Ubisoft cancels six video games together with Prince of Persia and closes studios

Ubisoft has cancelled six video video games – together with its long-awaited Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake – as a part of a “major reset” of its operations.

The French developer and writer, identified for in style video games similar to Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Just Dance, has closed two studios and delayed seven titles as a part of its adjustments.

Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot mentioned the transfer would “create the conditions for a return to sustainable growth”.

The agency’s shares plunged by 33% on Thursday morning following the announcement.

The transfer comes at a time when studios are more and more turning to online game remakes and remasters, with new variations of Super Mario Galaxy, Oblivion and Metal Gear Solid 3 proving in style in 2025.

So the choice to bin the remake of Sands of Time – which bought thousands and thousands of copies in 2003 – has left many followers scratching their heads.

Ubisoft has not specified which titles it has discontinued alongside the Prince of Persia remake.

But it says amongst them are 4 unannounced titles, together with three primarily based on new mental property, and a cellular recreation.

Ubisoft has closed its studios in Stockholm, Sweden and Halifax, Canada as a part of the transfer, which can embrace restructuring three others.

The builders had been engaged on a brand new mental property (IP) and cellular titles for Assassin’s Creed, respectively.

The closure of Ubisoft Halifax was beforehand introduced in January – the identical week the studio fashioned a union.

“While these decisions are difficult, they are necessary for us to build a more focused, efficient and sustainable organisation over the long term,” Guillemot mentioned.

“Taken together, these measures mark a decisive turning point for Ubisoft and reflect our determination to confront challenges head-on to reshape the Group for the long term”.

Gaming business analyst Piers Harding-Rolls informed the BBC the transfer indicated the agency was attempting to mitigate threat.

“It’s less risky to maintain scale by investing in existing big franchises such as Assassin’s Creed and Rainbow Six than launch entirely new IPs and that’s reflected in the cancellation of a number of games based on new IPs,” he mentioned.

It is the second restructure from Ubisoft in subsequent years, after the agency minimize 185 jobs throughout Europe in 2025.

In the UK, it closed its office in Leamington and restructured one other in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Guillemot mentioned the brand new transfer was partly because of a aggressive marketplace for triple-A video games – blockbuster titles which price thousands and thousands to develop and dominate massive studios’ choices.

“On the one hand, the triple-A industry has become persistently more selective and competitive with rising development costs and greater challenges in creating brands,” he mentioned in a statement on Wednesday.

Such massive choices are more and more going through delays – with Grand Theft Auto VI pushed back for a second time to November 2026.

But Guillemot mentioned regardless of these hurdles, profitable blockbuster video games may carry “more financial potential than ever”.

“In this context, today we are announcing a major reset built to create the conditions for a return to sustainable growth over time,” he mentioned.

Ubisoft will now give attention to growing open world journey video games – which let gamers freely navigate huge environments – and stay service video games which search common funds from gamers.

The agency mentioned its subsidiary Vantage Studios, created after a €1.25bn ($1.25bn; £1bn) investment from Chinese tech giant Tencent, would goal to show Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six “into annual billionaire brands”.