As part its delay of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ubisoft has announced that it’s putting plans in place to pursue “various transformational strategic and capitalistic options” to help put itself in the best possible financial situation. Ubisoft said it has appointed an advisory team to do this.
Ubisoft said it will continue to “drive significant cost reductions” as part of this plan, though the company did not say if more layoffs are coming. Ubisoft added that it will take a “highly selective approach to investments” during this period. In total, Ubisoft said it expects to see a reduction of €200 million ($206 million USD) as part of this plan.
Looking ahead, Ubisoft said it expects Q3 FY2024-25 revenue to be less than what it originally forecast, due in part to lower-than-expected game sales during the holiday, mainly due to an underperformance of Star Wars Outlaws. The downturn is also attributed in part to the discontinuation of XDefiant.
During a conference call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said he sees “several potential paths” for the company and its franchises going forward to maximize shareholder value. It was previously reported that Ubisoft was considering numerous different possibilities for its future, including selling to Tencent.
On the call, Ubisoft declined to comment on the report of the company potentially selling to Tencent, but management said it is “exploring different options,” adding, “We can’t say more.”
Also during the call, management said it was “the difficult but right decision” to close XDefiant and shut down multiple studios around the world, adding that it’s learned lessons from XDefiant’s lack of success in the market.