Ubisoft Stock Tumbles And Inner Turmoil Don't Paint A Good Picture For The Gaming Giant
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If there was ever a time when people in the C-suite of Ubisoft should be shaking in their boots, it’s now. Years of underperforming games, and after the restructuring report came out a week ago, things have taken a turn for the worse.
And they may be facing a mass exodus of staff, though with the state of the industry at large, there may be nowhere for them to go.
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Last week, a major restructuring and a round of layoffs were reported coming from Ubisoft, with several games being cancelled, even one well into development (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake), and several more being delayed.
News of the restructuring, which according to reports was only known to a few and the rest of the company found out via reporting, social media, and word of mouth, sent Ubisoft stock cratering. As of this writing, and the reporting at Kotaku, Ubisoft has lost 95% of it’s market cap, basically it’s value on the market, from 10 billion Euros to 500 million Euros.
If you care about that sort of thing, there’s also the concern about internal cohesiveness, and all signs are pointing to that being at a breaking point. The piece from Kotaku talks about internal pride already being low, with some developers watching other companies put out lauded games like Elden Ring and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and all the while, Ubisoft has struggled to find the same level of success despite it’s repertoire and catalog.
That environment is now facing a return-to-office order, and workers are making their feelings known. One even claimed it’s the most embarrassed they’ve been at a work place. RTO orders are incredibly unpopular among workers, especially following the widespread shift within companies to remote work as a result of the pandemic. Many people moved out of state or far from the central office as a result, and with an RTO order, it may force talent to seek work elsewhere. One employee expressed dissatisfaction with executives not being held accountable for all the turmoil, and instead the workers have to suffer. The details of the RTO are also not fully known among staff.
The decisions of Ives Guillemot are bewildering to many, and also seem to be repeating themselves, as something similar happened a couple of years ago, with promises of change, and hollow words from the CEO.
Something needs to happen at Ubisoft, or more of this is likely to come.
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Source(s): Kotaku
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