Paris (France) (AFP) – French games giant Ubisoft on Wednesday reported a record annual loss of almost 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) for its 2025-26 financial year, in the midst of a far-reaching restructuring. The company had warned in January of a financial impact from its reorganisation, which has meant the cancellation of seven titles and delays to six more. The group plans to group together half of its development studios into five structures dubbed “creative houses”, while the rest will move into support functions.
“This two-year transformation comes with difficult decisions and a disappointing short-term financial performance,” Ubisoft founder and chief executive Yves Guillemot said in a statement. Guillemot added that Ubisoft’s 2026-27 financial year would likely be a “low point” in financial performance given “a softer release slate and restructuring costs”. The group expects both a “high single-digit percentage” fall in “net bookings”, its preferred sales yardstick that excludes deferred revenues, and a “high single-digit negative” operating margin.
Upcoming bright spots for Ubisoft include the July 9 release of “Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced” — a remake of one of its flagship franchises’ best-loved instalments. It has also trailed several unannounced “premium games based on established Ubisoft brands”. In its fourth quarter, Ubisoft reported a 54-percent year-on-year plunge in net bookings, to 415 million euros. And over the full year, the revenue indicator fell 17.4 percent, to just over 1.5 billion euros.
Ubisoft had no major releases during the 2025-26 financial year apart from the strategy game “Anno 117: Pax Romana”. The company is hoping for a rebound starting in 2027, when new titles should begin landing from key series like “Assassin’s Creed” and “Far Cry”. Along with “Rainbow Six”, those two franchises have been brought together under Vantage Studios, the first of Ubisoft’s creative houses to be named, which has also received investment from Chinese internet giant Tencent.
© 2024 AFP
