Ubisoft eyes ‘major reset’ as ‘Prince of Persia’ remake among 6 games axed amid layoffs, studio closures

Six highly awaited games have been axed at French video game developer Ubisoft, as a part of what the company calls a “major organisational, operational, and portfolio reset”.

This comes after weeks of speculation over reports of studio closures and impending layoffs at the brand that created the Assassin’s Creed, Prince of Persia, and the Just Dance franchises.

The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake is the only one of the six games revealed to the public, for not meeting the studio’s new criteria. This includes four unnamed titles—including 3 new IP’s and a mobile game.

Additional development time has also been allocated to seven games to make sure they meet the criteria.

Still, the announcement led to Ubisoft’s shares sharply falling by 33 per cent, making it one of the top losers on the SBF 120 index of Paris’s most traded stocks. If the losses continue, Ubisoft could very well see its biggest one-day drop since the company’s 1996 listing, a Reuters report said.

The new revamp also comes on the heels of major layoffs at the 17,000-employee company—which it has not provided further details on—and the closure of its Halifax and Stockholm studios.

Ubisoft has also said that their new, decentralised model of working was aimed at combining game development and market strategy in a “gamer-centric” way.

Each of the five core Creative Houses (CHs) built for this purpose would be “shaped by distinct creative ‘genres’ led by dedicated high-profile, incentivised teams with a unique set of expertise in those genres”.

The five Houses would also have full financial ownership of their genres, for which they were financially accountable.

According to the new regime at Ubisoft, CH1 (Vantage Studios) was responsible for scaling and extending Ubisoft’s biggest titles and/or franchises, such as Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, while CH2 was dedicated to “competitive and cooperative” shooter games.

CH4 is dedicated to fantasy and narrative-driven games, while CH5 is focused on casual and family-friendly titles.

CH3, on the other hand, has the unique task of operating “a roster of select, sharp Live experiences”.

“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,” explained Yves Guillemot, Founder and CEO of Ubisoft.

“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 also shared early results for its latest quarter, reporting €330 million ($385 million) in sales, which it says are “primarily driven by an over performance linked to partnerships and reflecting a robust back-catalogue.”

The full earnings for Q3 FY2025-26 will be reported on February 12.

Source: The Week

--Agencies