Ubisoft wants to restore the "creativity and innovation" that built its success in "2010 - 2020," and it's cut over 2,000 employees in 2 years to help do it

Continuing Ubisoft's 'it's time to go back to the old me' arc, CEO Yves Guillemot says the company is in the middle of a transformation meant to "restore the level of creativity and innovation that built Ubisoft’s success." 

This comes from Ubisoft's latest financial report, with Guillemot acknowledging that "recent setbacks" have blunted its output and revenue, and with the company leaning on older and evergreen games to prop up the numbers each quarter. Assassin's Creed Shadows' delay to 2025 has only further lightened the year. 

Beyond juicing its sales, Ubisoft's back-catalog is also increasingly doubling as something of a guiding star for the company, which has been treading water for several years in the absence of new mega-hits. 

Part of this restoration plan involves structural changes and cost reduction measures, which is a nice way of describing a whole bunch of layoffs among other spending cuts. In the past two years, Ubisoft has shed over 2,000 employees, bringing it down to a mere 18,666 employees as of September 30, 2024. That's probably worth repeating given the ongoing discussion of ballooning AAA budgets and teams. After significant cuts, Ubisoft still has over 18,000 – eighteen thousand – staff.

In the wake of these cuts, Ubisoft says employee retention is actually on the rise. Ubisoft's comments here also double down on the 2010s golden age that built the company into the dieting giant it is today. 

To put this era into perspective, the 2010 - 2020 decade saw the release of Ubisoft games like Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Far Cry 3, 4, and 5, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Watch Dogs, The Crew, Tom Clancy's The Division and The Division 2, and perhaps most importantly, Assassin's Creed Origins and Odyssey. Given the focus on creativity and innovation, it also feels worth highlighting gems like Rayman Origins, Child of Light, Valiant Hearts: The Great War, and Grow Home. 

"Retention has continued to improve significantly over the period and is now close to the historical-best levels observed during the 2010-2020 decade that was the foundation for Ubisoft’s success," the report reads. "Additionally, hundreds of former Ubisoft employees have rejoined the company, notably at senior levels, bringing significant expertise and know-how that strengthens our AAA core teams." This, at least, may help offset the brain drain problem that the games industry in general is facing amid widespread layoffs.  

"Over the past semester, we also further advanced our cost reduction plan thanks to strict control on recruitments, targeted restructurings and lower external spend," Guillemot adds. "This is the fruit of a group-wide effort, and I would like to thank the teams as we are transforming the company into a more efficient and agile organization." 

Last month, as Star Wars Outlaws fell short of sales expectations, Guillemot reckoned that just making "solid" games isn't enough when you have "gamers expecting extraordinary experiences."