Ubisoft therefore recorded the worst result in its history. With a net loss close to half a billion euros, it is the equivalent of five years of profit that the group has lost in this financial year alone. The French publisher has entered a phase of restructuring which has already caused it to eliminate a few kilos, namely some 700 employees who have lost their jobs since last September. If this figure is substantial, Ubisoft still continues to reign over an XXL family of just under 20,000 people, which is still twice as many as a group like Activision Blizzard King… for admittedly very different results. .
” We are continuing our plan to reduce costs by at least 200 million euros over the next two years. Thanks to strict recruitment control combined with the first targeted restructurings – including the closure of 5 offices in Europe – the global workforce has fallen below the 20,000 employee mark compared to more than 20,700 at the end of September 2022 “, confirms the financial director Frédérick Duguet.
Assassin’s Creed even more, everywhere, all the time
If Ubisoft now intends to be more careful in its recruitments, there is a faction that will nevertheless continue to grow again and again: the one that works on the Assassin’s Creed franchise. Designated as the top priority in these difficult times, the workforce of Assassin’s Creed, which already numbers more than 2,000 people, will further swell by 40% in the years to come to meet the growing ambitions of the big roadmap. that we have known since last September. Notably, the growth of the Assassin’s Creed workforce will come from a reassignment of developers working on other projects and not from new hires.
The success of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which brought together more players than any other opus before it, obviously has a lot to do with this desire to bet ever more on the franchise of hooded assassins. ” Assassin’s Creed Valhalla has had 44% more players since launch than Assassin’s Creed Origins and 19% more players than Assassin’s Creed Odyssey over a comparable period. Revenue per player is also noticeably higher “, can we read.
If it’s free, you’re the product
The other lever on which Ubisoft relies to recover is that of free-to-play. Next on the list, XDefiant, has amassed over a million players on its beta and garnered generally positive feedback from the community. ” Ubisoft’s unique development model is based on a robust iterative design process, which has been proven to penetrate the open world segment and the Live services segment, and which we apply to free-to-play. Mastering the know-how of free-to-play is a real challenge and, if we should remain cautious, recent developments are nevertheless encouraging. They indicate that we are on the right track to bring our brands to a wider audience. », Comments a confident Yves Guillemot.
For the current fiscal year, Ubisoft plans to release big traditional titles (Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, The Crew Motorfest, Skull and Bones), free-to-play on consoles and PC (XDefiant), two on mobile (Rainbow Six Mobile, The Division Resurgence) as well as another big yet unannounced game, all with the aim of returning to profit (around 400 million euros) by March 2024, therefore. Release dates will be revealed on June 12 as part of the Ubisoft Forward program, knowing that the unannounced game is the subject of high expectations in the same way as the games Avatar and Assassin’s Creed.
Also to know →
- Ubisoft has appointed Katie Scott as Editorial Vice President within its creative department. An ambassador for accessibility, she has contributed to the creation of more than a dozen titles during her career, including Gears 5 at The Coalition and four FIFA games at Electronic Arts.
- If the major publishers are still walking on eggshells on the issue, Ubisoft is determined to rely on generative AI ” in a way that positively impacts creativity, workflows, and player experience. Don’t go too far, Gamekult is just about to publish a file on the subject.
- Consoles represent 40% of turnover for the year, against 31% for mobile, 18% for PC and 11% for other sources of income, such as derivative products. Mobile saw the strongest growth, while consoles and PC declined.