In a shocking announcement today, Ubisoft has cancelled the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake along with various other games, while also closing studios and unveiling a new strategy for the company going forward.
Ubisoft says it needs to "reclaim its creative leadership, regain agility and drive a sharp rebound" amidst a "continued shift toward a persistently more selective AAA market and an increasingly competitive shooter landscape". The company plans to focus on two key areas going forward — Open World Adventures and GaaS-native experiences.
Here's what the company's CEO, Yves Guillemot, had to say in a press release about this:
“On the one hand, the AAA industry has become persistently more selective and competitive with rising development costs and greater challenges in creating brands. On the other hand, exceptional AAA games, when successful, have more financial potential than ever. In this context, today we are announcing a major reset built to create the conditions for a return to sustainable growth over time. We are transforming Ubisoft’s operating model to produce exceptional quality games on the two core pillars of our strategy, Open World Adventures and GaaS-native experiences."
As part of this strategy, six games are being cancelled at Ubisoft including the Prince of Persia: Sands of TIme remake, which was previously expected to release at some point over the next few months. We don't know what the other games are, but the company says four of them were unannounced titles, and three were brand-new IPs.
"Ubisoft has discontinued 6 games that do not meet the new enhanced quality as well as more selective portfolio prioritization criteria at Group level. These include Prince of Persia The Sands of Time remake as well as 4 unannounced titles, including 3 new IP’s, and a mobile title."
Beyond this, seven upcoming games will be getting longer development times "to ensure enhanced quality benchmarks are fully met and maximize long-term value creation" (again, we don't know what these are, but it's believed "Black Flag Resynced" could be one of them). The two studios that are being closed are Ubisoft Halifax (a mobile studio) and Ubisoft Stockholm, and there have also been restructurings at Ubisoft Abu Dhabi, Ubisoft RedLynx (Trials) and Massive Entertainment (Star Wars Outlaws).
Ubisoft will now structure its operating model around five "Creative Houses", and these will focus on the following:
- CH1 (Vantage Studios), focused on scaling and extending Ubisoft’s largest and established franchises to turn them into annual billionaire brands;
- Brands: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Rainbow Six
- CH2 dedicated to competitive and cooperative shooter experiences;
- Brands including The Division, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell
- CH3 designed to operate a roster of select, sharp Live experiences;
- Brands including For Honor, The Crew, Riders Republic, Brawlhalla, Skull & Bones
- CH4 dedicated to immersive fantasy worlds and narrative-driven universes;
- Brands including Anno, Might & Magic, Rayman, Prince of Persia, Beyond Good & Evil
- CH5 focused on reclaiming position in casual and family-friendly games.
- Brands including Just Dance, Idle Miner Tycoon, Ketchapp, Hungry Shark, Invincible: Guarding the Globe, Uno, Hasbro
There's a lot more about all of this in the official press release if you're interested, including additional comments about why Ubisoft has decided to make this move and take drastic measures with the likes of the Sands of Time remake.
We'll leave you with some extra quotes from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot:
To put the Creative Houses in the best conditions to succeed, we decided to refocus our portfolio with a meaningfully revised 3-year roadmap and accelerate our cost reductions initiatives to rightsize the organization. We will discontinue several projects currently in development and provide additional time to certain games, to ensure enhanced quality and maximize long term value. We will also selectively close several studios and continue restructurings throughout the Group. While these decisions are difficult, they are necessary for us to build a more focused, efficient and sustainable organization over the long term.
Taken together, these measures mark a decisive turning point for Ubisoft and reflect our determination to confront challenges head-on to reshape the Group for the long term. The portfolio refocus will have a significant impact on the Group’s short term financial trajectory, particularly in fiscal years 2026 and 2027, but this reset will strengthen the Group and enable it to renew with sustainable growth and robust cash generation. Ubisoft is entering a new phase – one designed to reclaim creative leadership and build value for players and stakeholders over the long term.”