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Recap: To say that Ubisoft isn't having a good time right now would be an understatement. The French studio is reeling from the comparative failure of Star Wars Outlaws – a game it expected to be smash hit – and as a result has just delayed the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows by three months. The firm's shares are at a 10-year low, and investors are pushing the company to sell itself.
Ubisoft was banking on Star Wars Outlaws to be a massive, multi-platform hit that would earn the company plenty of money, especially with the expensive Gold and Ultimate editions and season pass.
Outlaws, as we know, failed to live up to expectations. Most reviews weren't that bad, but few called the game excellent. A large number of players were even less generous, slamming Outlaw's repetitiveness and many other flaws.
Assassin's Creed Shadows will now release February 14, 2025. pic.twitter.com/J2ah7kkytW
– Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) September 25, 2024
As a direct result of Outlaws' lukewarm reception, Ubisoft announced last week that it was delaying the release of the next Assassin's Creed entry, Shadows, to further polish and refine the game, something the company admitted was a result of "the learnings from the Star Wars Outlaws release." Ubisoft also confirmed that the Star Wars adventure had a "softer than expected launch."
Outlaws has sold a million copies in the month since it launched. For comparison, Assassin's Creed Mirage, which didn't exactly set the gaming world on fire, sold five million copies in three months.
Ubisoft has cut its guidance for the financial year, expecting bookings to fall to around 1.95 billion euros ($2.1 billion). It also expects net booking for the fiscal second quarter to be down to 350 million to 370 million euros ($387 million - $410 million) from its previously forecast 500 million euros ($554 million).
"The revised targets are mainly a reflection of decisions taken for Assassin's Creed Shadows and the softer than expected launch for Star Wars Outlaws," said Ubisoft, which is also scrapping plans to launch AC Shadows with a season pass.
Ubisoft's share price over the last five years
The situation has led to Ubisoft shares falling to a 10-year low. As reported by CNBC, AJ Investments, an activist investor with a less than 1% stake in Ubisoft, now says that it was working with other shareholders to push the company to sell itself to private equity firms or to Chinese gaming giant Tencent.
AJ Investments said in an open letter last week that it had gathered the support of 10% of Ubisoft shareholders for its pressure campaign. The investor is due to speak with Ubisoft management today to discuss its proposals. AJ Investments said it would demonstrate in front of Ubisoft's headquarters in Montreuil, Paris, if needed.
There are already fears that, like Outlaws, Shadows will fail to perform as well as Ubisoft expects – a trend that could continue with future releases, even with day-one Steam launches.
Ubisoft has never had the best reputation among gamers. It's been voted the most-hated gaming brand in the world more than once, and there are those who blame the Outlaws reception on trolls who target Ubisoft games and modern Star Wars media.
"The game received an unusual number of user reviews with a clear negative bias (including a large percentage of "zero" reviews), despite seeing acceptable review scores from reputable review sites," Wedbush analysts Michael Pachter, Alicia Reese and Kade Bar wrote in a note last week. "This is a case of a rare incel victory that led to Ubisoft having to take down its numbers," they added.
Some analysts point to sheer number of games available today, their high prices, and the cost of living crisis for a slowdown in the gaming market. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot himself admitted that gamers now expect extraordinary experiences, and that "delivering solid quality is no longer enough."