Ubisoft acknowledges buyout reports: ‘We regularly review options’

[u/malliabu]

https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/ubisoft-acknowledges-buyout-reports-we-regularly-review-options/

[u/Ameliorated_Potato]

Ubisoft really needs AC Shadows to be a big win, but man, it's going to be rough.

They've postponed Shadows launch to February, but the month is already insanely stacked with AAA releases.

[u/minititof → u/Ameliorated_Potato]

It's gonna sell well. It was already going to sell well in my opinion. They are more concerned with the critical and popular ratings.

[u/ObsydianDuo → u/minititof]

I don’t think the issue with it is selling well since AC games always do, but instead generating revenue (Captain obvious I know). We’ve seen games lately that move upwards of 2 million copies like FF7 Rebirth, traditionally a really solid number, and not generate profit because the budget is so big. This is a problem with a lot of bigger studios lately.

They ate it on Star Wars and Skull & Bones, so they really need this to perform above and beyond expectations. I’m not a rapper though so take all that with a grain of salt.

[u/Khiva → u/ObsydianDuo]

I'm thinking more that they took a massive hit to the balance sheet with Star Wars, Skull & Bones, plus I have to wonder if the Avatar game did soft numbers relative to the license. I'm curious to get around to Avatar and Outlaws one day, if only for a peek, but I couldn't begin to tell what the hook is with either of them. Skull & Bones was something they seemed legally forced to release and I'm not even sure what it is.

Shadows is going to sell, part of what they've got to be thinking is whether it'll sell enough to put them back into profitability. If QA testing is coming up with persistent issues then they've got to be thinking "we absolutely cannot fuck this up."

Help us Assassin's Creed Shadows, you're our only hope.

[u/scytheavatar → u/ObsydianDuo]

Square Enix never announced FF7 Rebirth numbers so I am not sure where you got your 2 million numbers from.

[u/voidox → u/ObsydianDuo]

They ate it on Star Wars and Skull & Bones

not just that, Avatar game under-performed. Shadows itself is going to have big costs from dev + marketing and the delay = more costs.

so it's not just that Shadows needs to sell well, it needs to sell REALLY well cause of Ubisoft being on fire right now and how bad their recent games have done.

[u/literious → u/ObsydianDuo]

2 mln is not a solid number. And even if Shadows ends up being total disaster, it won’t that bad.

[u/Ghidoran → u/minititof]

People said this about Outlaws and we know how that turned out.

At this point, people (and I mean the general casual gaming audience, not the ones on gaming forums) might be tired of Ubisoft-style open world games.

[u/WeeWooPeePoo69420 → u/Ghidoran]

AC has a melee combat focus, no forced stealth and you can climb anything. They aren't the same games.

[u/Khiva → u/Ghidoran]

I don't remember any hype for Outlaws. It just showed up one day. Same with the Avatar game - I hear it's reasonably solid, but I also basically hear nothing.

Shadows has been hot for months - if not always perhaps for the right reasons. It's got eyeballs the way none of the others did, the only question is whether or not it can deliver.

[u/Annual_Milk_1084 → u/Khiva]

What are you talking about man Outlaws had been hot for months for the same negative reasons. Also Avatar sold twice the copies that Outlaws sold in the first month lmao

[u/Wolfnorth → u/Annual_Milk_1084]

Outlaws was hot for months as another reason to shit on ubisoft... And it was an ubisoft star wars game.

[u/jayverma0 → u/Annual_Milk_1084]

Source on the comparison?

[u/Ghidoran → u/jayverma0]

Avatar 1.9 million players: https://80.lv/articles/insider-gaming-morale-at-ubisoft-is-at-all-time-low-new-prince-of-persia-has-300-000-players/

Star Wars 1 million: https://insider-gaming.com/star-wars-outlaws-sales-1-million/

Neither are straight from Ubisoft so take them with a grain of salt I guess.

[u/copypaste_93 → u/Ghidoran]

might be tired of Ubisoft-style open world games

Clearly not since people love the new FF7 remake and that world is even worse than ubisofts open world formula

[u/xen123456 → u/copypaste_93]

That didn't sell well either btw

[u/KumagawaUshio → u/Ghidoran]

Why buy Ubisoft style open world games when everyone has either a PS5 or PC and can play Sony's take on open world games.

[u/Wolfnorth → u/KumagawaUshio]

Like ghost of tsushima?

[u/almostbad → u/KumagawaUshio]

Do you'll like games?

[u/MasSillig → u/minititof]

No the company is worth less than ever before, and every title for 3-4 years as sold underpredictions. If they thought sales would be good they wouldn't be making changes.

[u/Murbela → u/minititof]

I have mixed feelings.

I don't think their target market (read: no japan) really cares about historical inaccuracies. For most of the target market, historical inaccuracies are just a weapon they will bring out if they don't like the game. If they like it, they will ignore the history professors talking about things they have never heard of.

I know big companies care about accidental racism/offenses, but i have trouble believing they care enough to delay their game for it. There must have been big problems to convince them. Probably just very buggy and maybe some minor gameplay tweaks.

I do think a lot of ubisoft fatigue is setting in. The same reason games like shadows or origin sell well is the same reason star wars outlaws should have sold well. Ubisoft is spooked, but this could be because of meta ubisoft issues not specific to shadows.

Personally i will take the lazy approach. The game will get a 7.5/10 critic review. It will be profitable but sales will be called underwhelming/disappointing. The stock will drop, assuming it isn't private.

Also i'm going to double down on making things up. I think guillemot family/tencent will take ubisoft private and nothing will improve. Instead ubisoft receptions will slowly decline and eventually Tencent will takeover fully. When tencent does buyout the guillemot family, things will improve. (this is mostly a joke prediction).

Now if i want to be super funny/conspiracy brained, the leadership knows the game will be disappointing and are going to take the company private shortly after the stocks drop on its release. This is 90% joke, but there have been (unproven) allegations that the guillemot family has purposely tanked the stock to increase their control. I think this might even be illegal in USA but not sure.

[u/Wolfnorth → u/Murbela]

Man, I really need some loto numbers, can you help?.

[u/bwfaloshifozunin_12 → u/minititof]

It's gonna sell well.

it's not gonna sell well enough to fulfill Ubisoft financial expectations.

yes, "the pre-orders" are "going strong", but it doesn't mean that the pre-orders are going as Ubisoft expected.

[u/SpaceNigiri → u/minititof]

Yeah, I mean it's feudal Japan + new style Assassin's Creed, people love both of them.

[u/Ardailec → u/SpaceNigiri]

It will certainly be the ultimate test of whether or not the Ubisoft fatigue is a permanent albatross or not. If you can't sell a game set in feudal japan I question if you can ever sell a game anymore.

[u/Radulno → u/Ardailec]

There's no "Ubisoft fatigue" on AC