At the end of last month, Ubisoft workers in the publisher's native France threatened to strike in the wake of sweeping layoffs and cost-cutting measures. This week, they made good on those threats. According to , union members confirmed that at least 1,200 staff participated in the three-day strike, which was due to run from February 10 to February 12.
"At this stage, it seems clear to us that Yves Guillemot has no knowledge or understanding of his company or its employees," Solidaires Informatique union representative at Ubisoft Paris Marc Rutschlé told Gamesindustry.biz. "The company is continuing its cost reduction and layoff plan. Our teams are already working under pressure, often understaffed. After several years without pay rises (or very small increases), we understand that once again, employees will not receive a raise this year."
As translated by , ex-Automaton Ubisoft Osaka game designer Kensuke Shimoda shared his pushback in response to a comic by manga artist Sadataro attributing Assassin's Creed Shadows' sales performance to Ubisoft's "DEI" initiatives. For context, Ubisoft has previously stated that Assassin's Creed Shadows "performed within expectations," and, as of July 2025, had amassed over 5 million players. Ever since Shadows dared include an African samurai as one of its two protagonists, it's been the target of anti-woke attacks,
An Ubisoft developer I chatted with back in 2022 was feeling pretty jealous. Elden Ring had just come out and was blowing people away. Despite FromSoftware's reputation for challenging gameplay and esoteric design, the open-world RPG was breaking out into the mainstream. It was a hardcore game but it wasn't only being enjoyed by hardcore gamers. Ubisoft had thousands of people working on open-world RPGs for years. Why couldn't it make one that felt just as creatively bold, vibrant, and potent?
Returning to old games isn't always easy. Depending on how old the game is, you might run into various problems, including unusual controls or compatibility issues. Another common point of friction you might encounter is an older game running poorly. This can make it a slog to replay some of the modern classics, even if they're just a decade or so old. So I'm happy to see Ubisoft going back and updating performance in games like Far Cry Primal and Assassin's Creed Unity.
Over the past 24 months, Ubisoft has undertaken company-wide actions to streamline operations, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. We are committed to supporting all impacted team members during this transition with resources, including comprehensive severance packages and additional career assistance.
Last year's Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition set the stage for the prequel story by adding a side quest that allowed the main character, Jade, to learn about the people and creatures who raised her when she lived among a pirate crew while she was a child. However, it doesn't appear that the sequel will address the post-credits cliffhanger from the original game.
After a short delay, Ubisoft has posted its first-half earnings figures for 2025-2026. The company says that its Q2 net bookings exceeded expectations and its deal with Tencent to invest $1.2 billion in Vantage Studios--a new subsidiary focused on its three main franchises--is expected to close within a few days. Ubisoft says that its Q2 net bookings were up 39% year-on-year, driven by stronger-than-expected performance across its games catalogue and TV projects.
Anno 117: Pax Romana takes the franchise's city-building formula back to the ancient empire but used modern generative AI tools in the development process. Fans have already begun ripping into one particularly egregious-looking piece of AI-generated imagery that appears in the background during a loading screen. "Very big difference between this and the high quality background art and loading screens of Anno 1800," one fan wrote. Ubisoft tells Kotaku it'll be replacing the offending image in an upcoming patch.
"Ubisoft announces the postponement of the release of its results for the first half of fiscal year 2025-26," the company said. "Ubisoft has requested Euronext to halt trading of its shares (FR0000054470) and its bonds (FR001400DV38, FR001400MA32, and FR0014000O87) from the market opening on November 14, 2025, until the publication of its first-half 2025-26 results in the coming days. Ubisoft will inform the market of the date on which trading will restart. Ubisoft will inform the market of the date on which trading will restart."
Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment, the developer of The Division series, Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is offering some employees volunteer buyouts as it attempts to "realign" its teams, the company said in a post on X. The move is designed to "strengthen our roadmap," Massive wrote, as it focuses on The Division series along with its Snowdrop engine and Ubisoft Connect. Ubisoft notably didn't mention Star Wars and Avatar in that statement, an omission that may effectively spell the demise of those franchises.
Newegg is selling three months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $52, which is a fantastic deal. The list price is $60, but drops down to $52 by entering the code SSE2589 at checkout. The sale ends soon, so don't dilly-dally. This is a discount of $38, thanks to Microsoft mandating a price hike that brought a single month of Game Pass Ultimate up to $30. That controversial move has irked fans of the subscription service.
