Decline meh Ubisoft (Ubi fuckery general thread)

[InD_ImaginE]

Guillimonts will be singing different song if Shadow failed

 

[mediocrepoet]

The Guillimonts will be singing a different song when Shadows fails.

ftfy

 

[ghardy]

Assassin's Creed is Crossing Over With Reverse: 1999

[Emphasis added]

Two eras of history from the Assassin's Creed series will be coming together in an unlikely place in 2025, merging in the tactical RPG mobile game Reverse: 1999. The Assassin's Creed content coming to Reverse: 1999 includes both Assassin's Creed 2 and Assassin's Creed Odyssey, which should give fans of Ubisoft's stealthy action-adventure franchise a unique perspective on some of the series' key events.

For those not familiar with it, Reverse: 1999 is a free-to-play turn-based tactical RPG for mobile devices, set in a magical world where, in the year 1999, a catastrophic event caused eras of time to shift, resulting in the disappearance of many people and other things. While it's centered around an original collection of sequential chapters, there are also special events in Reverse: 1999, and 2025 should bring at least one that has protagonist Vertin the Timekeeper exploring the world of Assassin's Creed.

A new post that's been shared on the Twitter accounts of both Assassin's Creed and the mobile RPG states that Reverse: 1999 will be introducing content from Assassin's Creed 2 and Assassin's Creed Odyssey in 2025. The timetable for the release of this content is very broad, as it was announced only a few days into the year. It's also not clear whether it will be released as a single event or two separate ones, as the game's social media team listed each collaboration separately in its post. However, based on the time-shifting nature of Reverse: 1999 plot, it's quite possible that the game could be gearing up for a compelling Assassin's Creed story that combines elements of fifth-century B.C. Greece and 15th-century A.D. Italy.

It's also not yet clear exactly how the elements of the Assassin's Creed franchise will be incorporated in the game. A trailer attached to the post features some iconic Assassin's Creed imagery, including the symbol of the Assassins and an eagle feather, but it still leaves much to the imagination. Since Reverse: 1999 relies heavily on gacha mechanics for drawing new heroes, it's possible that Assassin's Creed protagonists Kassandra and Ezio Auditore da Firenze could be joining the game's roster.

While several of its previous events have been centered around collaborative content, this looks to be Reverse: 1999's first major crossover with a triple-A game series. Past events have seen the game cross over with the Discovery Channel, and it's hosted a Pizza Hut collaboration like Genshin Impact has done in the past. While the game was originally released exclusively in China in May 2023, it hit its worldwide release five months later, surpassing $50 million in revenue in its first three months, and the crossover with a major game franchise could point to an even brighter future for Reverse: 1999.

 

[ghardy]

Tencent shares decline after US adds company to Chinese military blacklist

[Emphasis added]

The US has blacklisted Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. for alleged links to the Chinese military, targeting the world’s biggest gaming publisher and top electric-vehicle battery maker in a surprise move weeks before Donald Trump takes office.

CATL, a major supplier to Tesla Inc., joined Tencent on a Federal Register of entities deemed to have ties with the People’s Liberation Army. Both companies protested their inclusion as a mistake, saying they have no ties with the military. Tencent’s stock slid more than 7% in Hong Kong, notching its biggest intraday drop since October. CATL’s shares fell more than 5%, also their biggest fall in about three months.

...

Tencent, China’s most valuable company, has big investments in or deep ties to developers from Fortnite studio Epic Games Inc. to Activision Blizzard Inc. The company founded by billionaire Pony Ma is considered one of the pioneers of the internet and private sector in China, creating a so-called everything app that Elon Musk has held up as a model for X. During the first Trump administration, the US government sought to ban WeChat — a messaging service that’s evolved into a payment, social media and online services platform — on grounds that it jeopardized national security.

Pony Ma, Tencent CEO

The Pentagon’s blacklist is designed to surface companies that are either controlled by China’s military or serve to further the so-called civil-military complex, or the fusion of PLA and business interests to bolster the nation’s defense industrial base.

It’s unclear whether either company deals regularly with the PLA. Beyond direct ties to the government, US officials have pointed to laws that require Chinese companies to share information with Beijing on matters deemed relevant to national security.

...

“We are not a military company or supplier,” a Tencent spokesperson said. “Unlike sanctions or export controls, this listing has no impact on our business. We will nonetheless work with the Department of Defense to address any misunderstanding.”

Some Chinese firms have successfully fought to be removed from the US list. In 2021, the smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp. managed to reach an agreement with the US government that set aside its designation as a Chinese military company. Last year, Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. was removed, doing away with a label the firm had described as an “irrational” designation.

The move against Tencent follows a difficult few years for Chinese tech companies, which first weathered a blistering Beijing-led crackdown on the internet before grappling with a severe domestic economic downturn. The social media and entertainment leader has, however, fared better than rivals — in part because of its lineup of games and growth in its fintech division. Its Hong Kong-listed stock gained more than 42% last year.

...

In the same statement, the department removed several firms from the list, including AI firm Beijing Megvii Technology Co., China Marine Information Electronics Co., China Railway Construction Corp., China State Construction Group Co., China Telecommunications Corp. and ShenZhen Consys Science & Technology Co.

 

[ghardy]

The title...

Ubisoft+ Classics coming to cloud gaming platform Blacknut

[Emphasis added]
Cloud gaming platform Blacknut has announced the arrival of Ubisoft+ Classics to its service.

Ubisoft+ is the publisher's subscription-based service, which consists of Classics and Premium. Classics provides players with a curated selection of back catalog titles, including Far Cry 5 and Tom Clancy's The Division.

From January 17, 2025, new and existing Blacknut subscribers will be able to access Ubisoft+ Classics via an additional subscription or by synching a Ubisoft+ Classics subscription with a Blacknut account.

The partnership between Blacknut and Ubisoft was announced last August.

Ubisoft also owns cloud rights to current and new Activision titles for the next 15 years as part of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

"The Ubisoft-Blacknut partnership has already seen some impressive milestones, but the arrival of Ubisoft+, beginning with Ubisoft+ Classics, opens a new chapter for our players across the globe," said Blacknut CEO Olivier Avaro.

"We're thrilled to be at the forefront of bringing this level of flexibility, quality, and access to our players worldwide across all our countries and partners thanks to the reach of our infrastructure and breadth of devices."

 

[Fedora Master]

You can stop posting any time you like, you know.

 

[Inec0rn]

blacknut

I.. I just don't know what to say

 

[Elttharion]

 

[Rahdulan]

You can smell fear.

 

[deuxhero]

The really funny thing will be when they keep delaying it and the game is still a buggy mess.

 

[ferratilis]

"the overwhelming excitement"

 

[Morgoth]

The Chinks are just waiting for the Ubi share price to fall further.

 

[Inec0rn]

I'll bet all you Asscreed ubifans can't wait to try blacknut for this new game.

 

[Rövtomte]

WE WUZ BUZZIN N SHIEET IN JAPAN, WHEER DEM ASIAN WEMEN AT?
MAAN WADAFAK U GUIS BEIN ALL RAICIIST N SHIEET? WE BUILT DIS WORLD MAN, WE WUZ KANGZ IN AFRICA N SHIEET MAN. LOOK AT DA EGYPTANS MAN DEY SKIN WAS BLACK MAN

 

[Odoryuk]

A videogame studio that's been making fun entertainment since the 80s and you're laughing. Good, they shouldn't have lean on in–app purchases for premium games, those greedy guts

 

[Baron Dupek]

This rumor comes from YouTuber AccolonnTV, who detailed he received a number of alleged documents from an Ubisoft insider who also informed about the current state of the company’s employees and talent.

He shared, “So basically the way developers at Ubisoft is classed according to this insider is you have the the superstars. These are the best of the best. And they're incredibly good at what they do and they're often also very well known. Now, he says there's very few of these people left at Ubisoft. Most of them have already left and have found much better positions at companies that is a lot better positioned within the market.”

“Then there's the what he refers to as the good developers, but they don't have brands. They don't tweet,” he relayed. “And he calls himself one of these developers. They make up a small portion of those developers that are still left at Ubisoft. The problem is while they're good they don't have names so they can't get jobs anywhere else.”

“And then the vast majority of developers is what he calls deadweight. They don't know how to do anything no matter what you give them. They're pretty much always doing it wrong. But what they're very good at is social change, pushing social change. So basically if you can't do the job that you were hired for make sure that you become a political activist is what I took from that,” he declared. “He didn't even talk about the DEI stuff with these guys just apparently they make working for Ubisoft very, very, very difficult.”

From there he shared that this original insider as well as another detailed how Ubisoft’s video game development processes are all bogged down in administration and bureaucratic meetings.

He explained, “The next thing that was revealed to me — and this is from both insiders — is actually just the nightmare of designing video games for Ubisoft. Gaming today, according to these insiders, are more like a factory line and a logistical nightmare than it is about creativity. In order to get anything done you take weeks of meetings and department logistics to get all of the teams involved. And then you get to do the thing and then once you're done with the thing you have to go into more meetings in order to implement the thing. There's just so little space for actual creativity.

“The insider that works in QA revealed to me that just getting bugs fixed is almost impossible. The amount of bugs that they will report to a company and then after a couple of weeks they'll just get a ‘Works as designed. Won't fix.’ And it's not that the bug doesn't exist, it's not that they actually designed it this way, it's that … getting a bug fixed isn't as quick as the developer just quickly making a couple. The logistical nightmare that is fixing a bug just makes it not a top priority for a lot of developers. They don't want to go through all of that and so they would rather just not do it.”

This rumor comes in the wake of Assassin’s Creed Executive Producer Marc-Alexis Côté revealing during an appearance at the XDS24 conference that half of the people working on Assassin’s Creed Shadows are working on their very first game.

He said, “One of the things that I’ve noticed since the pandemic is that we have a lot of juniors in our teams. … Probably half the team that’s building Assassin’s Creed is building a game for the first time.”

A previous rumor from YouTuber Endymion also noted how Ubisoft has become stuff full of activists.

He said back in October, “[Assassin’s Creed Shadows] had no business taking as long as it did to be developed, but it's a Molotov cocktail of poor company oversight being poisoned by a competitor wearing the clothing of an ally and a worker base that is purposely being filled to the brim with activist DEI hires.”

“One look at photos of Ubisoft in its prime versus now tells you everything that you kind of need to know. The company is currently overrun by activist developers from the ground level to the very top,” Endymion continued. “I already reported on how Ubisoft has a terrible work atmosphere and a lot of the most important tasks within the company are being handled by outsourced contractors mostly. It's simply because the actual talent is not seasoned enough apparently based on what I'm being told. I got employees telling me that their co-workers have no business being in the industry whatsoever based on the interaction that they've had with these devs.”

“And I've even had two sources tell me they could have most of their teams fired and gone and development wouldn't be changed one bit for the most part,” he added. “The bloat at Ubisoft which is a prevailing problem across the board for many publishers is a self-inflicted wound of their own making.”

https://substack.com/home/post/p-154833218

 

[ghardy]

The logistical nightmare that is fixing a bug just makes it not a top priority for a lot of developers. They don't want to go through all of that and so they would rather just not do it.

Wow.

 

[dbx]

Bugfixing is a logistical nightmare, but software devs have developed countless tools to rightfully manage large projects since the 90s.
But having half your devs being first time juniors (and likely pajeets) isn't such a bright idea.

 

[Rahdulan]

Consolidation has begun, it seems.
Ubisoft announces studio closure as it lays off 185 staff

Ubisoft is set to close its UK studio based in Leamington, as it sheds 185 jobs across the business.

Leamington had a team of around 50 people - a small number of whom will be retained under remote contracts. Additionally, Ubisoft offices in Düsseldorf (formerly Blue Byte), Stockholm and the Newcastle-based Ubisoft Reflections will be downsized.

"As part of our ongoing efforts to prioritise projects and reduce costs that ensure long-term stability at Ubisoft, we have announced targeted restructurings at Ubisoft Düsseldorf, Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Reflections and the permanent closure of Ubisoft Leamington site," a Ubisoft spokesperson said in a statement to Eurogamer.

"Unfortunately, this should impact 185 employees overall. We are deeply grateful for their contributions and are committed to supporting them through this transition."

Founded in 2002 as FreeStyleGames by a group of former Rare and Codemasters veterans, Ubisoft Leamington had most recently worked as a support studio on the Tom Clancy's The Division series, and also assisted development on games such as Star Wars Outlaws, Skull and Bones and Far Cry 5.

 

[itsme]

This insider says things are really bad at Ubisoft according to an internal email.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tXX-hMyAVE

 

[Naraya]

What the actual f? How can an investor look at this and think: "Wow, this was a GREAT idea!"?

 

[Baron Dupek]

Ubisoft revenues decline 31.4% to €990m (firm also experienced a 51.8% drop in net bookings during its 3rd quarter)​

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/ubisoft-revenues-decline-314-to-990m


Ubisoft has released its financial results for the nine months ending December 31, 2024, reporting significant declines in revenues and net bookings.

The firm remains optimistic, however, with the upcoming release of Assassin's Creed Shadows. Pre-sales of the title are reported to be "tracking solidly" and on par with the franchise's second-highest earner, Odyssey.

The numbers:​

For the nine months ending December 31, 2024

• Revenue: €990 million (down 31.4% year-on-year)
• Net bookings: €944 million (down 34.8%)
• Digital net bookings: €784 million (down 33.8%)
• Back-catalogue net bookings: €762.3 million (down 27.7%)

For the three months ending December 31, 2024

• Net bookings: €301.8 million
• Digital net bookings: €257.4 million

The highlights:​

Despite a significant 51.8% decline year-on-year in net bookings for Q3, Ubisoft highlighted that this was in line with its revised expectation of €300 million for the period.

Ubisoft remains optimistic about its next quarter, and is expecting net bookings to increase following the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows on March 20.

Pre-sales from the title are "tracking solidly," with CFO Frederick Duguet noting in an earnings call (via PC Gamer) that sales are in line with Odyssey.

While the firm noted it has a "solid back catalogue and expected material partnerships" to come in Q4, the increase in revenues will hinge on the launch of Shadows.

"Early previews have been positive, praising its narrative and immersive experience, with both characters playing critical roles in the game's storyline, as well as the quality and complementarity of the gameplay provided by the dual protagonist approach," said Ubisoft co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot.

"I want to commend the incredible talent and dedication of the entire Assassin's Creed team, who is working tirelessly to ensure that Shadows delivers on the promise of what is the franchise's most ambitious entry yet."

Looking at the first nine months of the fiscal year, Ubisoft recorded 36 million monthly active users across console and PC. As for playtime and session days per player, these rose by 4% and 7%, respectively.

Ubisoft noted that its online tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege delivered a "resilient performance" during Q3, and experienced a growth in session days per player.

By the end of the quarter, the title achieved the highest monthly average revenue per paying user since its release in 2015.

The Crew Motorfest also saw its highest monthly player count during the quarter, with session days increasing 38% year-on-year. The firm noted that its "retention and monetisation metrics continue to significantly outperform those of The Crew 2 since launch."

Regarding its ongoing cost reduction plan, the firm says it is "ahead of schedule" following recent cuts at two UK studios – Leamington and Reflections – in addition to Ubisoft Düsseldorf and Ubisoft Stockholm.

Last December, Ubisoft announced it would sunset its free-to-play shooter XDefiant this year. This decision resulted in the closure of two production studios and layoffs affecting almost 300 employees.

Despite this, Ubisoft has announced "further targeted restructuring" but has not specified what this will mean for employees across its portfolio.

"As a result of disciplined execution, we have announced further targeted restructuring, making difficult but necessary choices," said Guillemot.

"[We] now expect to exceed our cost reduction plan by the end of FY25, ahead of schedule. We plan to pursue our efforts in FY26, going beyond the initial target by a significant margin."

Guillemot also provided an update on the ongoing formal review of its strategic options, which was announced last month.

"Ultimately, the objective is to unlock the best value from our assets for our stakeholders and to foster the best conditions to create great games in a fast-evolving market. We are convinced there are different potential paths to achieve this ambition."

One of these potential paths is a buyout from Tencent, reports of which first emerged in October 2024.

In response to these reports, CFO Duguet said Ubisoft would not "comment on specific rumours" and would "inform the market if and when a transaction materalises."

tl;dr

 

[ghardy]

The fires, they are a-burning...

Rainbow Six Siege Players at Risk as Allegations of Account Theft against Support Staff Surfaces

[Emphasis added]
Ubisoft’s troubles seem to never end, and the latest in a string of controversies surrounding Rainbow Six Siege is just the tip of the iceberg. In short, Rainbow Six Siege is having its well-established, hard-earned player accounts stolen (which was already a thing before this recent development).

However, recent reports allegedly point toward Ubisoft employees themselves being behind these attacks, which sounds quite concerning. This situation is in active development, and more and more information has begun to surface online.

As detailed in a recent post on the r/Rainbow6 subreddit, an X post has recently surfaced online with some serious allegations against Ubisoft staff. The post states that certain Ubisoft staff are directly linked to the (illegal) termination and subsequent selling of pre-existing accounts to third-party buyers.

...
[Leddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Rainbow6/comments/1ionped/holy_shit/]

Interestingly, Ubisoft has apparently fired one such employee on these grounds of misuse of power, but the problem still remains rampant and persistent, which indicates that there are multiple actors at play.

...

Another thing to note is that contacting Ubisoft support has usually been nothing short of pointless, given that they cannot verify the ownership of an existing account – no matter the number of official documents submitted as proof for the same.
...
A lot is banking on its upcoming AAA showcase, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, but initial previews seem to paint it with very mediocre reviews, and Ubisoft might have lost its old-school charm and formula that made its games so lovable back then.

Slumping into mediocrity is akin to becoming irrelevant, and these are precarious times for Ubisoft, with its whole future at stake.