Ubisoft kills 6 games, delays 7, and lays off devs as it kicks off a "major reset" — "While these decisions are difficult, they are necessary"

French video game publisher Ubisoft announced that it's undergoing a "major organizational, operational, and portfolio reset" in a press release on Wednesday morning, with the firm aiming to "reclaim its creative leadership, regain agility, and drive a sharp rebound."

As part of the restructuring, the company has canceled a whopping six games, including the highly anticipated remake of 2003's beloved action-adventure title Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, four unannounced projects, and a mobile title.

It's also delayed seven games "in order to ensure enhanced quality benchmarks are fully met and maximize long-term value creation," including a game that was originally planned for 2026 but has now been pushed to next year. It's speculated that the game in question is an Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag remake that's been rumored and leaked on several occasions.

Notably, Ubisoft has also closed its Halifax and Stockholm studios as part of the initiative, with CFO Frederick Duguet telling GamesIndustry.biz "a series of layoffs" has resulted in cuts at The Division-maker Massive Entertainment (currently working on The Division 3; it just lost its executive producer), Ubisoft Abu Dubai, and RedLynx, in addition to the aforementioned shuttered teams.

"There are some people who will be refocused on other big projects, and some may leave the company," he explained to VGC.

Another major component of this "reset" is reorganizing Ubisoft's development teams into five distinct and decentralized "Creative Houses," with each one overseeing a chunk of the publisher's portfolio, and all of them getting support from Ubisoft HQ, a network of support studios, and "shared, standardized, and scalable services" that provide valuable resources. Here's what each Creative House is responsible for:

• CH1: Largely comprised of Vantage Studios in charge of developing Ubisoft's biggest properties, including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six, to "turn them into annual billionaire brands."
• CH2: Focused on "competitive and cooperative shooter experiences" like The Division, Ghost Recon, and Splinter Cell.
• CH3: Maintaining "select, sharp Live experiences" including For Honor, The Crew, Riders Republic, Brawlhalla, and Skull & Bones.
• CH4: Working on "immersive fantasy worlds and narrative-driven universes" such as Anno, Might & Magic, Rayman, Prince of Persia, and Beyond Good & Evil.
• CH5: This last team is working on "reclaiming position in casual and family-friendly games," and is in charge of brands like Just Dance, Idle Miner Tycoon, Ketchapp, Hungry Shark, Invincible: Guarding the Globe, Uno, and Hasbro.

This restructuring is ultimately designed to streamline and bolster the efficiency of development. "Acceleration of cost reduction initiatives" has also been underway — the aforementioned cuts are part of these — with Ubisoft expecting to achieve its goal of €100 million saved compared to 2024-2025 by March, one year ahead of its original target.

"While these decisions are difficult, they are necessary for us to build a more focused, efficient and sustainable organization over the long term," wrote CEO Yves Guillemot in a statement. "Taken together, these measures mark a decisive turning point for Ubisoft ... Ubisoft is entering a new phase — one designed to reclaim creative leadership and build value for players and stakeholders over the long term."

The massive overhaul to Ubisoft's structure and processes comes after many of the studio's games, such as Star Wars Outlaws, have underperformed significantly in recent years. That underwhelming performance drove the publisher to sell 25% stake of the company to Tencent, and give it a license for Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six.

How do you feel about Ubisoft's "major reset," and the way that it's completely restructured the company? Do you think it's going to help the publisher turn things around? Hit me with your thoughts in the comments.

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