The company that once told consumers to get used to not owning their games are getting comfortable with the fact that they no longer have jobs.
Ubisoft’s financial troubles persist as the company has confirmed the closure of its Leamington studio, along with layoffs at its Stockholm, Düsseldorf, and Reflections studios. This latest restructuring effort will see 185 employees lose their jobs, further highlighting the company’s struggle to manage its bloated workforce, which still numbers around 10,000.
In an official statement, Ubisoft framed the decision as part of its “ongoing efforts to prioritize projects and reduce costs to ensure long-term stability.” However, the reality is clear: the publisher is scrambling to recover from a disastrous financial year. These cuts follow the recent closure of Ubisoft’s San Francisco and Osaka studios, which resulted in nearly 300 job losses in December 2024.
Ubisoft’s Leamington studio, formerly known as FreeStyleGames, was once responsible for DJ Hero and Guitar Hero Live before being acquired by Ubisoft in 2017. Since then, it has played a key role in supporting Ubisoft’s open-world and live-service projects, including Assassin’s Creed, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Skull and Bones, and Tom Clancy’s The Division.
Ubisoft Düsseldorf, previously known as Blue Byte, is best known for its work on strategy and city-building games, particularly The Settlers series and contributions to Anno. However, it has also served as a co-development studio for some of Ubisoft’s larger franchises.
Ubisoft Stockholm was founded in 2017 and is primarily known for supporting the company’s flagship franchises. Led by Patrick Bach, formerly of DICE (Battlefield), the studio has played a role in the development of Ubisoft’s Snowdrop engine and co-developed Star Wars Outlaws. Its focus lies in AAA open-world game development and cutting-edge game technology.
Much of Ubisoft’s current turmoil stems from the never-ending controversy surrounding Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which has faced intense backlash for its blatant historical revisionism.
For the first time in the franchise’s history, Ubisoft has centered a mainline Assassin’s Creed game around a real-life historical figure, Yasuke, an African man. However, rather than depicting him accurately, Ubisoft has reimagined him as a samurai warrior, despite the lack of historical evidence supporting this portrayal.
Yasuke, widely believed to have been a retainer to warlord Oda Nobunaga, has no recorded martial prowess or status among the samurai class.
Ubisoft’s choice to portray Yasuke as a historically inaccurate armored, sword-wielding samurai warrior, rather than focusing on a fictional Japanese shinobi as the games sole protagonist, which would align more closely with the series’ core Assassin themes has sparked significant backlash since it Shadows was announced.
Fans and historians have criticized the decision, accusing Ubisoft of altering Japanese history to advance modern socio-political agendas, favoring performative inclusivity over historical accuracy.
Initially set for a late 2024 release, Assassin’s Creed Shadows has been delayed twice, officially for “polish.” However, newly surfaced pre-release screenshots have only deepened concerns that Ubisoft has misrepresented its use of historical consultants and is deliberately disregarding historical accuracy.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows is set during the Sengoku era, yet its protagonist, Yasuke, whose history is virtually non-existent has been blatantly rewritten to fit the fantasy of a Black samurai, is shown wearing golden armor from the Kamakura period.
Such armor would have been so valuable that even a powerful feudal lord would struggle to afford it, making Ubisoft’s depiction all the more absurd.
The historical inaccuracies don’t end there. In the newly surfaced screenshot, Ubisoft’s so-called “polish” is on full display, most notably in the glaring visual glitch where Yasuke’s sword clips through his own helmet.
Of course, the ever-present “WORK IN PROGRESS” label in the bottom-right corner is meant to reassure players, despite the fact that Assassin’s Creed Shadows, a AAA title originally slated for release on November 15, has already been delayed twice yet still suffers from such fundamental issues.
Beyond the anachronistic armor and technical blunders, the scene itself is riddled with historical contradictions. Yasuke is depicted walking among blooming cherry blossoms while fresh watermelon sits nearby, an impossible combination.
Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) are believed to have been introduced to Japan during the early Edo period (1603-1868), far beyond the timeline of the Sengoku period of which the game takes place, following the Edo period watermelons became popular in Japan as ‘watery snacks,’ during the summer months.
Even more glaringly, cherry blossoms bloom in spring, while watermelons are typically harvested in summer, making their simultaneous presence yet another careless oversight.
Despite these blatant historical errors, Ubisoft continues to insist that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is culturally authentic, citing its collaboration with Japanese historians. Yet every new reveal only reinforces what critics have long suspected: the game prioritizes DEI-driven revisionism over genuine historical accuracy.
Despite growing backlash, Ubisoft has found a predictable ally in gaming journalists, many of whom have either downplayed or outright dismissed concerns over the game’s historical revisionism. These defenders insist that criticism of Assassin’s Creed Shadows stems from bad-faith arguments, despite mounting objections from historians and Japanese critics who have condemned the game’s inaccuracies.
The contrast is striking: gaming outlets rigorously critique cultural misrepresentation when it involves African history, mythology, or culture, yet Ubisoft’s blatant distortions of Japanese history have been largely overlooked and excused, similarly to the Blackwashed renditions of Greek mythology in Hades 2 as creative freedom, where any criticism is dismissed as racist and illegitimate.
Ubisoft’s marketing blunders have only intensified the controversy. A licensed figurine for the game depicting a demolished torii gate, a sacred Shinto symbol sparked backlash, ultimately leading to the cancellation of their Tokyo Game Show appearance.
Additionally, Ubisoft was forced to apologize after being caught using AI-generated concept art that incorporated plagiarized designs from Japanese historical artifacts, further eroding their credibility with both Japanese and Western audiences.
Ubisoft’s financial troubles go well beyond Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Star Wars Outlaws, the company’s other major 2024 release, also fell short of expectations, triggering a sharp drop in revenue projections.
In response, Ubisoft lowered its earnings forecast to just €1.95 billion, barely breaking even. Frustrated investors are increasingly pushing for a Tencent-led buyout, but internal power struggles over executive control have reportedly delayed negotiations.
In a last-ditch effort to build hype for Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ubisoft hosted a pre-release livestream on its official Twitch channel.
However, the event backfired disastrously, as the game was plagued with glaring bugs reminiscent of the company’s other recent open-world failures. One especially embarrassing moment saw a player attempt to pet a dog, only for the interaction to glitch, sparking widespread mockery across social media.
At the same time, Ubisoft has subtly revised the game’s promotional artwork, reducing Yasuke’s prominence as the face of Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
The newly released artwork features a wide array of characters, with no clear indication of who the protagonists are or what players can expect, sparking speculation that Ubisoft is trying to downplay the controversy surrounding Yasuke’s portrayal. Surprisingly, gaming journalists have yet to call out Ubisoft for their racial erasure.
Beyond historical inaccuracies, Ubisoft’s depiction of Yasuke veers dangerously close to racial stereotyping. The game’s battle music, initially an odd blend of hip-hop and traditional Japanese tunes, seems to suggest that Yasuke’s presence in Japan needs a modern, urban twist.
This, combined with his exaggerated combat abilities, where Yasuke effortlessly decapitates and slaughters smaller Japanese soldiers and brutally beating women has been criticized for pushing a racially charged power fantasy more fitting for modern-day America rather than the historical realities of Japan’s feudal era.
The anachronistic inclusion of unseasonal watermelons in Japan throughout the game only adds to these concerns. Their historically inaccurate presence seems to lean into racial stereotypes, creating a jarring contrast in a game supposedly centered around Japanese history.
It genuinely feels as though Assassin’s Creed Shadows was designed to cater primarily to a Black Western audience, rather than authentically representing Japanese culture.
Ubisoft’s internal decisions only deepen the skepticism surrounding the game. Senior writer Giles Armstrong has previously stated that there are “more than enough white male protagonists” in video games, implying that Yasuke’s inclusion was more about meeting ideological quotas than creating a compelling, historically accurate story and culturally authentic.
Furthermore, Ubisoft quietly removed an interview with the Japanese outlet Famitsu, in which they openly admitted to intentionally seeking a non-Japanese samurai as their protagonist, an admission that directly contradicts their frequent claims of aiming for historical authenticity.
With Ubisoft’s stock value in freefall and Assassin’s Creed Shadows facing ongoing rejection, the company’s future appears increasingly grim. The upcoming financial report on February 13 may offer further insight into Ubisoft’s survival strategy, but unless radical changes are made, such as a full corporate overhaul, restructuring of its studios, sacking thousands of employees and a shift away from the controversial leadership driving its current direction, the company seems poised for death.
Unless Ubisoft corrects the internal DEI-driven issues that have tarnished both its reputation and financial performance, the company’s trajectory is likely to end in collapse or a takeover. As it stands, Ubisoft will almost certainly attempt, and fail, to present a revisionist Black power fantasy set in Feudal Japan come March 20th, further damaging what remains of its legacy and leaving the company unable to recover.
