Ubisoft Makes Itself Attractive to Potential Buyers by Delaying Assassin's Creed Shadows

In a strategy update, Ubisoft announced that the company is pursuing "various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for Stakeholders". These could include an outright sale or a break-up of assets and franchises. And the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows has been delayed until March 2025.

Ubisoft is taking steps to reshape the group following the strategic and operational review launched by the Executive Committee a few months ago. The publisher has appointed "leading advisors to review and pursue various transformational strategic and capitalistic options to extract the best value for Stakeholders". This process will be overseen by the independent members of the Board of Directors. Ubisoft will inform the market in accordance with applicable regulations if and when a transaction materialises.

Yves Guillemot, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer: "We made good progress on the strategic and execution reviews initiated a few months ago and are confident that this will position Ubisoft for a stronger future. We have taken decisive steps to reshape the Group in order to deliver best-in-class player experiences, enhance operational efficiency and maximize value creation. We also recently appointed leading advisors and are actively exploring various strategic and capitalistic options to unlock the full value potential of our assets. We are convinced that there are several potential paths to generate value from Ubisoft's assets and franchises."

The French publisher will continue to cut costs "significantly" and remain highly selective when investing. In FY2025-26 (the upcoming fiscal year) compared to FY2022-23, the company expects to reduce its fixed cost base by more than €200 million on an annualised basis. In December 2024, XDefiant was discontinued and three production studios were closed (GamesMarkt reported).

As part of its "renewed focus on gameplay quality and engaging Day-1 experiences", Ubisoft has moved the release of Assassin's Creed Shadows from 14 February 2025 to 20 March 2025. This will take the game out of the very release heavy month of February. Yves Guillemot: "Additionally, we are all behind our teams' efforts to create the most ambitious Assassin’s Creed opus of the franchise and made the decision to provide an extra month of development to Shadows in order to better incorporate the player feedback gathered over the past three months that will enable us to fully deliver on the potential of the game and finish the year on a strong note." This postponement of what is probably Ubisoft's most important title makes the company more interesting for potential investors or buyers.

Net bookings for Q3 FY2024-25 (October to December 2024) are now expected to be approximately €300 million, primarily reflecting lower than expected holiday sales, particularly for Star Wars Outlaws, and the discontinuation of XDefiant. Ubisoft continues to expect non-IFRS operating income and free cash flow to be approximately break-even in FY2024-25. Net bookings are now expected to be around €1.9 billion, including new partnership opportunities for Ubisoft's games and franchises, as well as the monetisation of the streaming rights acquired last fiscal year.