According to Ubisoft’s 2022-2023 earnings report, the video game developer plans to increase the amount of talent working on the Assassin’s Creed franchise by 40 percent in the coming years “to fuel its ambitious expansion.”
According to the report, Assassin’s Creed did well for Ubisoft this year. It detailed that the franchise had the most active players in the past year than ever before. For example, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla has 44 precent more players than Assassin’s Creed: Origins and 19 percent more than Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey.
However, the report also details that Ubisoft’s CFO, Frédérick Duguet, plans to reduce costs by €200 million (about $292 million CAD) in the upcoming two years. Since September 2022, around 700 employees have left Ubisoft. In January, 27 employees were laid off, Skull and Bones was delayed (for the sixth time) and three other games were cancelled altogether. Further, just this month, 60 more employees were laid off.
I just got let go from my job at Ubisoft in a massive layoff out of nowhere. With no indication or preparation.
I really just don't know how to feel. If anyone has any job leads on game audio stuff, or just game tech stuff let me know. I'm in a weird place rn lol
— Matthew Harnage (@matthewharnage) May 10, 2023
https://twitter.com/leftistcutie/status/1656305812766175234?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1656305812766175234%7Ctwgr%5E4d2d6c789526222bd550db679b0fe02a9960ac65%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fme.ign.com%2Fen%2Fps5%2F207946%2Fnews%2Fubisoft-hit-by-more-layoffs-in-customer-service-and-elsewhere
Going forward, a 40 percent increase means that Ubisoft will add 800 people to Assassin’s Creed’s current team of 2,000. Approximately 3,000 people worked on Call of Duty in 2021, for reference.
This does not necessarily mean that 800 new employees will be hired since Ubisoft may move people around internally. The report says that Ubisoft’s cost-reduction strategy involves a “tight control on recruitments” even though it will “continue to look at hiring highly talented people for its biggest brands and live services.”
Amid their financial struggles, Ubisoft has focused on shoring up its most popular franchises, like Rainbow Six Siege (which saw a 30 percent increase in its fourth quarter compared to last year) and Assassin’s Creed.
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