Ubisoft has announced that it is taking a set of measures to strengthen its long-term growth and value-creation prospects. Among those is the cancellation of three unannounced projects, which do not include the two titles that were announced back in July 2022. Skull and Bones, Ubisoft’s open-world, sea-faring piracy adventure, has also been delayed yet again. It will now be released in early 2023–24 so its developers can provide a “more polished and balanced experience.”
A statement from Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft:
We are clearly disappointed by our recent performance. We are facing contrasted market dynamics as the industry continues to shift towards mega-brands and everlasting live games, in the context of worsening economic conditions affecting consumer spending. Despite excellent ratings and players’ reception as well as an ambitious marketing plan, we were surprised by Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope underperformance in the final weeks of 2022 and early January. Just Dance 2023 underperformed as well. Therefore, with the approval of the Board of Directors, we are taking additional important strategic and operational decisions today. It is key to continue adapting our organization, to further strengthen our execution and to ensure we both deliver amazing games to players as well as great value creation.
The industry’s long-term prospects remain promising, and I am convinced Ubisoft is well positioned to benefit from this momentum thanks to the strength of our teams, brands, production capacity, technology and balance-sheet. Our back-catalogue remains very healthy with notably robust activity on Rainbow Six Siege, great momentum for our Assassin’s Creed games, and generally solid performance from our live games. We expect our strategy to build long-lasting live games and transform our biggest brands into truly global phenomenon with multiple offerings across platforms and business models, to ultimately generate significant value creation, with strong topline and operating income growth over the coming years.”
Skull and Bones was supposed to be released on March 9, 2023, but despite the delay, Ubisoft believes that players will be “positively surprised” by what they find in the new game. A premium edition of Skull and Bones that includes The Ballad of Bloody Bones Collection, two missions, digital soundtrack, and more is listed for $89.99 on the Ubisoft Store.