Ubisoft has not had the best press lately with the French games giant confirming the cancellation of three unannounced projects, delaying Skull & Bones, and one of its offices calling for strike action over recent remarks made by CEO Yves Guillemot today. But according to a new report that features interviews with several (unnamed) current and former Ubisoft developers, a picture emerges of a huge studio making expensive missteps over the number and quality of games it's making.
The report comes from Insider Gaming and asks why Ubisoft is delaying and canceling games at such a rate, while the company is also seeking to cut around $215 million in costs over the next two years. Speaking to five current and former employees, it's revealed that Ubisoft has been making too many games with multiple titles in need of "polish". The employees went unnamed since they were not authorised to reveal the details.
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According to the people Insider Gaming spoke to, a consensus emerged that the delays and cancellations were a result of the company working on projects that are "not what gamers wanted". This feedback came via playtests and QA.
Ubisoft has some big brands under its belt, but many of these rely on frequent releases to bring in revenue, while the company has been trying to capitalise on the trend for battle royales. According to one employee the outlet spoke to, Ubisoft had at one point a dozen or so games in the genre at various points of development, but it seems many of these battle royales won't see the light of day.
Cancellations and delays aren't the best of news, but what if it is to make a better end product? According to those interviewed, the reason was simply that games needed more polish. "We certainly aren't running short of games, they are just taking forever," one staff was quoted as saying. This person also said they've been working on an unannounced live-service title sine 2019 but which is forecast to launch not until 2025 or 2026.
However, these employees say Ubisoft has high hopes for Assassin's Creed Mirage and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora which are due to be released later this year or in the case of Avatar possibly later. While the business may be "restructuring" players can hope that some good gaming experiences will still result whenever they do launch.