Ubisoft’s steady decline has reached another critical point as the embattled company, notorious for its progressive and “woke” agenda, seems destined for either bankruptcy or a takeover. In a desperate bid to stay afloat, the French publisher has announced widespread layoffs, including the closure of its San Francisco and Osaka production studios.
The company’s reputation continues to nosedive, exacerbated by the reveal of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, a title Ubisoft desperately needs to succeed if it hopes to ward off a chapter 11 filing. However, consumer response has been overwhelmingly negative. Gamers argued that Ubisoft’s fixation on diversity and inclusivity mandates has stifled creativity, prioritizing pandering over producing solid content.
The latest entry, set in 1600s Japan, controversially centers on Yasuke, a figure of African descent whose historical ties to the samurai are nonexistent and whose inclusion as the protagonist marks the first time the series has elevated a real-world figure to this role, one of which has generated anger over historical revisionism and Ubisoft’s creative bankruptcy.
Ubisoft can’t stop stepping on rakes, consumers are furious over what they see as blatant historical revisionism, and instead of addressing the criticism, Ubisoft got their buddies in the media to run interference. The New York Times even trotted out a half-Japanese trans person formerly tied to Sweet Baby Inc., a consultancy that worked on past Ubisoft projects to claim the backlash was just “Westerners pretending to be Japanese.”
After the announcement of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ubisoft hoped Star Wars Outlaws would save them, but instead, it flopped harder than a fish out of water. Featuring a protagonist many found unattractive and oddly dissimilar to the actress she’s based on, the game couldn’t meet expectations. After its failure, Ubisoft gave up their anti-Steam crusade and began dumping their games back onto Valve’s storefront.
Unfortunately not many people cared. Investors are now begging them to either go private or let Tencent take the wheel, because this ship is sinking fast.
Things went from bad to worse when Ubisoft delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows after skipping the Tokyo Game Show. Why? Oh, just the fact a promo figure with a damaged torii gate for the game gained traction on social media. A disrespectful and outright racist desecration of Japanese symbolism.
Facing financial ruin, Ubisoft has resorted to axing jobs left and right. Offices in San Francisco, Osaka, and Sydney are either closing or scaling back, with 277 employees set to lose their jobs.
Meanwhile, they’re also killing off XDefiant, their failed free-to-play shooter. Announced in 2021 and launched in May 2024 after numerous delays, it was hyped as an alternative to Call of Duty but barely lasted a few months before player counts tanked.
Marie-Sophie de Waubert, Ubisoft’s Chief Studios and Portfolio Officer, summed it up perfectly in a leaked email: the game “couldn’t compete” in the cutthroat free-to-play FPS market. espite a brief moment of popularity on streaming platforms, XDefiant failed to retain players and Ubisoft’s prospects somehow manage to look even worse.
XDefiant Executive Producer Mark Rubin expressed his gratitude to fans and shared his heartfelt disappointment over the game’s closure, saying he was “heartbroken.” Rubin also provided details on refunds, assuring players that any purchases made within the last 30 days would be fully refunded. Additionally, those who purchased the Ultimate Founder’s Pack are eligible for a full refund. He noted that refunds would be processed automatically within eight weeks.
Ubisoft’s XDefiant is poised to join the growing list of live-service games meeting an untimely demise, following in the footsteps of Sony’s Concord and SEGA’s HYENAS, the latter of which was canceled months before release. Unlike Concord, which saw an immediate shutdown with refunds issued to all players, XDefiant will remain operational until June 3, 2025, giving its dwindling player base a longer grace period.
Despite this extended timeline, the ultimate outcome remains unchanged, a failed live-service title. Notably, while Sony refunded all Concord customers, Ubisoft has opted not to issue full refunds to all XDefiant players, limiting them to specific cases. Ubisoft also intends to release Season 3 content, though new downloads and purchases will no longer be available moving forward.
The impending shutdown of XDefiant is yet another blow to Ubisoft’s challenging year in 2024, which has been marred by underwhelming sales for major releases, delays, and a sharp decline in its stock price. Reports suggest the Guillemot family, in collaboration with Tencent, is considering taking the company private to stabilize its future.
Ubisoft isn’t alone in its struggles, as the gaming industry at large has faced abrupt studio closures and layoffs. Many attribute this to the production of costly, large-scale projects that prioritize identity politics, diversity mandates, and ideological messaging over quality and creativity. These projects often require hundreds of millions to develop and years of time, only to release at premium prices of $60 to $70 while failing to resonate with gamers.
Bugs, glitches, and political agendas have further alienated consumers.
The release calendar for early 2025 paints a grim picture of overcrowding and competition. Titles like Avowed, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Ubisoft’s own Assassin’s Creed Shadows are all slated for February, collectively costing players at least $240 within weeks.
Many developers today prioritize activism over artistry, with some openly admitting their intent to “provoke” certain audiences through their work. For instance, a senior writer for Assassin’s Creed Shadows recently commented on addressing “White privilege” in game design, that there were “more than enough games with White male protagonist.”
Gamers want escapism; instead, they get overpriced lectures wrapped in broken code.
Ubisoft is bleeding cash like a bad nosebleed, and it’s all because they refuse to scale back in an industry that’s bursting at the seams. They’ve got too many people, too many studios, and way too many massive AAA projects that fall on deaf ears. These bloated open-world games aren’t just overpriced, they’re broken at launch, riddled with bugs, and take months to fix. By the time they’re patched, no one gives a damn, they’re quickly forgotten as the games themselves thrown into the bargain bin.
The industry’s reliance on day-one sales to stay afloat is proving disastrous as rising development costs and the intrusion of divisive political ideologies drive consumers away. These projects require millions of copies sold just to break even, yet the dwindling interest from gamers has left Ubisoft in crisis. Its stock value has plummeted, as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) priorities appear to have taken precedence over creating quality games.
Now Ubisoft is panicking, tearing itself apart to stay afloat. They’re slashing staff, shuttering offices, and killing off games that can’t cover server costs through microtransactions. Spoiler alert: it’s too little, too late.
Their last string of big-budget disasters have sunk them, and the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows looks like it’ll be the final nail in the coffin. When Tencent inevitably buys them out, expect layoffs by the thousands as the only way to salvage what’s left is to gut the company and start over.
