Games giant Ubisoft bets on reorganisation to dispel blues
Struggling French video games giant Ubisoft shed light on a far-reaching reorganisation of its business this week, as it reported disappointing sales in April-June.
The internal rejig into a slew of autonomous units aims for "a more agile and focused organisation while ensuring necessary long-term stability and creative vision", chief executive Yves Guillemot said in a statement.
Ubisoft reported 311 million euros ($364 million) of sales in the first quarter of its 2025-26 financial year, a fall of 3.9 percent compared with the same period last year, largely driven by technical problems with shooter game "Rainbow Six Siege".
Acknowledging "mixed results", Guillemot nevertheless hailed the release of "Assassin's Creed Shadows".
The latest instalment in the money-spinning franchise "delivered on its expectations, with now more than five million unique players since launch," he said in a statement.
Sales were slightly less impacted, losing 2.9 percent, when measured using Ubisoft's own preferred indicator of "net bookings", which excludes some deferred revenues.
The company forecast net bookings of around 450 million euros in its second financial quarter, boosted by new partnerships and revenue from TV series.
For the full financial year, it confirmed objectives including stable year-on-year net bookings and "approximately break-even" operating profit.
Ubisoft made a net loss of 159 million euros in 2024-25 and is in the midst of a cost-cutting plan that has seen it shut several studios outside France and slash over 2,000 jobs.
Its woes reflect broader, global headwinds for the video games industry over the past two years.
Guillemot -- a member of the founding family that has run Ubisoft for decades -- also said the company had made "meaningful progress" on the plan to split its activities among several "creative houses", each responsible for a different slate of games.
Ubisoft has not gone into detail about the functioning of the new units or how its remaining franchises will be divided among them, promising further information about the reorganisation by October.
In an email to staff last week seen by AFP, Guillemot had said the units would be "autonomous" and "completely responsible for their business objectives".
Pressured to change by a string of disappointing releases and a slumping stock price, Ubisoft created the first such subsidiary earlier this year in a billion-euro deal with heavyweight Chinese investor Tencent.
The 3,000-strong unit will control Ubisoft's biggest franchises in "Assassin's Creed", "Rainbow Six" and "Far Cry".
Ubisoft said last week that the subsidiary will be run by the CEO's son Charlie Guillemot alongside Christophe Derennes, a veteran chief of the company's major development studio in Montreal.
"Christophe, Charlie and their teams will benefit from advice and expertise from Tencent," one of China's largest gaming and internet firms, Yves Guillemot said in his email to staff.
Looking ahead, Ubisoft plans to release in March a remake of "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time", one of its most popular titles from two decades ago.
Strategy series "Anno" will get a new episode set in ancient Rome while the company is also cooking up mobile versions of "Rainbow Six" and fellow shooter "The Division".
It warned in May however that several unannounced major titles were being delayed.
Such news has contributed to a 28-percent slump in Ubisoft's stock price since January.
Ubisoft's image has also been harmed by a high-profile case in which three former executives were sentenced this month for enabling a culture of sexual and psychological harassment.
© 2025 AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Diplomat
2 hours ago
- The Diplomat
US Senator Urges SpaceX to Block Internet Access to Southeast Asian Scam Operations
A United States senator has urged SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to block Southeast Asia's transnational criminal syndicates from using the company's Starlink satellite internet service to run scams on American citizens. According to a report by Reuters, Senator Maggie Hassan (D-NH) wrote to Musk to alert him to recent reports that Starlink is being used by online scamming compounds based in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. Such syndicates 'have apparently continued to use Starlink despite service rules permitting SpaceX to terminate access for fraudulent activity,' Hassan wrote in the letter to Musk, a copy of which was viewed by Reuters. She added that SpaceX 'has a responsibility to block criminals from using the service to target Americans.' She later followed this up with a post on social media that included a screenshot of the Reuters story and called publicly for the company to take action. In her letter to Musk, Hassan also cited statistics from the U.S. Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network showing that Southeast Asia-based scam operations have been responsible for defrauding U.S. citizens out of billions of dollars. Since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, mostly Chinese criminal syndicates have established a firm base of operations in mainland Southeast Asia, particularly in Cambodia and Myanmar. These factories of fraud have relied on a large indentured workforce – mostly ordinary people who have been attracted by promises of employment, only to be kept imprisoned and forced to operate various types of digital scams, often on pain of beatings, mistreatment, and torture, as detailed in a recent report by Amnesty International. In April, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime estimated that scamming operations had generated close to $37 billion globally in 2023. Hassan is not wrong to claim that Starlink has facilitated such operations, albeit unwittingly. The remote internet service has allowed crime groups to set up online scamming operations in remote parts of the region, particularly in peripheral parts of Myanmar run by rebel groups. Internet is widely available in most regions, but Starlink units provide a portable alternative that has allowed scam operations to relocate swiftly in response to crackdowns by the region's governments. In February, Thailand's government cut internet access, along with power connections and fuel supplies, to three regions of neighboring Myanmar in an effort to shut down the online scamming centers that had been established there. However, as one observer noted on X yesterday, any crackdown on Starlink operations in Myanmar might also imperil their use by Burmese civil society organizations and political groups resisting the rule of the military junta in Naypyidaw. These groups have used satellite internet services to circumvent the strict internet controls and widespread mobile phone blackouts imposed by the junta since it took power in a coup in February 2021. According to a report published in Frontier Myanmar in March, 'Opposition groups increasingly rely on foreign-owned networks, such as satellite Internet services, to bypass government control and maintain connectivity.' It added, 'If Musk (or Trump) imposes broad restrictions on Starlink due to concerns about online scamming and illicit businesses, it could have unintended consequences – severing critical communication channels for activists and resistance groups while doing little to curb criminal enterprises.'
NHK
2 hours ago
- NHK
China to offer subsidies to help reverse falling number of births
The Chinese government is initiating a nationwide childcare subsidy program as part of broader efforts to help reverse the falling number of babies born in the country. The government said on Monday that it offers families 3,600 yuan, or about 500 dollars, per year for each child under the age of three. China's annual number of newborns has been dropping rapidly, causing the country's overall population to decline for the third consecutive year through 2024. This trend comes as many young people are cautious about getting married and having babies due to surging education costs and growing concerns about employment prospects. China abolished its one-child policy in 2016, encouraging married couples to have two children. It further eased its restriction in 2021, allowing married couples to have three children. Some local governments have also prepared their own subsidy programs to boost birthrates. Many posts on Chinese social media questioned the effectiveness of the central government's new provision, saying the subsidy is too small. There are strong calls for the government to take further measures.
4 hours ago
Gyudon Chain Matsuya to Open 1st Ramen Store in Tokyo
Tokyo, July 29 (Jiji Press)--Matsuya Foods Holdings Co., a "gyudon" beef-on-rice restaurant operator, has announced a plan to open its first ramen specialty chain store, Matsutaro, in Tokyo's busy Shinjuku district. A major selling point is its affordable pricing, with soy sauce ramen going for 680 yen per bowl. Snacks such as "gyoza" dumplings and alcoholic beverages will also be available, according to the plan announced Monday. The store will open at 11 a.m. Wednesday. The first Matsutaro ramen shop is expected to cater primarily to individual customers, including those visiting after work. It will only have partitioned counter seats, making solo dining convenient. Matsuya Foods Holdings has launched various specialty stores, including "tonkatsu" pork cutlet, sushi, pasta and Chinese restaurants, expanding its business to meet diverse consumer needs. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
