Ubisoft says it didn’t make the decision to produce fewer games in 2021 — that’s something it decided to do back in 2018.
French megapublisher Ubisoft reported its earnings yesterday, and chief financial officer Frederick Duguet gave some insight into how the company creates value for its shareholders. During a conference call with investors, Duguet said that releasing three-to-four annual blockbusters is not “a proper indication of [Ubisoft’s] value-creation dynamics.” Instead, Ubisoft expects to make more money from focusing on more free-to-play live-service games. Many fans took Duguet’s comments to mean that Ubisoft is going to make fewer triple-A games. But the company followed up with a statement today to alleviate those concerns. Here’s that statement from a Ubisoft spokesperson: To translate, Ubisoft is basically saying that this is about doing more with free-to-play. “[Duguet’s comment was] in reference to free-to-play becoming a larger share of the revenue pie, not an indication that there will be less traditional paid games like Assassin’s Creed,” Ubisoft senior analyst Sean Lama said on Twitter.
