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[IbizaPocholo]

Rumor: Ubisoft CEO Says 2023 Is Crucial for the Company

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot allegedly sends out an internal email to company staff telling them that 'the ball is in [their] court.'

gamerant.com

Ubisoft's CEO has allegedly told staff that "the ball is in [their] court" when it comes to delivering the company's game productions within the allotted release windows. The well-known game publisher has been beset by financial and development issues as of late, forcing it to outright cancel over half a dozen previously unannounced games recently.

In a recent company email, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has told staff that he needs their "full energy and commitment" if the company is to "get back on the path to success," likely referencing the recent game cancelations and stock freefall. Indeed, times appear to be tough for Ubisoft, especially following its recent attempts to centralize and streamline game development instead of nurturing its previously more localized development structures.

 

[jigglet]

Next time I'm on the verge of fucking something up at work, I'll turn around to my colleague and say: hey I have to duck out for a cup of coffee, can you take over - balls in your court dumbass.

 

[GenericUser]

Does that mean they will go bankrupt if they don't deliver some heavy hitters in 2023?

 

[jigglet]

Does that mean they will go bankrupt if they don't deliver some heavy hitters in 2023?

No it means management have run out of ideas, and he's basically just said "well, I guess you guys figure this shit out - balls in your court"

It's a responsibility deflection thing so he can point to this in 12 months and say it wasn't his fault.

 

[Kagey K]

Does that mean they will go bankrupt if they don't deliver some heavy hitters in 2023?

I doubt it. As long as an Assins Creed comes out they will stay in business.

Sucks for the 1000s of employees all over the world that your entire model relies on Just Dance and Ass Creed.

 

[ABnormal]

If they will deliver with their Avatar and Star Wars projects, they will make grands. If they fail, they will be probably face tough times, given the huge amount of investments they put on them. They could be their Shen Mue.

 

[remember_spinal]

I’ve never wanted to see a company fail more

 

[tusharngf]

Better hire some good management level people who can deliver good products.

 

[Damigos]

He should just quit

 

[TastyPastry]

what they really need are some game directors who can put some SOUL into their games and make them feel less like something made on a assembly line. some miyazaki or kojima type with a clear vision. also they to stop with all this dlc, mtx, nft bullshit and throw the ubisoft launcher in the trash but that's never going to happen.

 

[Johnny Concrete]

Every year is crucial for a company

 

[Longcat]

Until they compensate me for all the single player DLC they recently decided to delete, they can go fuck themselves. Hope 2023 is even worse.

 

[Sentenza]

I will always been first in line to shit on Ubisoft and their average output, but it can't be stressed enough that this is an email OBVIOUSLY targeted to management more than the bottom-of-the-pyramid employeees.
Which is the only context where advising of being "careful with spending" makes any sense.

Every year is crucial for a company

Yeah, but they are implicitly saying "or else we are fucked" here.
It's not by coincidence that this goes toe to toe with the other news about how they were desperately looking to sell not too long ago.

 

[kikkis]

what they really need are some game directors who can put some SOUL into their games and make them feel less like something made on a assembly line. some miyazaki or kojima type with a clear vision. also they to stop with all this dlc, mtx, nft bullshit and throw the ubisoft launcher in the trash but that's never going to happen.

What they need is just some good stories, and competent gameplay. Easier said than done.

 

[SJRB]

It's always a good sign when the person who is literally paid to lead a company mails their employees saying "well the succes of our company is completely in your hands now".

 

[Sentenza]

What they need is just some good stories, and competent gameplay. Easier said than done.

It's not like Ubisoft is a company lacking the manpower, technical know-how or the talent to produce spectacular games. They are spectacularly misguided in term of overall design and blend in an fog of sameness.
Too bad I'm not deluding myself with the expectation that they are going to address any of that. If anything, what the CEO is looking forward for is even more aggressive/efficient monetization.

 

[Ronin_7]

What an absolute pos.

Poor employees.

 

[Cyborg]

Take no responsibilities, a Yves Guillemot game.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

If they will deliver with their Avatar and Star Wars projects, they will make grands. If they fail, they will be probably face tough times, given the huge amount of investments they put on them. They could be their Shen Mue.

I also suspect that those games could be both the source of Ubisoft's woes and their potential redemption.

While delays happen, if they happen after you've signed two big film contracts things might get tricky for any company. I'm making the assumption that both games would require Ubisoft to pay hefty license fees in advance rather than just offer a royalty when the games are released and that could leave Ubisoft having depleted reserves and the delays to any of their games would mean they have fewer ways to bring money in.

I'm not really sure how to interpret this message from Yves. I don't know if he regularly sends messages to staff en masse, or if this is unprecedented and indicates frustration or worry from the top, but I'd be surprised if those games couldn't be leveraged to get investment to pay the bills until they're released. If Ubisoft are in big trouble as people are suggesting, I assume that two big licensed games could make the difference - but I also assume that the games have to be good to be a success and that that is why Yves has sent this message.

I wonder if the correct read of the situation of this message is "everything will be ok, as long as we can get a couple of great games out, but we might not be able to survive two expensive flops and a series of delays"

I say that assuming that people want a Star Wars game (fairly safe bet) and an Avatar game (less sure) and they have the potential to bring in serious revenue. In a way there's little to hint that Ubisoft would be in trouble if there weren't a series of bad news events hitting them over and over. Their own IP, Assassin's Creed (garbage, worthless IP that it is, according to the other Ubisoft thread) brought in a billion dollars with it's most recent outing. I assume there's another in the series on the way and that the company can expect to see similar revenue from it.

I'm not saying that it won't happen, but for Ubisoft to fold, things would presumably have to go catastrophically badly given their IP and the licenses they have in the pipeline. That that is being talked about suggests that things must have gone very, very badly since Valhalla came out.

 

[Tomi]

What an absolute pos.

Poor employees.

I hope a lot of people will start finding new jobs right now because this is disgrace
I think Ubisoft is starting to be like Blizzard

 

[TransTrender]

WoW that's an incredibly tone deaf message right there.
I'm sure whoever's left will feel super motivated after that one.

I've worked at some brutal, relentless, tech companies and of all the soulless mean shit these places have ever done they've never thrown all the blame at the feet of the average worker and then had the balls to double down on 'git good or get fucked.'

Bravo

None of these people should show up to work on Monday.

 

[Nico_D]

The only crucial thing in Ubisoft now is change of CEO. I don't understand how his siblings continue letting him bury the company.

 

[Imtjnotu]

So when is Microsoft going to sign this purchase agreement?

 

[GymWolf]

Ubisoft about to get bought by sony or M this year...

 

[Ronin_7]

I hope a lot of people will start finding new jobs right now because this is disgrace
I think Ubisoft is starting to be like Blizzard

I was talking with a friend and he told me Blizzard pays like half of Bungie & Riot to QA Imagine not sending your resume to the other 2.

 

[Drizzlehell]

Does that mean they will go bankrupt if they don't deliver some heavy hitters in 2023?

 

[Chukhopops]

Does that mean they will go bankrupt if they don't deliver some heavy hitters in 2023?

Go bankrupt isn’t very likely but selling / being taken over? That’s a possibility especially if the stock price keeps going down and shareholders are pissed at the Guillemot family.

It would be ironic if Ubisoft was bought by the literal Prince of Persia, at least it may bring the IP back .

 

[Robb]

 

[Heisenberg007]

I hope nobody acquires Ubisoft because it'd be very interesting to see their strategy and how they come out of these issues.

I think they will take lessons from SquareEnix and take on more collaborative projects with platforms (Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Meta) and license holders (Disney). They may already be on that path with Avatar and Star Wars.

What Ubisoft needs is (1) a partner to share risks with them, and (2) leaner operations.

• If they let go of their crap games (Far Cry, Ghost Recon, Riders, etc.), they can make their operations leaner and more efficient (they'll have to downsize a lot).
• The second would be collaborating with platform holders (MS, Meta, and Sony) to make exclusive console games (like Final Fantasy).
• In addition, they should work on popular external IPs (like Star Wars and Avatar) because they're more likely to be AAA hits and some of the risk will also be shared with the license holders.

 

[Godot25]

Gotta hire some diversity officers Yves. That will solve every problem

 

[Mr Reasonable]

If they let go of their crap games (Far Cry, Ghost Recon, Riders, etc.), they can make their operations leaner and more efficient (they'll have to downsize a lot).

Do those games lose money?

 

[Nitty_Grimes]

Thousands lose their jobs, Yves leaves with millions in the bank.

Potentially.

 

[Roufianos]

He deserves to go bankrupt. Vivendi couldn't have been any worse than him.

 

[Godot25]

Do those games lose money?

Nope. Valhalla is best selling AC game. FC6 probably sold less than FC5 but it still sold very well.

Problem for Ubisoft is not those franchises. Problem is that they can't find moneymaker in free-to-play/live service space. Probably biggest hit was Siege and that was ages ago. Hyperspace died in month, Ghost Recon Frontline was even cancelled. For Honor have it's fans but it is not huge moneymaker.

And also fact that several of their projects are fucked. Beyond Good and Evil 2, Skull & Bones, Avatar is constantly delayed.

 

[kyussman]

Hope they have some high quality games coming out then.......the CEO is the one responsible for their current strategy of copy and paste open worlds with online shops.......not sure why he's expecting his staff to get him out of the shit if the games are still gonna be the same stuff they have been making for years.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

Hope they have some high quality games coming out then.......the CEO is the one responsible for their current strategy of copy and paste open worlds with online shops.......not sure why he's expecting his staff to get him out of the shit if the games are still gonna be the same stuff they have been making for years.

The games aren't the problem, they make money. The problem Ubisoft has is not having any new games to sell.

 

[Mr Wonderstuff]

I’ve never wanted to see a company fail more

Yea I am sure you do but what about the resulting redundancies? You want to see the employees fail?

 

[skit_data]

The captain of Titanic after realizing they’re heading straight into an iceberg:
”The ball is in your court, coal trimmers!”

 

[winjer]

So after several years of mismanagement of the company, when things get tough, he just passes the responsibility of saving the company to the workers. What a great freaking leader.

If I was working at Ubisoft, I would start looking or another job ASAP.

 

[kuncol02]

Rumor: Ubisoft CEO Says 2023 Is Crucial for the Company

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot allegedly sends out an internal email to company staff telling them that 'the ball is in [their] court.'

gamerant.com

Ubisoft's CEO has allegedly told staff that "the ball is in [their] court" when it comes to delivering the company's game productions within the allotted release windows. The well-known game publisher has been beset by financial and development issues as of late, forcing it to outright cancel over half a dozen previously unannounced games recently.

In a recent company email, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has told staff that he needs their "full energy and commitment" if the company is to "get back on the path to success," likely referencing the recent game cancelations and stock freefall. Indeed, times appear to be tough for Ubisoft, especially following its recent attempts to centralize and streamline game development instead of nurturing its previously more localized development structures.

Ubisoft is mismanaged for years. How much money they spend on BGE2 or Skull and Bones? How much money it costed them to make remake of Sands of Time and now practically start it over? How much they spend on buying Désilets studio in some sort of personal vendetta just to fire him and cancel his new project?

 

[winjer]

Ubisoft is mismanaged for years. How much money they spend on BGE2 or Skull and Bones? How much money it costed them to make remake of Sands of Time and now practically start it over? How much they spend on buying Désilets studio in some sort of personal vendetta just to fire him and cancel his new project?

Let's not forget the money and dev time wasted on the push for NFTs. And several great IP's not being used for many years. And the repetitive gameplay loop forced into most Ubisoft games. And the predatory MTX. And the decision to abandon Steam.

 

[Roman Empire]

No one can't deny Ubisoft wasn't in an imminent crashing course for a while with their game design philosophy. Yves is just reaping what he sow.

 

[The Cartographer]

A crash that's been fifteeen years in the making.

 

[kuncol02]

No one can't deny Ubisoft wasn't in an imminent crashing course for a while with their game design philosophy. Yves is just reaping what he sow.

Game design is their smallest problem.
BGE2 is longer in production than Duke Nukem Forever was.

 

[demonstr8]

I’ve never wanted to see a company fail more

I don’t like Ubisoft games at all but you shouldn’t want to see a company that employs people and provides them their livelihood fail.

 

[Neff]

They just need to stay alive long enough to release Avatar, then they can go bankrupt.

 

[demonstr8]

If they will deliver with their Avatar and Star Wars projects, they will make grands. If they fail, they will be probably face tough times, given the huge amount of investments they put on them. They could be their Shen Mue.

Even if that’s the case It’s a problem for a company when the most valuable product you have is not an intellectual property that you own or control.

 

[systemr123]

Better hire some good management level people who can deliver good products.

The error is never at management. If things go bad and down south the response is: "My workers are lazy and underqualified, and they can't deliver anything on time". However, if some project turns out great the management response is: "Look what I did using my excellent management skills. Our success is entirely because of me, because I'm such a good manager".

 

[TheThreadsThatBindUs]

Serves you right Ubisoft for not putting the right resources behind Beyond Good and Evil 2...

Karma's a bitch, Yves!

 

[A2una1]

Well if they go out of business even more IPs will be bought by the other big companies....Their titles tendet to be a little copy & paste though. I personally would be sad for the Anno Series. I like Anno 1800 a lot..