{"id":159712,"date":"2023-05-18T10:54:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T10:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culture.org\/?p=159712"},"modified":"2023-05-18T10:54:00","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T10:54:00","slug":"ubisoft-leans-on-assassins-creed-for-fiscal-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culture.org\/gaming\/ubisoft-leans-on-assassins-creed-for-fiscal-recovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Ubisoft Leans on Assassin’s Creed for Fiscal Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":" \r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n
<\/p>\n
Following a financially taxing year, Ubisoft, the French video game publisher, is fortifying its position in the gaming industry by concentrating on one of its most successful franchises, Assassin’s Creed.<\/span><\/p>\n The fiscal year proved challenging for Ubisoft, with the company reporting a significant drop in net sales of 14.6% from last year.<\/span><\/p>\n The decline, totaling \u20ac1.81 billion ($1.97 billion), resulted in an operating loss of \u20ac500 million ($543 million).<\/span><\/p>\n This downturn was primarily due to the underperformance of major releases like Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Just Dance 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the scarcity of new releases, the Assassin’s Creed franchise remained a financial stronghold, recording an impressive increase in active users and revenue per player.<\/span><\/p>\n The franchise’s latest title, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, has been instrumental in Ubisoft’s sustained income, boasting 44% more players life-to-date than its predecessor, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and 19% more than Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.<\/span><\/p>\n Additionally, Valhalla has generated higher revenue per player, a promising sign for the franchise’s future.<\/span><\/p>\n Ubisoft has taken note of this trend, announcing that it will increase the number of people working on the Assassin’s Creed franchise by 40% in the coming years.<\/span><\/p>\n The move is part of a strategic plan to focus on the company’s most significant growth opportunities.<\/span><\/p>\n As part of this decision, Ubisoft is preparing to release several new titles under the Assassin’s Creed banner, including Assassin’s Creed Mirage and three other major games.<\/span><\/p>\n An additional VR game and a mobile game are also in the pipeline.<\/span><\/p>\n The franchise’s latest title, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, has been instrumental in Ubisoft’s sustained income, boasting 44% more players life-to-date than its predecessor, Assassin’s Creed Origins, and 19% more than Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span>\r\n\r\n Despite the promising outlook for the Assassin’s Creed franchise, Ubisoft is also implementing a series of targeted restructurings, which, along with other cost-cutting measures, have reduced the company’s global headcount to below 20,000 from a previous total of over 20,700.<\/span><\/p>\n Ubisoft aims to continue this control on recruitments and divest non-core assets, thereby dedicating more resources to its major franchises.<\/span><\/p>\n While Assassin’s Creed remains a primary focus, Ubisoft has several other projects planned for the next fiscal year.<\/span><\/p>\n Among the anticipated releases are Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence, Rainbow Six Mobile, The Crew Motorfest, Skull and Bones, XDefiant, and an as-yet-unnamed large game.<\/span><\/p>\n The company’s interest in expanding its gaming portfolio also extends to generative AI. Ubisoft is eager to adopt this technology, believing it to be a game-changer for the creative industries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Already, creators and developers within the company are experimenting with the technology, promising an exciting future for Ubisoft’s game development.<\/span><\/p>\n Despite the challenges faced, Ubisoft maintains an optimistic outlook, anticipating an income of \u20ac400 million ($435 million) for the coming year – a significant turnaround from the previous year’s loss.<\/span><\/p>\n It seems Ubisoft’s strategic focus on the Assassin’s Creed franchise, coupled with a diverse portfolio of upcoming games and a keen interest in generative AI, could be the winning combination to secure its future in the competitive gaming industry.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":159713,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[407],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159712"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159712\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159713"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}A Tough Year for Ubisoft<\/b><\/h2>\n
Assassin’s Creed: A Lifeline for Ubisoft<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Restructuring Amid Challenges<\/b><\/h2>\n
A Diverse Portfolio of Upcoming Games<\/b><\/h2>\n
Optimistic Outlook for Ubisoft’s Future<\/b><\/h2>\n