improve the quality. Can the battered publisher regain the lost trust of the gamers with this strategy?
Ubisoft gives large projects more time to develop
Ubisoft is in a deep financial crisis. Gamers were hardly able to inspire big game hopes such as Star Wars Outlaws, so that the company even wanted to hide the low Steam player numbers. The free-to-play shooter XDefiant also ran so badly that it was completely stopped after only seven months.
Only with Assassin’s Creed Shadows could the French record a solid success, although the game was completely leaked shortly before the release. Nevertheless, the company was recently converted and stored the top brands. Now the French game developer also draws further consequences. In his latest Financial report for the 2024 financial year (PDF)
If the company announced that it would move several of its biggest game projects to improve their quality. As it is said, the publisher made this decision after a thorough review of its product portfolio. The aim is to grant the most important productions additional development time and thus “create the best prerequisites for your success”.
The shifts mean that the fiscal years 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 should record significant growth compared to 2025-2026, based on strong content of the company’s largest brands.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows as a role model
According to Ubisoft, this strategy has already proven itself at Assassin’s Creed Shadows. The game was originally planned for November 2024, but was initially postponed to February 2025 and finally March 2025 to give the development team more time to refine. This additional development time has paid off from the perspective of those responsible.
According to Ubisoft, some of the company’s “largest productions” are affected by the shifts. But you don’t reveal what games it is about. However, it is probably title from the most important brands of the publisher. This includes the assassin’s Creed, but also Far Cry, Rainbow Six and the Division. According to insider reports, the next episode of the Far Cry series, which was postponed internally to the end of 2026, should be affected.
The Splinter Cell remake (code name “North”) and the next Ghost Recon game (code name “OVR”) are probably also among the postponed projects. In addition to the large titles, Ubisoft also works on several smaller projects around its main brands. These include the two Assassin’s Creed games “Invictus” and a remake of Black Flag under the code name “Obsidian”. Another project for Rainbow Six with the code name “Slice and Dice” is also under development.
Financial challenges and restructuring
As mentioned at the beginning, Ubisoft 2024 released several games that quickly declined than expected and their numbers of players decreased quickly after the launch. This included Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Skull and Bones and the already mentioned titles Xdefiant and Star Wars Outlaws. This failure has dropped the company’s share price for almost a decade.
The financial difficulties led to extensive austerity measures. In January 2025, Ubisoft closed the studio in Leamington and reduced several other studios, which led to layoffs of up to 185 employees. As early as December 2024, the company announced the closure of its studios in San Francisco and Osaka and the reduction of production in Sydney. The company stated that the upcoming business period 2025/2026 will save more than 200 million euros in fixed costs compared to the 2022/2023 financial year.
Strategy for more quality
The new strategy of moving games back is aimed at improving the quality. One no longer wants to bring ‘unfinished’ products onto the market, as it has been the case more often in the past. This takes lower income at short notice, but in the long run could regain the now lost trust of customers.
