Ubisoft is a mess, and this report proves it.

[cypher]

So Ubisoft just dropped their FY25 financial report[staticctf.ubisoft.com], and it reads like the kind of thing you'd write when you're trying to convince your parents you’re "doing fine" after dropping out of college for the third time. Spoiler: they're not fine.

• €82.6 million in operating losses (IFRS) – because apparently it's really expensive to make the same game 12 times in a row.
  
• Net bookings came in under target, again. Even though they keep pumping out "content" like an overcaffeinated content mill with zero editing.
  
• They're still trying to frame Assassin's Creed Shadows as a "win", which is bold considering it dropped to mixed reception and half the community is already burnt out by the bloated checklist simulator formula. But hey, it looked pretty, right?
  
• Player engagement stats are padded like a 2000s MySpace profile. “30 million unique players!” Yeah? Across how many games? Across how many years? Counting people who just installed Uplay by accident?
  
• Far Cry is still going? Cool. When was the last time they made one that wasn’t a glorified map mod with a new villain?
  
• The Rainbow Six franchise is somehow alive too, probably on life support fueled by the 3 guys still playing Siege religiously and buying elite skins.
  
• And let’s not forget the Tencent deal – because when your own ideas are dry, just hand the IP to a megacorp and hope something playable comes out the other end.

The pièce de résistance? They’re bragging about cutting over €200 million in costs and planning to slash another €100 million in the next two years. Translation: even more layoffs, even fewer risks, and way more asset flips. Game dev, but make it soulless.

“A new organization structure is coming to better serve players…”

Right, because the 37th restructuring is definitely the one that’ll bring back creativity, passion, and not just more middle managers and vague job titles like “Vision Execution Officer.”

Meanwhile, the pipeline is full of vague promises and the mythical return of IPs they abandoned years ago. Beyond Good & Evil 2? Might as well be fanfiction. Skull & Bones is now just a meme that somehow escaped into real life. And The Division Heartland? At this point it’s less of a game and more of an ongoing case study in how not to launch anything.

And don’t forget:

• They’re still obsessed with turning every franchise into a “platform.”
  
• They haven’t had a truly great original hit in years.
  
• They keep pushing microtransactions harder than actual gameplay innovation.
  
• Every game is either live service, broken on launch, or buried within a battle pass disguised as a story arc.

But hey – at least their logo still looks nice.

TL;DR: Ubisoft is a creatively bankrupt, structurally confused, financially flailing company that keeps doubling down on the worst parts of the gaming industry like it's some sort of speedrun challenge. The only thing they seem good at lately is spinning mediocrity as momentum.

[AquaryusDelights]

And here I was seeing all these woke people claiming shadows had been the best thing ever and saved Ubisoft... whoops for them.

[Ryu]

Originally posted by AquaryusDelights:

And here I was seeing all these woke people claiming shadows had been the best thing ever and saved Ubisoft... whoops for them.

Literally no one said this game would save Ubisoft, it's realistically impossible for one game to make back the money they lost from two years worth of failed overbudget projects. These are words you people put in everyone else's mouths after your original point that the game would bomb because it "went woke" didn't happen. Gotta move that goal post somehow right?

In fact, they mention AC Shadows as a saving grace for these difficulties right here:

Assassin’s Creed Shadows launched on March 20, delivering the second-highest Day 1 sales revenue in franchise history—second only to Assassin’s Creed® Valhalla—and setting a new record for Ubisoft’s Day 1 performance on the PlayStation digital store. Player sentiment has been overwhelmingly positive, with an average score1 of 91/100 across first-party stores, reflecting the game’s excellent quality. To date, consumer spending has clearly outperformed Assassin’s Creed Odyssey with the player count also outperforming. Players have logged 160 million hours in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, underscoring its engaging gameplay and the enduring appeal of the franchise. The game’s performance reaffirms the strength and resilience of the Assassin’s Creed brand, backed by a strong community response that highlights that the team delivered an experience that resonates with long-time fans and new players alike.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is also the first instalment built on Ubisoft’s significantly upgraded Anvil proprietary engine, setting a new benchmark for both the industry and Ubisoft’s future releases. The engine delivers a richly detailed world enhanced by improved visual fidelity, dynamic physics, and increased environmental interactivity—significantly deepening immersion.

Since launch, the game has already received updates based on community feedback and will continue to see free updates and new content to continually enrich the experience. Assassin’s Creed Shadows will continue to contribute strongly to FY2025-26 and will notably see later this year the release of the Claws of Awaji expansion, that will introduce a new region and continue the story of Naoe and Yasuke following the events of the game’s epilogue.

[Gironda Curls]

I don't think Ubisoft is going to be able to survive unless it sells everything to China, what an awful way to go out.

[Noopal]

Originally posted by Ryu:

Literally no one said this game would save Ubisoft, it's realistically impossible for one game to make back the money they lost from two years worth of failed overbudget projects. These are words you people put in everyone else's mouths after your original point that the game would bomb because it "went woke" didn't happen. Gotta move that goal post somehow right?

In fact, they mention AC Shadows as a saving grace for these difficulties right here:

Wow, the same meaningless crap they said two months ago and not even an update on the player count? The game flopped even worse than I thought.

[Ryu]

Originally posted by Noopal:

Wow, the same meaningless crap they said two months ago and not even an update on the player count? The game flopped even worse than I thought.

If the game had flopped they would have said so, Star Wars Outlaws flopped and they explicitly said it underperformed in the earnings from last year. In fact, they're not even allowed to lie in this kind of report, unless they'd want to get into legal trouble.

[Noopal]

Originally posted by Ryu:

Originally posted by Noopal:

Wow, the same meaningless crap they said two months ago and not even an update on the player count? The game flopped even worse than I thought.

If the game had flopped they would have said so, Star Wars Outlaws flopped and they explicitly said it underperformed in the earnings from last year. In fact, they're not even allowed to lie in this kind of report, unless they'd want to get into legal trouble.

It wouldn't be the first time they do it. [imgur.com]

Also technically they wouldn't be lying since they carefully avoided any compromising wording. Same reason they avoided providing any actual numbers.

[Ryu]

Originally posted by Noopal:

It wouldn't be the first time they do it. [imgur.com]

Also technically they wouldn't be lying since they carefully avoided any compromising wording. Same reason they avoided providing any actual numbers.

Was that a lie? IIRC Skull and Bones had decent numbers until everyone realized it was ♥♥♥♥ and left, but maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

I did find this report claiming AC Shadows sold 3 million copies on its first week though, I'm not sure how reliable it is.
https://in.investing.com/news/analyst-ratings/deutsche-bank-cuts-ubisoft-price-target-to-eur12-from-eur13-93CH-4825895

[Noopal]

Originally posted by Ryu:

Was that a lie? IIRC Skull and Bones had decent numbers until everyone realized it was ♥♥♥♥ and left, but maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

2,615 CCU peak. But no, because of the wording that wasn't technically a lie.

Originally posted by Ryu:

I did find this report claiming AC Shadows sold 3 million copies on its first week though, I'm not sure how reliable it is.
https://in.investing.com/news/analyst-ratings/deutsche-bank-cuts-ubisoft-price-target-to-eur12-from-eur13-93CH-4825895

Not very. That's just an financial estimate by a not so reliable analyst [imgur.com] that translated the 3 million first week players directly into sales.

[Ryu]

Originally posted by Noopal:

Originally posted by Ryu:

Was that a lie? IIRC Skull and Bones had decent numbers until everyone realized it was ♥♥♥♥ and left, but maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

2,615 CCU peak. But no, because of the wording that wasn't technically a lie.

That's definitely fishy, then. I don't think AC Shadows is straight up failing since it had a higher concurrent player count than Odyssey, which is the second best selling game in the series, and it was reported to have had a stronger overall launch as well, but I guess time will tell if it ends up selling as much in the long run.

Not very. That's just an financial estimate by a not so reliable analyst [imgur.com] that translated the 3 million first week players directly into sales.

Figures, Valhalla's first week sales were 1.8m and Ubisoft said Shadows had the second biggest launch in the series behind only that game, but selling 3m would put it above Valhalla.

[AdahnGorion]

They are in financial trouble due to a 5 year long strategic misstep.

Their huge bloated AAA games don't generate a profit and they have way too much staff for what they put out.

Their debt is in the billions and they don't earn enough to pay it off (debt itself is not an issue)

It will be interesting to see if the family gets to screw over the small invest or if they end up smashing Tencent and the family

AC:S is part of the problem. 400m budget and this is what they deliver......

[Gironda Curls]

Originally posted by Ryu:

Originally posted by Noopal:

Wow, the same meaningless crap they said two months ago and not even an update on the player count? The game flopped even worse than I thought.

If the game had flopped they would have said so, Star Wars Outlaws flopped and they explicitly said it underperformed in the earnings from last year. In fact, they're not even allowed to lie in this kind of report, unless they'd want to get into legal trouble.

Are you new to video game companies? They don't have to say anything.

[mystemacc]

Such a waste and for what?

So some people in a subreddit cheer you on? Some tweets? Some articles?

If I ever had the potential to make hundrends of millions of $$$, even being anti-woke, I'd be the wokest dude around putting 1000 pronouns in game.

And these dudes ruin such a great game with huge potential and they have such incredible knowhow to make the games, and they choose what? To go woke. And double down because "history will justify them".

HIstory has already forgotten about you my dudes, and the only thing it will write down is how some delusional people bankrupted a major company to get some likes by a tiny minority in social media at that.

And this is coming from a guy that will absolutely buy this game's ultimate edition eventually, just because I own every single other AC game if anything.

And I am sure I will enjoy it just for the world alone. However I would be much happier, and more likely to buy the ultimate edition without a discount earlier, if you didn't go out of your way to sacrifice quality for the cheer of a bunch of social activists.

[Ryu]

Originally posted by Gironda Curls:

Are you new to video game companies? They don't have to say anything.

Of course they do, they have investors and shareholders to report this stuff to, and they can get sued over faking their numbers to deceive them.

[RedCelt]

Originally posted by cypher:

Look at their latest financial report. [pbs.twimg.com]It's a complete disaster:

• Sales DOWN 17.5%
  
  
• Net bookings DOWN 20.5%
  
  
• Digital bookings? DOWN 20.2%
  
  
• Back-catalog DOWN 13.5% — yes, even their old games are flopping now
  
  
• Operating income: NEGATIVE €82.6 MILLION

How do you even lose money when 86% of your revenue is digital? No discs, no stores, no shipping. Just pure profit — if you had a functioning company, that is.

And don’t get me started on PRI (Player Recurring Investment) — aka their cash cow of battle passes and microtransactions — even that dropped. Gamers are finally waking up and refusing to be milked.

This is what happens when you:

• Kill off single-player gems like Splinter Cell for "live service trash"
  
  
• Flood every game with copy-paste open world garbage
  
  
• Release half-broken games full of bugs and NFTs no one asked for
  
  
• Turn once-loved franchises into soulless grindfests

Ubisoft deserves this L. The people running it have turned the company into a joke.
And now they’re paying for it — literally.

Let this be a warning to every other AAA dev trying to chase trends instead of making good games.
The players are done.

Source [staticctf.ubisoft.com]

This emotional rant from someone who lists Destiny (Bungie) as a fav games LOL

"The studio is said to have repeatedly missed financial targets promised to Sony, and has
reportedly lost money since the release of Destiny 2 expansion Lightfall in 2023.


Seems you have a somewhat emotionally driven agenda against Ubi
Just ignore EA and Sony. Not part of your narrative LOL

[Gironda Curls]

Originally posted by Ryu:

Originally posted by Gironda Curls:

Are you new to video game companies? They don't have to say anything.

Of course they do, they have investors and shareholders to report this stuff to, and they can get sued over faking their numbers to deceive them.

They don't have to tell the public anything.