Ubisoft is preparing for a tough year, with the company today announcing that it is changing tactics internally as its recent releases have failed to meet expectations. This involves the cancelation of three unannounced projects in development, which join the four canceled gaming projects from six months ago.
While its older live service games like Rainbow Six Siege and Assassin"s Creed RPG entries have shown healthy growth and returns, newer releases haven"t fared so well. Specifically, Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Just Dance 2023 had underperformed by a surprising amount.
"Compounding this effect, in the context of worsening macroeconomic conditions, the trends over the Holiday season, in particular the last weeks of December and beginning of January, have been markedly and surprisingly slower than expected."
"This overall context has triggered a full review of our revenue prospects leading to increased
cautiousness over the coming years," said the company explaining its project axing decision.
The bad news continues. Skull and Bones, which is perhaps Ubisoft"s most delayed game at this point, has been pushed back once more. Ubisoft says it wants to "build awareness" around the arcade-y pirate ship action game and further polish it using the extra time. This means the March 9 launch date will be missed, though a new release date has not been set yet.
Ubisoft"s near-future plans include the launches of Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Skull and Bones, as well as yet-to-be-announced free-to-play and premium games.