A veteran Ubisoft developer says it's hard to imagine the company returning to its glory days of back-to-back hits, but all hope isn't lost for the Assassin's Creed publisher.
An anonymous Ubisoft worker recently spoke with Game File's Stephen Totilo about how the publisher went from putting out several well-liked games a year to being in the position that it's in right now: two studio closures, six game cancelations, including its long-awaited Prince of Persia remake, and more project delays just this year.
"Not being able to identify and fix this pattern of spiraling developments is a failure from Ubisoft management," the unnamed dev explains. "No one has taken responsibility for that failure today, and the consequences fall on development teams, through their internal dismantlement and, ultimately, layoffs. The top management walks away unscathed, questioning all but itself in this major reset.
"Ubisoft is now hated by a big part of the public for a decade of disappointing releases, hated by many of their own developers for years of mismanagement, hated by the market for its poor editorial and financial planning," they add. "With this amount of frustration on all sides, it's tough to imagine Ubisoft making a big hit ever again… Tough but quite far from impossible."
The veteran developer accurately diagnoses the general mood toward Ubisoft as of late, but still acknowledges that there's plenty of reasons "to be hopeful" about the company's future. Most importantly, Ubisoft still employs many talented developers who are "now in a structure made to address past issues, with a renewed sense of urgency for the management to support innovations."
It's easy to forget that this was once the company that would release big bangers (like Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and multiple Tom Clancy games) alongside smaller and more experimental projects (like Child of Light, Rayman Legends, and Valiant Hearts), all to critical acclaim. Here's hoping the publisher can return to its glory days. Assassin's Creed Shadows was certainly a good start.
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag Resynced finally out in the open as Ubisoft acknowledges its worst-kept secret: "Keep your spyglass on the horizon."
