EXCLUSIVE – Yves Guillemot’s Internal Memo to Staff Amid Company Struggles

Insider Gaming has received an internal memo from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot that was sent to staff before today’s earnings call.

The memo includes announcing the Assassin’s Creed Shadows delay and the news that Star Wars Outlaws underperformed.

The full memo reads,

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“Dear All,

We just issued a press release announcing our revised financial targets for the current fiscal year.

First, Star Wars Outlaws’ initial sales proved softer than expected, despite solid ratings from players that recognized the game’s faithful transcription of the original trilogy’s essence and richness: 76 on Metacritic, 3.85/5 on PS store, ~4/5 on Xbox and 4.4/5 on Epic. While players praise the sense of detail and the beauty of the graphics, the effectiveness of the reputation system, and endearing characters like Nix, some also noted areas of improvement. The development teams are already hard at work on this, focusing on save issues, stealth mechanics, more frequent quest checkpoints, and better NPC AI. I’m confident that these updates will significantly improve the player experience by allowing us to deliver on its promise, and make Star Wars Outlaws a must-play game and long-term seller. In parallel, the Publishing teams and developers are closely collaborating to increase the engagement with the game and boost player acquisition during Black Friday and the holiday season.

In today’s ultra-competitive market, players expect extraordinary experiences and ultra-polished games on Day 1. We need to continue to improve when it comes to fine-tuning our games and delivering outstanding gameplay. This is what will enable Ubisoft to again create the best games in the industry.

Consequently, we decided to delay Assassin’s Creed Shadows to February 14, 2025. The game is already playable and of high quality, and has all the features the team wanted to integrate into this ambitious experience. This unusual decision at such an advanced stage is motivated by our desire to offer an optimal experience from launch on all platforms and various PC configurations, and to remove the small frictions we typically used to address in post-launch title updates. We will also use the extra time to complement the experience with a few high-impact secondary quests that will bring even more memorable.

Additionally, as a result of listening to player feedback on other topics, our new releases, starting with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, will again be available on Steam on launch day, in addition to being available on first parties’, Epic’s and Ubisoft’s stores. Also, we are currently rethinking our Season Pass model for our upcoming games. For Assassin’s Creed Shadows, all players will have access to the game at the same time, and those who have pre-ordered the game will get the first expansion for free.

Beyond the first important short-term actions that I’ve outlined above, the company’s top management will focus on accelerating the improvement of our production, communication, and publishing practices and processes in close collaboration with all these teams, with the objective to put players at the heart of all our decisions. We will regularly update you on the progress we’re making.

Lastly, I’d like to address the recent polarized coverage around our creative choices. We are an entertainment company. As such, our objective is not to endorse any specific agenda. Our mission has always been to entertain players and enrich their lives with original and memorable experiences, that resonate with a global audience.

This setback should not discourage us but serve as a learning experience and drive us to act even more quickly. More than ever, let’s continue to believe in our ability to bounce back, while approaching the challenges we face with lucidity and determination. I would like to thank you for your commitment and to reiterate my confidence in our collective ability to surprise and meet the expectations of a growing number of passionate players in the long term.

Yves

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It’s also been announced that Ubisoft’s Board will launch an investigation and review into the company to help improve its practices.