At Ubisoft, there’s a growing sense of uncertainty among employees, as reflected in a recently leaked internal memo from CEO Yves Guillemot. This unease is largely due to the findings of an annual employee survey, which laid bare the workforce’s concerns about the company’s future direction.
The past few years haven’t been kind to Ubisoft. Several of its highly-anticipated releases, like Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Star Wars Outlaws, stumbled in the sales department. The rocky start to 2024 hasn’t helped, with disappointing results from titles such as Skull and Bones. Even their military shooter, XDefiant, launched in May 2024, tanked to the point where Ubisoft is planning to pull the plug by June 2025. This decision has immediate consequences, including the closure of their San Francisco and Osaka studios, resulting in significant layoffs.
In the aftermath of announcing XDefiant’s shutdown, Guillemot reached out to employees, albeit in a message that soon became public. He acknowledged their worries, pointing to the annual experience survey that boasted an 86% participation rate and amassed over 55,000 comments—a compelling snapshot of employee sentiment within a workforce of about 21,000.
Guillemot stressed his commitment to navigating Ubisoft through its current difficulties. “I’m dedicating all my energy to steering Ubisoft in the right direction,” he noted, emphasizing how his team continues to work diligently to keep the company’s fate in their own hands. To address employee feedback, Ubisoft plans to roll out new initiatives aimed at streamlining operations and refocusing on creative output, a mission they’ve been on since a September 2024 review of their practices.
A heartfelt part of his memo addressed the closure of the XDefiant project, admitting that despite their best attempts to compete with Call of Duty, their efforts fell short. He expressed gratitude to everyone who worked on the game and acknowledged the tough decisions made regarding the studio closures.
Now, Ubisoft is pinning its hopes on Assassin’s Creed Shadows, recently pushed to a release date of February 14. The pressure is real, given the phenomenal success of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which raked in over a billion dollars during the pandemic—a high bar for Shadows to hit. Yet, as the game aims to capture the magic back from Valhalla’s big shoes, it faces a different landscape, where the gaming boom fueled by global lockdowns has since waned.
In these trying times, Ubisoft remains a dominant figure in gaming, with a rich legacy of popular franchises like Far Cry and Just Dance under the leadership of CEO Yves Guillemot. The road ahead is uncertain, but with a dedicated team and a strategic vision for the future, there’s hope yet for this venerable gaming giant.
