Ubisoft has revealed the reason behind its numerous game cancellations and delays over the last couple of months.
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During a quarterly earnings call with investors on February 16, CEO Yves Guillemot shared that the studio had to push back the release of several games – including Skull & Bones – as well as pull the plug on several unannounced titles due to the overwhelming number of titles that the studio was working on at the same time.
“We cancelled a few games because we needed to make space for other games that are in development in the company, and that’s really helping all the other games that are progressing well,” Guillemot said.
He added: “Now we feel we have the right number of games, knowing that we will launch a lot of games in financial year ’24 that will also give space for the other games that are on the way in the company.”
“If we look at 24 months, the number of games in the company in work in the company will go down quite a lot, and that will give more space to all the games we have on the way. Having said that, we know that many of those games are also going to have post-launch content, and this will take a certain number of teams and talents to actually create that content.”
Earlier this January, Ubisoft announced a further delay of Skull & Bones, which was initially set to launch in March this year. The game is now expected to release sometime in 2024. The developer also confirmed that three unannounced games have been cancelled, along with four other titles that got the boot in 2022.
Following the above-mentioned announcements in January – which were attributed to “major financial challenges” – 40 members of staff at Ubisoft Paris went on strike after Guilletmot emailed staff asking them to “be especially careful and strategic with your spending and initiatives”, adding, “The ball is in your court to deliver this line-up on time and at the expected level of quality, and show everyone what we are capable of achieving.”
Earlier this month, Assassin’s Creed: Origins director Jean Guesdon announced that he was leaving Ubisoft after more than 17 years with the company.
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