Ubisoft’s Crisis: Battling Trends at the Expense of Employees

Amidst the ever-evolving landscape of the gaming industry, thousands of game industry employees have lost their jobs in recent years, and Ubisoft, the sixth-largest company in terms of employment, is also facing difficult decisions. The company’s internal morale has plummeted, and employees fear that restructuring may inevitably lead to job losses.

The uncertainty of employment is currently palpable throughout the industry, but Ubisoft’s leadership continues their relentless pursuit of trends, often resulting in resource wastage or underwhelming outcomes. If cost-cutting measures are implemented, it won’t be the leadership who bears the brunt.

Since the beginning of 2023, over 15,000 game industry employees have lost their jobs, with over 5,600 in January 2024 alone. Ubisoft has not been exempt from this fate either, having laid off 124 employees in November 2023. However, sources who spoke anonymously with Insider Gaming believe that this is just the beginning of the company’s downsizing.

But why have internal tensions reached boiling point despite the company having the best game lineup in a decade? I have spoken to several Ubisoft employees over the past few months to understand why.

Chasing Wild Geese

In recent years, Ubisoft’s strategy has shifted away from innovation and creativity, leading the company on a wild goose chase for timely popular content. The pursuit of creating yet another massive free-to-play battle royale, as well as the fascination with NFTs and web3, has resulted in the cancellation of numerous projects, talent wastage, and significant costs.

At one point, sources report that between late 2021 and early 2022, the company had around a dozen battle royale games in development. Many of these projects failed to resonate with players during testing and were subsequently canceled.

One such game was Ghost Recon: Frontline, which received criticism from fans from its very announcement as it did not align with players’ interests. One of the most popular comments under the game’s trailer was, “Community: We want a return to the roots, a hardcore tactical stealth shooter – Ubisoft: We hear you, here’s a battle royale game.” These were not just words on YouTube, as after four years of development, the game was canceled in the summer of 2022 for undisclosed reasons. Four other undisclosed games were also publicly canceled from mid-2022 to January 2023, along with Splinter Cell VR and Project Q.

Battle royale games weren’t the only trend that Ubisoft pursued. In late 2021, the company announced Ubisoft Quartz – their attempt to capitalize on the NFT boom at the time. The announcement was met with public protests, and internally, employees felt embarrassed to be associated with such an ill-conceived and disconnected decision. After two years, Ubisoft now realizes that NFTs are not the money-making technology they once thought. Nevertheless, the company continues to quietly work on NFT/web3 projects such as Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles.

For future releases, the publisher is currently focusing on live service games and extraction-based shooters. Insider Gaming has learned that the company is developing at least three major shooters based on this model. These include The Division Heartland (release date unknown), Project Maverick from the Far Cry series (expected release in 2025), and a new World War II-themed IP, predicted to release between 2026-2027. Whether all these games will actually be released remains to be seen, but those working on these projects fear that it may already be too late by the time they hit the market.

Persistent Delays and Mismanagement

Over the past few years, one thing has been consistent with Ubisoft games – delays. This frustration has been felt both publicly and internally, primarily due to unrealistic internal deadlines and poor management.

One of the most well-known examples of constant delays is Skull and Bones, a pirate game that has been in development for a decade and has experienced six public delays. It’s estimated to have cost around $200 million, a figure unlikely to be recouped. In most cases, the delays were driven by the ambitions of managers seeking career advancement. Frequent changes in vision created a toxic atmosphere, leaving some developers lost and unsure of their daily tasks.

“One day, I just sat there watching YouTube videos,” said a former employee working on the project.

Eventually, the dust settled, and the foundations of the Skull and Bones game were finally established. Internal delays turned into public delays when Ubisoft Singapore faced a series of unrealistic deadlines.

Unfortunately, Skull and Bones is not the only game to have suffered such a fate. Poor management is a problem across the publishing line, from Beyond Good and Evil 2, which has been in “development hell” for almost 15 years and is still far from completion, to XDefiant, a free-to-play first-person shooter being developed by Ubisoft San Francisco, which has regularly been delayed due to recent decisions to add additional features that disrupted the game’s current build.

Returning to the Office

In September 2023, approximately 4,000 employees at Ubisoft Montreal returned to the office after three years of remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision was met with fierce criticism from employees in Montreal and across the company but was not heeded. Now, just a few months later, Ubisoft is implementing a mandatory return to the office policy throughout the entire company, at least two days a week.

One such policy, in effect since April 2, 2024, pertains to Global Publishing, which must return to the office for those two mandatory days.

“The policy is confidential and cannot be disclosed,” emphasizes Insider Gaming, who gained access to the policy.

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The source of the article is from the blog karacasanime.com.ve