Today, Ubisoft detailed a major restructuring and the cancellation of several games previously in its pipeline.
The company has decided to review its development pipeline and canceled six games that apparently didn’t meet a new quality standard set by the company.
These include the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake and four unannounced games. Three of these were new IPs, and one was a mobile game.
As we already know, the company is restructuring into “Creative Houses,” and today we learn more details about them. Each of them will focus on a creative genre, and they will be structured as follows.
- CH1 (Vantage Studios), focused on scaling and extending Ubisoft’s largest and established franchises to turn them into annual billionaire brands;
- Brands: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Rainbow Six
- CH2 dedicated to competitive and cooperative shooter experiences;
- Brands including The Division, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell
- CH3 designed to operate a roster of select, sharp Live experiences;
- Brands including For Honor, The Crew, Riders Republic, Brawlhalla, Skull & Bones
- CH4 dedicated to immersive fantasy worlds and narrative-driven universes;
- Brands including Anno, Might & Magic, Rayman, Prince of Persia, Beyond Good & Evil
- CH5 focused on reclaiming position in casual and family-friendly games.
- Brands including Just Dance, Idle Miner Tycoon, Ketchapp, Hungry Shark, Invincible: Guarding the Globe, Uno, Hasbro
We also learn that the company still has four new IPs left in development, including March of Giants.
In this decentralized organization, each creative house will have a certain degree of independence in its creative and operational processes.
Ubisoft’s overall strategy will focus on “Open World Adventures and GaaS-native experiences” and will include “accelerated investments behind player-facing Generative AI,” whatever that means.
In worse news, the company boasts about “accelerating its cost reduction initiatives.” Not only will its cost reduction operation of over €100 million be achieved one year in advance compared to expectations, but a third and final phase is coming, aiming to reduce costs by another €200 million over the next two years.
Of course, this is likely to mean further layoffs coming, although we did not get details today.
Below you can find a full statement from CEO Yves Guillemot.
“On the one hand, the AAA industry has become persistently more selective and competitive with rising development costs and greater challenges in creating brands. On the other hand, exceptional AAA games, when successful, have more financial potential than ever. In this context, today we are announcing a major reset built to create the conditions for a return to sustainable growth over time. We are transforming Ubisoft’s operating model to produce exceptional quality games on the two core pillars of our strategy, Open World Adventures and GaaS-native experiences.
At the center of this transformation are our Creative Houses, integrated business units now combining production and publishing and therefore unifying the gamer relationship. Each one is built around a clear genre and brand focus, with full responsibility and financial ownership, led by dedicated leadership teams. It is a radical move, relying on a more decentralized creative organization with faster decision making and best-in-class cross functional core services supporting and serving each Creative House.
To put the Creative Houses in the best conditions to succeed, we decided to refocus our portfolio with a meaningfully revised 3-year roadmap and accelerate our cost reductions initiatives to rightsize the organization. We will discontinue several projects currently in development and provide additional time to certain games, to ensure enhanced quality and maximize long term value. We will also selectively close several studios and continue restructurings throughout the Group. While these decisions are difficult, they are necessary for us to build a more focused, efficient and sustainable organization over the long term.
Taken together, these measures mark a decisive turning point for Ubisoft and reflect our determination to confront challenges head-on to reshape the Group for the long term. The portfolio refocus will have a significant impact on the Group’s short term financial trajectory, particularly in fiscal years 2026 and 2027, but this reset will strengthen the Group and enable it to renew with sustainable growth and robust cash generation. Ubisoft is entering a new phase – one designed to reclaim creative leadership and build value for players and stakeholders over the long term.”
