Expectations were high, but sales of the “Star Wars Outlaws” that many gamers had been waiting for disappointed Ubisoft just a month after its release. The French video game company has therefore now revised its sales forecasts downwards and promised to learn from the release of this title. The result: The next big game, “Assassin’s Creed Shadows,” has been postponed until next year. Ubisoft is also doing away with the previous season pass model and is bringing the role-playing game to Steam on the first day.
Advertisement
“Assassin’s Creed Shadows” takes role-playing fans to Japan and was originally supposed to be released on November 12, 2024. But now, after the weaker-than-expected launch of “Star Wars Outlaws,” Ubisoft’s board has decided to postpone the next title in the Assassin’s Creed series to February 14, 2025. Although all game features are ready, due to the feedback on the Star Wars game, the upcoming title will be further refined and optimized in the additional time now available.
No more season pass, Steam on day one
At the same time, Ubisoft is saying goodbye to the season pass model it used previously, with more expensive editions for a few days’ early access and cosmetic items as well as exclusive missions for pre-orders. This was also planned for “Assassin’s Creed Shadows,” but Ubisoft already annoyed fans with a similar strategy for “Star Wars Outlaws.” Instead, the game company promises that all buyers will be able to play it at the same time on February 14. However, pre-orderers will receive the first expansion pack for free.
In addition, “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” will also be available on the Steam gaming platform on the first day of its release. This is a departure from Ubisoft’s previous strategy, as “Star Wars Outlaws” will not be available on the popular Steam sales channel until November, even though this game was released at the end of August.
Ubisoft lowers forecast, shares fall
In total reduced Ubisoft its sales forecasts for the current fiscal year 2024-25, which ends in March 2025, to 1.95 billion euros. Observers had Bloomberg Sea around 2.42 billion euros are expected for the full year. In addition, Ubisoft expects sales of only 350 to 370 million euros for the current second fiscal quarter (July to September). In mid-July, Ubisoft Around 500 million euros are forecast for these three months.
This did not go down well with investors. On the Paris stock exchange, Ubisoft shares fell by 4.5 percent yesterday. After hours, the stock fell again slightly, so that the share price fell by almost 13 percent.
(fds)
