Ubisoft and Nintendo nearly expanded their partnership beyond Mario + Rabbids with a new game set in The Legend of Zelda universe.
Ubisoft and Nintendo nearly expanded their partnership beyond Mario + Rabbids with a new game set in The Legend of Zelda universe.
Ubisoft employees are rattled over the potential for mass layoffs—and they have every reason to be.
On Thursday, Ubisoft announced it is forming a new gaming subsidiary in partnership with Chinese tech giant Tencent. The new entity will house the company’s most valuable franchises, including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six along with select development studios. While the press release spins this as the start of a “bold new chapter,” internal reactions suggest that the only thing bold about this move is the level of uncertainty it has created for Ubisoft’s remaining workforce.
Ubisoft is hemorrhaging money. That much has been clear since the release of its catastrophic Q3 FY25 earnings report, which revealed a company in freefall. Net bookings plunged 51.8% year-over-year in Q3 alone. Digital bookings fell 33.8%. Player recurring investment—the bread and butter of live-service games—dropped 33.7%. And the company’s debt-to-EBITDA ratio now sits at a nightmarish -21.1x, suggesting Ubisoft is losing money at a rate that makes its financial model unsustainable even before taxes, interest, or amortization are factored in.
So when Ubisoft suddenly announced this week that it had created a new gaming subsidiary—backed by a €1.16 billion ($1.25 billion) investment from Chinese tech giant Tencent—investors were understandably confused. Why would a company circling the drain be launching bold new ventures?
Assassin’s Creed Shadows has finally released, and one might naively assume Ubisoft’s woes are over. Surely, with their self-proclaimed “reputable” marketing and unwavering dedication to historical authenticity, this game will sell like cold lemonade in the desert.
After all, the delays—costing a rumored $20 million—were supposedly to address every issue raised by fans and the barrage of bad press, right?
Ubisoft’s troubled launch of Assassin’s Creed Shadows just took an even stranger turn. Players who’ve completed the game are discovering that the credits sequence runs an unprecedented two hours long—a detail that seems almost surreal in light of the company’s current financial struggles.
The release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows was supposed to be Ubisoft’s saving grace. After months of delays, backlash, and a marketing campaign marred by controversy, all eyes were on how the game would perform on its launch day. But the numbers are in for Assassin’s Creed Shadows—and they’re not looking good for Ubisoft, particularly on Steam.
With Assassin’s Creed Shadows set to launch in just three days, Ubisoft’s mounting desperation has reached a new level. Reports now indicate that the company has quietly enlisted a special team tasked with shielding the developers from what they call “online harassment.” However, it’s the vague, undefined nature of what Ubisoft actually considers “harassment” that’s raising serious concerns—and has many questioning whether the company is simply using this initiative to silence critics and control the narrative around its latest, highly controversial title.
In yet another sign of its deepening crisis, Ubisoft is reportedly seeking outside investors to back a newly formed gaming entity that will house its most valuable franchises, including Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six.
According to a Bloomberg report, the French publisher is reaching out to global and French-based investment funds, with bids expected by the end of the month. One name being floated once again is Tencent, the Chinese tech giant that already owns a nearly 10% stake in Ubisoft.
Ubisoft is once again in turmoil as a minority shareholder prepares to stage a demonstration outside the company’s Paris headquarters. AJ Investments, led by CEO Juraj Krúpa, has accused Ubisoft’s management of severe mismanagement, lack of transparency, and allowing the company’s value to plummet.
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows has suffered what could be its most devastating blow yet—physical copies of the game have leaked nearly a month before its official release on March 20, 2025. The leak has led to widespread spoilers, unauthorized gameplay streams, and black market sales, dealing a potentially catastrophic hit to Ubisoft’s already precarious financial standing.
Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows just can’t catch a break. Amidst months of controversy over historical inaccuracies and cultural missteps, indie developer HistoryAccurateDevelopers has announced Yasuke Simulator, a parody game set to launch on Steam on March 20, 2025—the exact same day Assassin’s Creed Shadows is scheduled to release.
Ubisoft’s release of its Q3 FY25 earnings report (UBISOFT REPORTS THIRD-QUARTER 2024-25 SALES) confirms what many have feared—the company’s financial troubles are only getting worse.
Ubisoft appears to be making a last-ditch effort to salvage Assassin’s Creed Shadows, now telling players they can skip playing as Yasuke, the game’s controversial Black samurai protagonist, “for any reason.” This phrasing, used by creative director Jonathan Dumont in a recent interview with Screen Rant, has many interpreting it as Ubisoft quietly acknowledging the widespread dissatisfaction with Yasuke’s inclusion and trying to placate frustrated fans.