Top 10 Ubisoft Fails

More than 20 years later, “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time” remains a fan favorite in the series, and among Ubisoft’s larger catalog. Though adored, there’s likely several elements that could use a refresh. Unfortunately, when a remake was revealed in 2020, feedback was overwhelmingly negative. In a golden age of remakes, most felt its visuals were extremely weak. Criticism was so rough that Ubisoft delayed it from its original release date in early 2021. This would prove to be the first of many, until in 2024 when Ubisoft stated it wouldn’t release until 2026. That long of a development period for a remake, when it was meant to release five years prior, doesn’t exactly instill high hopes.

Game preservation is an important issue to many, and it doesn’t help when companies can just make a game disappear. That’s what Ubisoft did with “The Crew,” an open-world racing title released in 2014. In late March of 2024, Ubisoft delisted the game from digital stores and shut down its servers, with the reason being “server infrastructure and licensing constraints.” But worse than that, it deleted the game from player libraries without any refund or recompense. This naturally made a lot of people angry, even more so when an unimplemented way to play offline was discovered in its code. The decision brought review bombing of the game’s sequels and condemnation from many who rightfully viewed it as anti-consumer.

NFTs have been widely criticized for negative impacts on the environment and questionable ownership over something digital. In late 2021, Ubisoft announced its own NFT platform called Quartz, where users could buy unique cosmetic items and sell them back to other players. Despite claims that theirs were environmentally friendly, most met this announcement with negativity. At best, it was viewed as a way to squeeze more money from players and at worst, the blockchain used brought possible breaches in cyber security. Things haven’t gotten better. The first game to use them, “Ghost Recon: Breakpoint,” only got a few before support ended. And despite Ubisoft using them in 2024’s “Champions Tactics: Grimoria Chronicles,” most signs point to them being a financial failure.

2003’s “Beyond Good & Evil” bombed when it was released in a crowded window, including “Sands of Time” which got a much larger marketing budget from Ubisoft. Positive word of mouth led to a cult following, and a sequel eventually entered development. But since that game was officially announced in 2008 and has yet to release, things clearly aren’t going well. Most assumed the game was dead after years of silence until it was re-revealed to the world at E3 2017. Development had been restarted, with it now being a prequel, and we got a few more looks at it before it disappeared once again. Ubisoft has kept quiet, refusing to give many details. In 2022, it earned a Guinness World Record for longest development period.

Debuting in 2007, “Assassin’s Creed” soon became one of Ubisoft’s most highly praised franchises. But then, it began churning out entries year after year, a schedule that caught up to them with 2014’s “Unity.” The game was plagued by innumerable bugs and performance issues, drawing widespread dissatisfaction from players. It was an undeniable mess. In response, Ubisoft began patching the issues out and stopped selling the season pass until things were fixed. It also made the “Dead Kings” DLC available for free, and those who had already bought the season pass were given a free game…as long as they didn’t sue Ubisoft. The terrible launch impacted sales of the next game, 2015’s “Syndicate,” and caused Ubisoft to reassess its development strategy.

“Rayman” was Ubisoft’s first big franchise hit, but you wouldn’t know it looking at their lineup of games today. The once-great platforming star was replaced by the Rabbids, a sub-series that was pretty profitable until Ubisoft oversaturated it and ran it into the ground. The franchise hasn’t gotten a new mainline game since 2013’s “Rayman Legends.” While it was a slow seller at first, it did eventually turn a profit and earned rave reviews. Much of Ubisoft’s output over recent years has been criticized for following the same design formula. Meanwhile, Rayman has been stuck in mobile games and DLC for a game that underperformed, “Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.” Many fans would welcome his return, if only Ubisoft was interested in delivering one.

There have been a lot of Ubisoft games over the last few years that failed to meet sales expectations. “Star Wars Outlaws” is undeniably one of the most detrimental. A new single player game set between Episodes V and VI should have been a hit, much like EA and Respawn’s “Jedi” series. But for whatever reason, players simply weren’t interested. The game reportedly had the largest marketing budget of any Ubisoft game to date. When it failed commercially, after several years of others performing poorly, it hit Ubisoft hard. Not only did shares drop to their lowest point in a decade, it caused Ubisoft to delay “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” for further polishing.

Initially planned as DLC for 2013’s “Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag,” “Skull and Bones” is another Ubisoft game with a painfully long development period. There were many struggles behind-the-scenes with what the game should be, leading to multiple delays. By the time it got its final release date, there weren’t many who were interested, especially since it only focused on part of the gameplay from something more than ten years old. Ubisoft’s CEO, Yves Guillemot, tried to hype it up, justifying the absurd $70 price tag by calling it the first “quadruple-A” game. It got mixed reviews due to dated mechanics and live-service features. Over the decade of development, it cost Ubisoft $200 million, which it is in no way on track to make back.

2022 was one of several recent years that were financially rough for Ubisoft. And Yves Guillemot gave every CEO a lesson in what not to do. He sent an email to all employees, calling for strategic spending and stating the ball was in their court to get good-quality games out on time. Paris employees didn’t take kindly to being blamed for the company’s failures, and went on strike demanding salary increases and better working conditions. Although he later apologized, Ubisoft didn’t learn its lesson. Employees across its French studios went on strike in February of 2024 for better wages, and October of 2024, again for fair pay, as well as for going back on promises for remote work.

Withholding fair pay isn’t the only way Ubisoft has mistreated employees. In 2020, the company was hit by a wave of sexual misconduct and discrimination allegations, which turned out to be true. These claims spanned years and were directed at a variety of higher-ups at different studios, who were forced to resign in the wake of the reports. Many at its Paris office equated it to a fraternity house, with HR doing absolutely nothing to fix the issues or hold perpetrators accountable. Yves Guillemot released an apology video, stating plans to invest in under-represented groups within Ubisoft, but many felt it was hollow. With further mistreatment of employees and declining sales in the 2020s, this seems to have been the beginning of Ubisoft’s downfall.

What do you think Ubisoft’s most grievous sin is? Do you have any hope for its future? Share your thoughts in the comments!