Last March,Ubisoftcelebrated 36 years since its foundation all the way back in 1986, when the five Guillemot brothers decided to get into the game development industry after their other successful projects. In time, Ubisoft became one of the biggest companies in the industry, publishing and producing top-quality games, with some of them enduring the test of time and remaining popular decades since their release. Over the past few years, Ubisoft started piling up several major projects, such as thelicensedAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, more titles within theAssassin’s Creeduniverse, and the recently re-revealedSkull and Bones.
However, the latest news regarding the various upcoming video games that the company is working on is not encouraging, and it even poses questions as to what is going on behind the scenes. Although Ubisoft does have a history of delays and uncertain release dates for games, something that the company has been dealing with increasingly more often in recent times, one of the most unsettling rumors comes from one of the gaming giant’s own developers. In fact, areport indicates thatSkull and Bonesmay be lacking depthin its gameplay and that it could be far from the big hit that Ubisoft hopes it will be.
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Why Ubisoft’s Cancelations and Delays are Concerning
The streak doesn’t end nor begin withSkull and Bones, however, as Ubisoft’s work on the so-called Project Rift, which was set to be aDLC forAssassin’s Creed Valhallaand then became a standalone title, is seemingly running behind schedule. In the earnings report for the company, it was stated that a “smaller unannounced premium game” would fall behind, and it would need to be delayed to next year, which is likely referring to the aforementioned newAssassin’s Creedgame. Not only that, but Ubisoft also announced more cancelations of its titles recently, which ended up upsetting many fans.
These games includeSplinter Cell VR, which was supposedly scrapped because of the impact of VR technology not being as game-changing as the company had hoped, and thenGhost Recon Frontline, a battle royale game that wasn’t well-received after its reveal. Then, it’s also worth mentioning that Jeff Grubb recently claimed that another Ubisoft title will be canceled soon, and that game isRoller Champions.Roller Championsonly came out a few months ago, yet Grubb is claiming that development will soon wrap up. This is not too dissimilar from what happened withThe Division 2, alternating between no-development phases and reprising the live service model.
It seems however thatThe Division Heartlandwill be whereUbisoftplans on investing more into the games as a service model, although this title is but another project that lacks an official release date.Avatar: Frontiers of Pandorawas also supposed to come out this holiday season alongside the newAvatar: The Way of Watermovie, but Ubisoft announced that it too will be delayed until 2023. This statement came with concerns from fans, and it even spawned all sorts of memes aboutAvatar-related media never meeting deadlines and release dates.
Lastly, one of the weirdest things to date is the news cycle surroundingBeyond Good and Evil 2, a game that was first talked about by its director, Michel Ancel, even prior it was officially revealed at E3 2016. There were quarrels between Ancel and the Ubisoft headquarters about this project, and Ancel eventually left the company before the game came out. The issue is that in the six years since its reveal,development onBeyond Good and Evil 2has remained radio silent for the most part. Recently, Ubisoft finally stated that the game will indeed come in the future, though no date has been set. Overall,Ubisoftisn’t doing too well lately, and it seems unlikely thatSkull and Boneswill become its saving grace.
