Ubisoft Undergoes Major Restructuring Following Ghost Recon Breakpoint, Division 2 Failures

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Image: Ubisoft

Ubisoft is making sweeping changes to one of its most influential teams due to the disappointing financials of last year’s Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and The Division 2 titles. According to an exclusive report from Video Games Chronicle, the poor performance of these sequels has forced the publisher to shake up its entire editorial division.

This is the creative body responsible for deciding what type of games Ubisoft should be making. While the idea might have sounded good on paper, granting that level of oversight to a single team has turned out terribly, resulting in a dry catalog that lacks any real differentiation. Practically all of Ubisoft’s major franchises (e.g., Assassin’s Creed, The Division, Far Cry, Ghost Recon, Watch Dogs) have doubled down on open-world concepts with a sprinkling of online hooks, for instance.

Thanks to the terrible display of Ghost Recon Breakpoint and The Division 2, all of that is changing. In a statement to VGC, Ubisoft said that it would be expanding and reorganizing the editorial team.

“We are reinforcing our editorial team to be more agile and better accompany our development teams around the world as they create the best gaming experiences for players.”

Back in October, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot admitted that Ghost Recon Breakpoint underperformed in a note to investors. The executive blamed the failure on its lack of “differentiation factors,” the introduction of new gameplay innovations (which most players hated), and how difficult it was to “generate interest for a sequel to a Live multiplayer game.”

“…we have not capitalized on the potential of our latest two AAA releases. For Ghost Recon Breakpoint, while the game’s quality appeared on track – based on E3, Gamescom, previews and our latest internal playtests –, critical reception and sales during the game’s first weeks were very disappointing. As we have done with past titles, we will continue to support the game and listen to the community in order to deliver the necessary improvements.”

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Tsing Mui
News poster at The FPS Review.

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