While the lockdown seemed to herald a bright future for Ubisoft, the past few years appear to have brought nothing but bad news. Between franchises that are running out of steam, sluggish financial performance, and internal turmoil—including a lawsuit alleging sexual and psychological harassment filed by three former executives—the French video game giant is going through a difficult period.
Since 2018, Ubisoft’s stock price has plummeted. While its share price once reached €107, the stock now trades around €10—a drop of 86% in five years! And the results forthe 2024–2025 fiscal year, released on May 14, did little to reassure investors, with figures and forecasts falling short of analysts’ expectations.
As part of its cost-cutting efforts, Ubisoft has already laid off 3,000 employees since 2022.
The company, which has received tens of millionsin government subsidies, also announced last March the creation of a subsidiary that will bring together three flagship franchises but, more importantly, will be 25% owned by the Chinese giant Tencent. This has fueled speculation about a future takeover and a shift to foreign ownership. On October 9, a member of parliament sent a letter to the prime minister to alert him to “the issue of strong cultural and industrial sovereignty” represented by the video game industry, without specifically mentioning the French company.
Yet Ubisoft is also a success story. Starting as a small video game distribution company founded in 1986 in Brittany, the group has since established itself as one of the world’s largest publishers. Known for its flagship franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Rainbow Six, and Just Dance, Ubisoft has approximately 17,000 employees and more than 40 studios worldwide.
So, are we witnessing the downfall of France’s largest publisher, or is the video game industry itself in trouble?
Ubisoft's Management at the Center of Controversy
In 2020, following social media posts detailing abusive behavior within the company, a journalistic investigation revealed that certain high-ranking executives had subjected employees to psychological harassment and sexual assault. Other media outlets also gathered testimonies that pointed to serious dysfunction within the human resources department. All of these revelations led to the departure or suspension of many key figures within the studio, including Serge Hascoët, the creative director who was considered at the time to be Ubisoft’s second-in-command and who approved most of the games developed. This was also the case for Guillaume Patrux, game director, and Michel Ancel, the creator of the successful Rayman franchise.
These events have not gone unnoticed and have damaged Ubisoft's reputation, causing its stock price to drop by more than 9% in a single day.
But that’s not all—the loss of the people who contributed significantly to the phenomenal success of the company’s best-known and most lucrative games is affecting its bottom line: over the 2021–2022 period, revenue is down 4.4% and is largely being sustained by the back catalog (+11%), that is, previously released games.
In 2022–2023, the back catalog saw a decline, and revenue fell another 14.6 percent, due to disappointing game releases (notably *Far Cry 6*) and others that were delayed (*Skull and Bones*, *Avatar*, etc.).
For Ubisoft, the social crisis doesn't end there…
Several strikes
Last February, a national strike took place in France, organized by the Video Game Workers’ Union (STJV), to protest the growing number of layoffs in the industry and to demand a reduction in working hours. In October 2024, the unions at Ubisoft had already called for a strike to demand higher wages and protest a reduction in the number of days of remote work. This action had already been preceded by another strike in February 2024, again over the issue of wages…
For several years now, Ubisoft has been facing real management issues, which are tarnishing its image and driving away its top talent. None of this is reassuring to its investors, especially since the studio is also grappling with a problem that affects the video game industry more broadly.
The Post-COVID Impact on the Video Game Industry
While Ubisoft found itself at the center of controversy in 2020, there is no doubt that the studio still benefited from the positive impact the pandemic had on the industry. In fact, based on the financial metrics of major video game companies, a study showed that the industry is one of the few sectors to have thrived economically during this period of crisis. This can be explained by a significant increase in gaming time due to lockdowns. At the time,the World Health Organization (WHO) had even recommended playing online games as a way to maintain social connections while staying at a distance.
Other researchers have also highlighted the role of the pandemic in the positive perception and practice of video gaming, while noting, however, that this is once again linked to the specific and temporary context of the pandemic.
The 2020–2022 period was the most prolific in terms of both growth and investment in video games. For example, between 2020 and 2021, the total number of venture capital investors active in funding studios or publishers quadrupled! It is clear that investors were expecting continued growth in the sector in the years to come.
However, figures released by the Union of Leisure Software Publishers (Sell) show a stagnant trend rather than actual growth since 2020.
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Investor Withdrawal
The year 2023 was somewhat unusual, as it was marked by the release of a new generation of consoles that boosted sales, but the 2024 results show a return to a level similar to that of previous years. These figures therefore demonstrate the sector’s fairly strong resilience, though they fall far short of the results one might expect given the massive investments that were made. As a result, investors are pulling back, leading to falling stock prices and layoffs. Ubisoft is, of course, no exception to this trend.
And unfortunately for the French publisher, in addition to the economic climate in the video game industry and its management issues, it is also facing criticism over the direction its latest games have taken.
Marketing Decisions Under Scrutiny
While Ubisoft built its reputation through 2015 by consistently releasing more ambitious and captivating games, the years that followed seem to have marked a decline in momentum. The first four games in the Far Cry series all received scores above 85 out of 100 on Metacritic (a well-known review aggregator in the industry), while the subsequent titles have failed to reach that level, with Far Cry 5 scoring 81 and Far Cry 6 scoring just 73.
The same is true for the Assassin’s Creed series, which is struggling to delight its long-time fans. A case study of this franchise has shown that Ubisoft has changed its marketing strategy since *Assassin’s Creed Origins* (2017). The formula has been adapted and broadened to appeal to the widest possible audience, even if it means setting aside the more narrative-driven aspects.
Games That Are More Expensive to Produce
This shift has yielded mixed results because, while sales are fairly encouraging—matching or even surpassing those of the earlier games—it’s important to note that the cost of the latest installments is much higher, given that budgets for major productions now reach $200 million. Ubisoft does not disclose the costs of its games, but it is estimated that*Assassin’s Creed Unity* (2014) cost 140 million euros and the latest installment, approximately 300 million euros, including marketing.
But, more importantly, the reviews aren't as good as those for previous installments, and the latest games are being criticized for their similarities. This criticism extends to all of Ubisoft's franchises, since the same formula has been adopted for all of its recent projects.
This decision has raised suspicion among players and is affecting the publisher’s sales. In fact, while *Assassin’s Creed Shadows*, released on March 20, seems to be generating enough revenue to give Ubisoft some breathing room, the studio has not disclosed the number of units sold—which is rarely a good sign… Not to mention that on June 3, XDefiant—a multiplayer shooter with enormous ambitions developed by Ubisoft in May 2024— shut down permanently due to a lack of players. This colossal failure once again highlights the disconnect between the studio and players’ expectations.
In the end, is it just a poor fit for the video game industry?
On April 24, the game *Clair Obscur: Expedition 33* was released. It was developed by Sandfall Interactive, a newly founded French studio consisting of about thirty developers, most of whom are junior developers (and a few former Ubisoft employees).
It’s a turn-based role-playing game—a genre that isn’t very popular and is therefore far from being for everyone… yet it sold more than two million copies in less than two weeks. It also earnedan excellent score of 92. This success proves that the video game industry isn’t doing so badly after all—and that it’s even possible to capture players’ attention with a game style that’s usually shunned by both the public and publishers.
This success highlights the challenges facing the giant Ubisoft, which is struggling to remain as agile and innovative as smaller studios. If it wants to stay afloat, the company will therefore need to quickly adapt to the industry’s changes while addressing its internal issues.
