Ubisoft Investor Calls for Company to Go Private, and CEO Yves Guillemot to Be Replaced

Be interesting to watch, Yves Guillemot does seem out of touch. Ubisoft is so large compared to other companies, only Microsoft is bigger I believe, the head count seems huge compared to titles released per year. I cant remember the last time they had a huge hit or made a 10/10 game(if ever).

On a side note Star Wars Outlaws is a good game

Well if they go private, they should drop the modernist (DEI) approach. Then go back to just making games. It will be tough as they told us we shouldn’t be comfortable owning our games and have burned many bridges. I don’t feel sorry for the Ubisoft entity.

As the brilliant Jeremy Clarkson once said: “Oh no! Anyway…”

It’s rather staggering that I dislike EA slightly less than Ubisoft these days.

Makes me worried about the next AC...

@Icey664 not to worry. itll be just as bad as the rest of them.

I mean when was the last time ubisoft released a good game? Exactly i dont remember either

I imagine Yves Guillemot is perched on a viewpoint right now watching this all unfold around him.

Wait wait wait, i thought SW Outlaws sold like hotcakes?!

The shareholders should check that Outlaws got no 1 at Amazon Ethiopia.

And it also got 94% at metacritic as the highest rated game for this year. Critics and gamers universally praised the smart AI enemies, the fun and incredibly deep stealth & shooting gameplay, the carefully written dialogues / story / characters that makes people thinks about their life, and of course the very polished graphic including beautiful facial animation and water physics.

Come on shareholders, Yves did an amazing job with Outlaws and XDefiant and this is one if not the best time period for Ubisoft fans!
.
.
.
.
.
.
😁🤪

@Randinator123 PoP Lost Crown?

@PuppetMaster CzarCastik would be proud!

I don't get the hate Ubisoft gets honestly but I will say the company is a bit unwieldy at this point. Obviously no one wants lay-offs...but in their case it might be for the best as their current head count is just too much to be sustainable.

I really hope they figure it out. I've played many Ubisoft titles over the years that I've loved. AC Mirage was absolutely fantastic last year. Shadows looks fantastic too. I haven't started Outlaws yet but I plan to as soon as I finish Trails through Daybreak.

@Korgon did you miss the management behaviour with women? That’s a good place to start and the dragging of heels by the Guillemots to change the toxic work environment. They’ve been slowly burying themselves over the past few years ever since they stopped the previous buyout.

Ubisoft released one of the best games of this year, IMO, in PoP: The Lost Crown. People complain a lot about them but they make solid, if not spectacular, games.

They’re especially irate because Ubisoft blatantly lies to them in the earnings call this year, so we all saw this coming a mile away. Only problem is that this family would seemingly rather destroy the company than right it’s course.

I'm trying muster up the passion to say something about Ubisoft, good OR bad. But everything about their designed-by-committee portfolio just leaves me feeling aggressively indifferent. 🥱

When you panda to an audience that can't pay your bills....

Bye buy ubi....

Ironically they're only in this mess because they keep listening to investors.

I'm guessing their next plan is to blame Sony and make a strong multiplatform push ti solve their problems.

"Good guy" Microsoft is licking their lips.

There’s a lot wrong with Ubisoft but I absolutely do not believe that a single thing would get better if they sold to Tencent.

When you continue to design the same old ***** and refuse to do anything original or innovative in any of your titles for well over a generation, people are going to catch on.

And I say this as someone who has played and adored A LOT of Ubisoft titles.

@Vaako007 DEI is such a telling thing to say.

This investor is so hurt by loosing there money they literally called for people to lose there jobs

Making an investment is no different than gambling by the way

If a change in executive managaments means fewer single player games then these minority shareholders can go to hell because ubisoft is one of the last western companies that focus on 100% single player games for most of its lineup

Every public company is a the same! Shareholders demand forever growth at the expense of quality. Just look at the mess Boeing is in. Capitalism is failing!

Personally Ubisoft already became history to me a long time ago. They released extremely few games in recent years that I enjoyed.

@Randinator123 whenever Rayman Legends came out!

@Enuo I thought ubisoft were one of the most prolific multi plat devs around..am I missing something?

@Vaako007 oh god don't suggest they drop the DEI in their games...I can hear the sabers rattling already..

@TrickyDicky99 for once I mostly agree with you. I love my ps5 and even though there has been a lot of games I've enjoyed a lot this gen I'm fed up to the back teeth of remasters,remakes,ports etc,etc,etc. Having to develop games for the last gen machines in tandem is seriously hobbling this gen and its time the series "S" and ps4 was just put out to pasture.

If PlayStation owned Ubisoft and had access to IP it would actually be incredible. Chuck Far Cry at Santa Monica and get them both to work on it.

@Vaako007 Why? As if DEI is the problem with Ubisoft.

@EchoRange Yep, sure is. Whenever someone mentions "DEI" or "woke", I just roll my eyes.

Oh no! The stock!
These are rich people getting inconvenienced.

Anyways... the problem is the greed. That was what made their games suck to begin with. Guillemot is getting crucified for giving them what they wanted.

Quick fix the share price by firing the staff!

That's what you get when you have people saying get used not owning your games in public. Releasing mediocre games and being a one trick pony. Having a unsafe work environment soaked in abuse.

Jumping in every hype just to try what how much you will make out of it instead of looking what it will do for the company. Trying to make everything with reincurring revenue instead of looking if it fits the game.

The French government should be better at defending their workforce. Instead of bowing to such massive companies and looking anyway every time.

Spare a thought for those poor shareholders. Breaks my heart that they should have to miss out on that third property they've got their eye on, but fortunately a quick staffing optimization might set things right.

@TrickyDicky99 The outdated tech is the only reason they're the only one of the 3 not turning tricks to make a dime. Sucks, but that's where the money lands.

Otherwise agree though. If it weren't for VR I might be off gaming too. Honestly I'm spending most of my gaming time on quest 3 now. Almost wish I had the 512gb. Though once the PC is built that'll take over. Or that plus quest.

And on topic the assassins creed Nexus game on quest is actually awesome. Sure simplified, small environments relatively and an annoying difficulty with the climbing letting go, but it's so nifty t do AC things in VR, I just wish it was bigger.

@Vaako007
I love this so much. Let them rot for all I care.
The world is healing and I'm grinning

And make Fenyx Rising 2 while you're at it.

@Northern_munkey At the current rate of play, looks like the PS4 might outlast it's 'successor'.

@Vaako007 they told us we shouldn’t be comfortable owning our games

That's not what the guy from Ubisoft said. If you read the article (and not just the headline) he was making the opposite point and saying that subscription services will not really take off until gamers are comfortable not owning their games. This was in the context of discussing how successful Ubisoft views their subscription service as being.

This is either going to end up being Vive la révolution and out the Guillemots… Fitting since Ubisoft is a French company. Or this can end with the Guillemot running the entire company into the ground.

@Vaako007 dei ain't hurting u get over it. That all u guys can scream is dei and woke. Majority of people don't care.

How many IPs are they sitting on & have barstadised? Tom Clancy would’ve been rolling in his grave a long time ago.

How about a proper Rainbow Six Vegas game? A new Splinter Cell might be coming but I don’t have any faith in the company.

They stopped innovating a long time ago & the top layers of management should be turfed out…especially the morons who tried to push their Quartz NFT crap that no one wanted.

…but hey here’s 9 more Assassins Creed games that have nothing to do with Assassination or what made them great in the first place.

@BusyOlf
I'm not saying they are perfect by any means. They have certainly made some mistakes over the years just like the vast majority of the industry. I just don't get the absolute hatred many people have for them. People act like they never do anything right even though they just released a great Prince of Persia title this year and like I said AC Mirage last year.

Like I said I don't get it so I honestly just stopped trying to.🤷‍♂️

@Dalamar it didn't get many sales despite praise from critics & fans. Folks just didn't buy it though there was an very small uptick to Ubisoft+ shortly after it's release

@Northern_munkey personally DEI should be dropped for the whole entertainment industry. Let creativity flourish. Let new IPs become popular organically. Of course not everything will be popular but such is art.

@McTwist yes I’m glad that consumers are voting with their wallets and punishing these corporations whom become so arrogant. Well the shareholders I mean mostly.

@StrickenBiged even so Ubisoft is making many of its games with an online requirement. Basically lowkey pushing everyone to a subscription. Similar to Microsoft whom claims physical media is supported by them. Yet many of their first party games are digital only as of late and those that do release physically just have a disc with a code. So basically physical owner like myself will never own whatever the base level patch is for the game when it was pressed to the disc. Then Microsoft will have the audacity to claim falling physical media sells lol. I digress I don’t trust any of these corporations. Yes I didn’t read the whole interview but the actions that corporation have told me all I need to know. Words from suit types of a corporation cannot be taken at face value.

As many others have said Ubi games are like comfort food to me, I like Far Cry, I loved PoP The Lost Crown, Immortals Fenyx and I'm really enjoying SW Outlaws - all single player games I might add.

They rarely move the genre forward but still great little worlds to get lost in.

Tencent would not improve anything......

I actually enjoy ubisofts games , it seems it's the only company not churning out soulslike nonsense these days, I'm hoping that particularly bubble bursts pretty soon by the way,maybe ubi should make one of those but with pixel graphics with a budget of £1.75, the industry and players will be throwing the awards at them.

@Mostik it seems the majority of people who have actually played outlaws seem to love the game, by people I mean normal gamers not those 'influencers' who seem to hate everything apart from elden ring and vampire saviours.

@Shalooda Yeah I think it is great, I am about 12 hours in and still not left Tosharan other than for the main story mission is space. Really enjoying the atmosphere & PoP The Lost Crown is a definite GOTY contender for me!
Haters gotta hate mate, leave it to em'

@Vaako007 DEI can't make a game that's bad worse dude.

Outlaws is dull, predictable and has performance issues.

I don't even know what dei you're talking about honestly. It's star wars, there's a bunch of humans and aliens running about

@Shalooda "it's the only company not churning out soulslike nonsense these days, I'm hoping that particularly bubble bursts pretty soon"

Lol you're acting as if Soulslike trend just started for 2-3 years when it was already happening for 15 years since Demon's Souls released in 2009. There's no sign the bubble will burst too especially with the recent success of Elden Ring and Lies of P.

You can hate Soulslike all you want but it will stay as long as there are gamers who wants challenging games without handholding their hands.

In fact, you should pray for your beloved Ubisoft since they're the one who's in big trouble with their mediocre AAAA games doesn't sell well 😁

@Mostik I also thought fenyx was great , but they cancelled the sequel and it looks like outlaws won't get one either ,which is a shame, I have a feeling the new assasins creed will meet a similar fate , well unless they throw some roll roll stabby stab gameplay in there that is.

I've enjoyed more games made by Ubisoft than I have by Sony. Controversial, I know.

@PuppetMaster they haven't been churning out 8 a year up until recently , they're all exactly the same,roll roll stab stab , 2009 you say ,well that's interesting,so from software have been making the same type of game for 15 years , they're the Mark Wahlberg of gaming, handholding their hands ? Opposed to what? their big toe, nose 😂

@Shalooda good luck with your comments on souls likes...that's a massive hornets nest you are kicking..

@Northern_munkey I think they're completed overrated , and if youre not a fan there's something wrong with you, I mean elden ring is the same gameplay loop for hours, it's just not my idea of a good time, and I feel they won't offer difficulty changes because it's the only thing it has going for it , take that away and it's an empty world filled with text to read, I don't think I've just kicked the hornets nest, I've probably just took a flamethrower to it 😂

@Shalooda "they haven't been churning out 8 a year up until recently"

You live under the rock since they've been churning out 9's pretty consistently. Even Dark Souls 2 which is consider as the weakest Souls game is still much better than your beloved Outlaws 😁

"they're all exactly the same,roll roll stab stab"

It's obvious you never play Souls games since they have parry, magic, long range weapons, blunt weapons, and even special moves.

But your statement is very ironic looking at todays Ubisoft who pretty much copy and paste their open world games lol.

"2009 you say ,well that's interesting,so from software have been making the same type of game for 15 years"

You mean they're making high quality and beloved games that also inspired many devs for 15 years. And 2 of them won GotY awards; Sekiro and Elden Ring, which i'm sure Outlaws, AssCreed Shadows, and XDefiant will not win any GotY 😆

On the other hand, todays Ubisoft isn't the same one with Ubisoft from 15 years ago who produced great games like Splinter Cell, Rayman, R6 Las Vegas, Child of Light, etc. Todays Ubisoft is pathetic and a disrespect towards their old history and fans like you are part of the problem because you keep consumming their games without question.

But like i said, you should praying for Ubisoft because right now everything doesn't look very good for them 😁

So, what you are telling me is to buy some stock soon and then sell it as AC Shadows is about to drop and then buy the dip again when it bombs??

@Yagami I've played a few, dark souls 2 , demon souls remake, elden ring , bloodborne , the surge and probably a couple of others , I wouldn't really voice my opinion if I hadn't played a game , that would be the actions of an imbecile.

@PuppetMaster yeah, I'm not reading all that sorry 👍

@Shalooda You don't want to read because you can't handle the truth 🤣

@PuppetMaster erm I just can't be bothered, and I can pretty much guess as I saw a lot of emojis , blah blah ubisoft bad, blah blah souls games great , blah blah youre stupid blah blah.

@LordAinsley Apparently having a woman as main character who isn't hot enough by their lofty standards is now DEI according to that lot. Or whatever else they'll come up with.

@Ainu20 DEI is when women exist

I mean, he hit the nail on the head with this:

"Management is focused on pleasing investors by beating quarterly results and not concentrating on a long-term strategy to provide an exceptional experience for gamers."

Games need to be made for gamers again, not investors, which means putting people with an active interest in videogames, i e.- gamers, in senior positions, and able to make informed decisions regarding the state of the market and the best way forward.

@pukana Vegas 2 was one of my favourite multiplayer shooters from back in the day- with a coop campaign, too! I'd have loved to play another one- or splinter cell- but they seem more inclined to chase that online shooter money, that'll inevitably cost them more.
Obviously, Siege did them pretty well, but Extraction and Xdefiant, I'm not so sure about.

@LordAinsley Or bascially anything that doens't have a yt male lead

Last full release I bought from the Ubisoft bramd was Ghost Recon Wildlands but I did get the Ezio Trilogy on PS4 because I wanted to play them all again with a better frame rate. But other than that I've never bought games from Ubisoft years before, they release nothing but boring games and most are broken. Plus I bought The Crew and they took it off my list and so that's the last straw

@Shalooda told you didn't I? I myself love souls like games but I fully understand exactly where you are coming from too. I feel the same about jrpg's as I just find them cheesy as he'll and I don't like the anime style of graphics. I bought gran blue fantasy relink thingy or whatever its called and I quite enjoyed it but I won't be purchasing another but I get why people like...especially 50 year old perverts..

@Northern_munkey I don't mind the tales games and of course persona but that's as far as it goes , I presume you mean the hentai looking ones, I understand why people like the souls games, I just wish they would make it so you could change the difficulty, I don't see the harm it doesn't really affect anyone.

@Shalooda yes the hentai ones..I just don't understand the fixation nor do I want to either..the souls games are hard and that's the appeal to me personally but yes there is no harm including difficulty settings either.

@Korgon Imagine being a fellow working class man commenting on a gaming website and wishing another working class fellow that they get laid off (meaning: getting fired) because your employer is mismanaged and the games the employer produces with your work force are mid. Can't wrap my head around such bootlicking. Yves Guillemot is a d***head and should step down asap. Join a union, folks.

@Boxmonkey that's a welcome thing! F capitalism