Whatever happened to the Ubisoft we used to love? When Splinter Cell and Rayman were franchises that weren’t treated as an afterthought? With everything going on and rumours flying that Tencent is circling to capture one of the biggest gaming publishers in Europe. It doesn’t look great for them right now. There has been no innovation for years in terms of new IP. The ones that have arrived haven’t struck an appeal with those who used to buy the games.
The messaging? Well, coming from one of the biggest publishers in Europe. “We have to get used to not owning ‘our’ games.” It’s not the correct way of putting the message out there when the vast majority of gamers today have given up a lot already. Sure, the vast majority have come around to digital through ownership because they’ve had to ‘get with the times’. However, the optics aren’t great when these things are being pushed onto you.
Everything should be a choice after all. That’s why Nintendo would be wise with the Switch 2 to keep their physical games. I think they will; in fact, they might be the only ones that do, and that’ll work in their favour against the other two, and they’ll sell consoles like you’ve never seen in your life. I’ve said before, Nintendo, if they get this right, could have as big a moment as the PS4 did.
Ubisoft as a company has been on a downward spiral for a while now. The formula of the game-play, the sequel after sequel of Assassin’s Creed. It’s easy to see what they’re doing wrong. Games like Child of Light never saw a sequel. Nor did Prince of Persia in an open-world setting. It was all about doing something fresh with their IP. They’ve failed to see the light in that respect, and it’s caught up with them. Then Beyond Good and Evil 2 has been left in the wildness for a while now as well.
I mean, there is a Splinter Cell in the works right now. It’s arrival is proposed to be sometime in 2026, ‘if that’s to be believed’. How long ago was that announced? It’s still in early development, apparently. I mean, it’s just insane how bad things have been going there. When your as big a publisher as Ubisoft are and you don’t have a ‘focus’ and your games struggle to sell. Then obviously, you can only really look at yourselves and what your doing. This isn’t on the developers either; this is the people who currently own Ubisoft that are out of tune with fans, and it shows.
They haven’t been the publisher they used to be in a while now. If they are to get back to being successful. The way they meet fans expectations is going to have to change. That means taking the right decisions now to have a more positive future. If that means more investment, of course, that’s an option. But fundamentally, looking back at what they once did that made their games loved in the past needs to be looked at.
I would even say that it doesn’t always have to be open-world. Having linear experiences is key as well. I think there are many out there that loved Ubisoft for that. The burnout on open-world for their games is real. Particularly when there is a vast amount of competition out there that does that better. Assassin’s Creed has been the mainstay in Ubisoft’s armoury, mainly because of the intrigue in new locations and ways of appealing to that historical setting.
Even that is wearing thin for most. That’s also why Ubisoft needs to take a look at their own history to take a leap forward into a future that is more prosperous for them. Until then, it’s probably best they go dark for awhile.
Written by Craig Clark
From gaming industry headlines to all things Manchester United and entertainment, Craig covers the stories everyone's talking about — alongside his own published works.