Ubisoft: Share Price Falls into the Abyss as the Future Becomes Uncertain

29 September 2024 at 00:00 in Gaming News with no comments

Ubisoft: The Crisis of the Gaming Industry Giants

Ubisoft is certainly facing a difficult year from a financial standpoint. With a sharp decline recorded this year, reaching a historic low after 10 years. Resulting in the postponement of AC Shadows to 2025, and concerns from shareholders.

Ubisoft: Share Price Falls into the Abyss as the Future Becomes Uncertain

Ubisoft – The economic situation of the former “giant” of the industry

Ubisoft, one of the great giants of the video game industry, has not been doing very well in recent years. Especially in 2024, a year filled with many gaming success, which has not been particularly favorable to the Saint-Mandé giant.

In fact, from an economic standpoint, Ubisoft has been consistently losing value on the stock market since 2020. With 2024 seeing the value drop to a historic low after nearly 10 years. We are talking about a loss of over 50% in value in 2024 alone, reaching a low of 9.28€ per share from its peak of over 100€ per share in 2018. With a further decline in the stock market caused by the recent decision to delay Assassin’s Creed Shadows to 14th February 2025.

Moreover, 2022 was the worst year for the company, losing 40% marketshare within a few weeks due to the announcement of the initial Skull & Bones delay. Leading to a general panic among investors, 10% of which are even in favour of selling the company to third parties. A situation where Tencent could take advantage of to acquire more shares, as it already owns more than 10% of Ubisoft’s shares following an investment of around 300€ million in 2022.

Sharp decline in Ubisoft's stock in 2024


Ubisoft employees – The other side of the coin during the Crisis

A good portion of investors want to see a managerial change and the appointment of a new CEO to replace the current founder Yves Guillemot, seeing the company as being “held hostage” by the founding Guillemot family. But the less-talked other side of the coin concerns Ubisoft’s employees.

Following a sharp stock market decline in recent years, the employee turnover rate has unfortunately also increased. There is even talk of it being increased to about 30%, meaning a third of the employees get replaced. Following an increase in the layoff of about 1,700 employees from 2022 to mid-2024. Moreover, according to the few anonymous employee interviews, the internal situation is not optimal for development.

The general atmosphere felt by the employees is one of a strong lack of stability. Veteran senior managers are being replaced by new, less experienced but cheaper personnel. And they are replaced after just a few years of experience, inevitably leading to inexperienced game designers heading projects that are entirely new to them. Situation that seems to be reflected in the situation of xDefiant, heavily criticized for its poor net-code and hit reg and in a precarious future.


The future of Ubisoft – An uncertain future, but not the end

For many in the gaming industry and for shareholders, Ubisoft’s future is very uncertain. Not all Ubisoft’s games have been failures in terms of reception and profit, but the lack of care, innovation, and often excessive monetization is certainly driving away a large portion of the fans.

With Star Wars Outlaws not meeting expected sales, and strong criticism of Assassin’s Creed Shadows for a general lack of care, leading to its postponement to 2025, Ubisoft, despite recent problems, is not at risk of disappearing. But the last months of 2024 will play an important role in Ubisoft’s future.

We could potentially see a new CEO with a new direction, or in the worst case, a sale to third parties or private equity firms. Hopefully, we’ll see a Ubisoft that dares to bring something new, capable of exciting as the company once did. And we might see some small changes already with Assassin’s Creed Shadows on 14th February 2024.


DISCOVER THE LATEST NEWS AND PROMOTIONS ON YOUR FAVORITE GAMES WITH ALLKEYSHOP

Download the Allkeyshop Browser Extension Free – SAVE MONEY

For all the latest video game news, trailers, and best deals, make sure to bookmark us.
You can find all the best and cheapest online deals on CD keys, game codes, gift cards, and antivirus software from the verified CD key sellers on our store pages.

To not miss any news on Allkeyshop, subscribe on Google News.

Read this post in :

By whizzerlow whizzerlow

MORE RELEVANT ARTICLES