The online game writer behind the Murderer’s Creed sequence has cancelled six tasks together with a remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time because it fights to remain aggressive within the international gaming market.
Ubisoft introduced a sweeping reorganisation and stated it could cancel six video games, sending its shares to their lowest stage in additional than a decade on Thursday.
Ubisoft is abandoning growth of six titles, together with a extremely anticipated remake of Prince of Persia – a sequence that dates again to 1989 and obtained an ill-fated Hollywood adaptation in 2010 – and delaying an extra seven. Studios in Halifax, Canada and Stockholm are being closed, with restructuring to observe in different international locations, it stated.
After the announcement, Ubisoft’s shares fell by a 3rd to their lowest stage since 2011 on Thursday, valuing the corporate at €590m (£514m) in contrast with a peak of greater than €10bn within the earlier decade. The Paris-based firm stated it deliberate to separate its operations into 5 inventive divisions organised by style, a part of a broader try to sharpen focus and rein in prices after years of disappointing releases and weak outcomes.
The corporate stated the restructuring was pushed by the aggressive marketplace for AAA video games, the time period for big-budget, high-profile titles reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto.
“The triple-A business has change into persistently extra selective and aggressive with rising growth prices and higher challenges in creating manufacturers,” stated Ubisoft’s founder and chief government, Yves Guillemot.
Nonetheless, Guillemot added that profitable triple-A video games have “extra monetary potential than ever”.
Ubisoft additionally blamed an “more and more aggressive market” for shooters, a key style for the business.
Laurent Michaud, a gaming business economist, stated motion journey titles reminiscent of Prince of Persia have been out of step with a market dominated at the moment by shooters like Fortnite and Name of Responsibility, cooperative journey titles reminiscent of Peak and sports activities titles and multiplayer video games reminiscent of these obtainable on the Roblox platform.
“The expectations of avid gamers are fairly totally different to the place they have been 10 years in the past. That’s why it’s troublesome to be in contact with an viewers that has modified a lot over time.”
He added: “Ubisoft remains to be one of the vital widespread content material suppliers within the video video games business. It has developed probably the greatest IP slates within the business however even when the video games are actually good, it’s not sufficient. It has to satisfy folks’s expectations and tastes.”
The newest overhaul follows a number of troublesome years marked by recreation delays, cancellations and weak execution, which have eroded investor confidence and strained the group’s funds. In November 2025, Ubisoft postponed the publication of its half-year outcomes on the final minute, triggering a week-long suspension of buying and selling in its shares and bonds. The corporate later stated an accounting change had revealed a breach of the phrases for its debt.
