Ubisoft cancels initiatives and broadcasts restructure in battle to remain aggressive | Video games

The online game writer behind the Assassin’s Creed sequence has cancelled six initiatives together with a remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time because it fights to remain aggressive within the international gaming market.

Ubisoft introduced a sweeping reorganisation and stated it could cancel six video games, sending its shares to their lowest degree in additional than a decade on Thursday.

Ubisoft is abandoning growth of six titles, together with a extremely anticipated remake of Prince of Persia – a sequence that dates again to 1989 and obtained an ill-fated Hollywood adaptation in 2010 – and delaying an extra seven. Studios in Halifax, Canada and Stockholm are being closed, with restructuring to observe in different international locations, it stated.

After the announcement, Ubisoft’s shares fell by a 3rd to their lowest degree since 2011 on Thursday, valuing the corporate at €590m (£514m) in contrast with a peak of greater than €10bn within the earlier decade. The Paris-based firm stated it deliberate to separate its operations into 5 artistic divisions organised by style, a part of a broader try to sharpen focus and rein in prices after years of disappointing releases and weak outcomes.

The firm stated the restructuring was pushed by the aggressive marketplace for AAA video games, the time period for big-budget, high-profile titles comparable to Grand Theft Auto.

“The triple-A industry has become persistently more selective and competitive with rising development costs and greater challenges in creating brands,” stated Ubisoft’s founder and chief government, Yves Guillemot.

However, Guillemot added that profitable triple-A video games have “more financial potential than ever”.

Ubisoft additionally blamed an “increasingly competitive market” for shooters, a key style for the business.

Laurent Michaud, a gaming business economist, stated motion journey titles comparable to Prince of Persia have been out of step with a market dominated presently by shooters like Fortnite and Call of Duty, cooperative journey titles comparable to Peak and sports activities titles and multiplayer video games comparable to these out there on the Roblox platform.

“The expectations of gamers are quite different to where they were 10 years ago. That’s why it’s difficult to keep in touch with an audience that has changed so much over the years.”

He added: “Ubisoft is still one of the most popular content providers in the video games industry. It has developed one of the best IP slates in the industry but even if the games are really good, it is not enough. It has to meet people’s expectations and tastes.”

The newest overhaul follows a number of tough years marked by recreation delays, cancellations and weak execution, which have eroded investor confidence and strained the group’s funds. In November 2025, Ubisoft postponed the publication of its half-year outcomes on the final minute, triggering a week-long suspension of buying and selling in its shares and bonds. The firm later stated an accounting change had revealed a breach of the phrases for its debt.