Ubisoft warned of a drop in its turnover and noted that “many new games (struggle) to stand out” in the face of players’ disinterest in traditional games sold at high prices.
They in fact explain that the “traditional full game model”, that which consists of selling a single game for €60-70 to the consumer in a single purchase”, continues to “lose its scale”. Based on this observation, Ubisoft indicated that players now preferred to spend their time and money differently, in particular via “subscription services, long-term game-services, free games (Free-to-Play) and cloud gaming”.
In summary, Ubisoft said that “consumers were playing less video games.” And if certain unique titles, sold at full price, continue to be successful, they now constitute, according to them, “a few notable exceptions” to the general trend.
The remarks come amid continued uncertainty for Ubisoft, which has seen layoffs and significant restructuring over the past year. Parisian society, whose most important franchises are now managed by an independent subsidiary supported by Tencentstruggling to find his next hit after the disappointing sales of Star Wars Outlaws and its repeated attempts to break into the increasingly saturated game-service market. The successive failures of XDefiant et The Division: Heartland (unfortunately canceled) are the perfect illustration of this phenomenon.
Concerning Assassin’s Creedthe company has focused heavily on its flagship franchise, even if it has had to slow down the production of its next games and remakes in order to give a better operating life to Assassin’s Creed Shadowsreleased this year. Many other titles from the license are nevertheless expected in the coming years (including Hexe, an opus focused on witchcraft, a multiplayer spin-off and the highly anticipated remake of Black Flag).
Last week, Ubisoft abruptly suspended trading of its shares and postponed the publication of its latest financial report, just minutes before the start of the conference call with shareholders. Several days later, Ubisoft has still not provided an explanation for this gesture, leaving fans of its games – and the vast majority of its employees – waiting.
Tom Phillips is News Editor for IGN.
