Ubisoft has unveiled a new plan to address its financial woes, revealing that it has postponed the release of Skull & Bones for the sixth time. It has also halted production on three more yet-to- be -announced games due to industry difficulties, weak sales, the underperformance of Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle and Just Dance (2023) , and the company's upcoming "restructuring." See also: One of the best RPGs is coming to Xbox Game Pass
Ubisoft released a statement today outlining a new approach for the rest of its fiscal year, as well as lowering its guidance for its latest fiscal quarter.
The company attributes the change in strategy to significant industry challenges, particularly the growing trend toward large, established game franchises that have a strong presence on gaming platforms.
Ubisoft said it also wants to build a major gaming brand with global appeal, but “no games from this investment round have yet to be released” and that recent releases have not met expectations.
The press release specifically cited Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, which did not perform as well as it had hoped in the final weeks of 2022 and early January, despite an extensive marketing campaign.
As a result of these challenges, Ubisoft has further delayed the release of Skull & Bones, which is now set for “early 2023-2024” – as they put it. Given that this new release date for Skull & Bones is within the fiscal year, we may see it on shelves in April at best, but we wouldn’t be surprised if it were to be released in December 2023.
See also: Final Fantasy XVI: Will there be a PC version after all?
The cuts and the sequel
Ubisoft also announced that it will “pull” 500 million euros from its investments in research and development of some upcoming premium and free-to-play games, including games that were canceled. Its goal now is to pay more attention, but to fewer games.
In addition, Ubisoft reduced its “net booking” targetforthe quarter ending in December to 725 million euros from the previous target of 830 million euros.
During a conference call with investors today, some were concerned about the impact that delays and various game cancellations could have on Ubisoft's future prospects . The company assured investors that for the next fiscal year that begins in April, it has several upcoming releases, including Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (which has already been delayed once), Assassin's Creed: Mirage (which was first teased last September), and other premium unannounced games, including a "big" surprise. The company also mentioned the release of Skull & Bones , if it doesn't get delayed again, this is its year! Source: ign.com
