Ubisoft reportedly "laughed at" in acquisition talks as CEO criticized for putting responsibility on staff

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Staff were apparently told: "The ball is in your court"

Assassin's Creed Mirage
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Ubisoft was reportedly "laughed at" during acquisition talks, and the company's CEO is apparently placing responsibility on employees after several canceled projects. 

Following the news that Ubisoft has delayed Skull and Bones yet again and axed three other projects, Giant Bomb's Jeff Grubb has claimed that the company was "proposing acquisitions and mergers with other similar companies" but that "it mostly got laughed at." It's not been a great year for Ubisoft who, following the three canceled games just announced, has had to cut a total of seven games in just six months.  

This news has come from Ubisoft's latest financial report and conference call, which was published on January 11, 2023. In the same report, it was revealed that Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope "underperformed", as did Just Dance 2023. Around the same time as Grubb's tweet, Kotaku reporter Ethan Gach also shared on Twitter that Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has apparently told staff via email that the next year is crucial for the company and that "the ball is in your court" regarding delivering projects on time and on budget. 

Gach also claims that the email from Guillemot reads: "Today more than ever, I need your full energy and commitment to ensure we get back on the path to success."Gach's tweets also reveal that the games currently left in development with the studio will be "the best in Ubisoft history" with news on these projects due during E3 2023. 

Wondering what's left in the pipeline? Find out everything you need to know about Ubisoft's Star Wars game.

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Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.