Ubisoft Share Price Tumbles After Dire Sales Report

they made an Avatar game thats coming soon. ugh. bold move but prob guaranteed financial loss right there.

Surprised they didnt make a new Rayman. They got pretty big leverage out of Legends...

Bring back Petz and Imagine games again on Switch + PS4 / PS5 , please.

Interesting that Sparks of Hope underperformed. The first one was successful and the second one seemed to have improved on all aspects. Can't believe they delayed Skull and Bones again.

I'd think this is at least partially a consequence of their sales model. I haven't bought an Ubisoft game new in years because I know I can get it for around half off or less six months later--their games always seem to drop in price the fastest.

@SwitchVogel Yep, this is 100% it. I am in no rush to get Mario + Rabbids even though I want it, because I know it will eventually be in the eshop for dirt cheap. And if you like turn based strategy games you are already likely a patient person.

The stock market is at levels not seen since the crash of 2008. There’s a recession going on. Have you checked you 401k lately? They’re in the toilet. My Nintendo stock is at $10. That’s an almost $70 drop from just a short time ago. It’s not just Ubisoft.

@SwitchVogel Completely agreed. Last time I bought a full priced Ubi game was the original Mario + Rabbids and I learned my lesson there haha. I'm waiting for Sparks of Hope to dip to an appealing price because I know it eventually will. Not that I think they're bad games, I just know they'll inevitably go dirt cheap.

Ubisoft are ripe for sale if you ask me. Probably next on the purchase-block for Microsoft when/if the Activision deal goes through?

Pity Mario rabbids didn’t sell too well.

But Ubisoft, considering all the scummy things happening behind closed doors, has earned some poor sales

People stopped buying the same game with new textures? Did I just get isekai'd to an alternate dimesion where people make rational gaming decisions?

I gotta admit though, Ubisoft did have good games, like Grandia. Too bad it was 24 years ago. (Ok, Valiant Hearts and Child of Light were good too)

Trials Rising is still one of my favorite games - over a hundred hours in that.

I liked the first Mario Rabbids, but the second one looks so bland I skipped it (especially since it will be so cheap in the near future). Still not sure I'll get it if it's discounted to $20, unfortunately.

@SwitchVogel Exactly, for example I got AC Valhalla for 30€ 3 months after release. It's insane how fast those games drop in price

Just port Rayman Origins to Switch and remake or make new Rayman games. Also not bringing the Far Cry games to Switch ain't gonna help them either. Should had also not been lazy with the Prince of Persia 2 remake, now no one care about that game anymore. With how they screw Nintendo players with Rayman Legends on Wii U, UbiSoft totally deserve this downfall from Nintendo players by not buying their lousy Mario + Rabbids game.

Personally I was hoping they’d maybe double down on some historical fiction games after Assassin’s Creed. I’d love to play a Napoleonic FPS title.

@Thenewguy I can only speak for myself, but I imagine the amount of competition of people's attention played a part.

The first Mario and Rabbids released in summer (a time where typically fewer games released) on a relatively new system where people were begging for new experiences.

Conversely, the sequel released in a crowded October 2022 in which the Switch was getting a ton games fighting for people's time, including Bayonetta, Persona 5, Nier Automata, Overwatch 2, etc. And then we had the sales juggernaut of Pokemon only the following month.

I'm so tired of assassin's creed. It feels (to me) like the games have no point, anymore.

I was also very grumpy when they forced us to deal with their online account based stuff.

They canceled the snow boarding game I wanted to try and haven't put out a Prince of Persia in ages.

In short, they annoy me, and fail to bring things to the table that I care about, anymore.

Well, I certainly would've bought M+R day 1 if a certain character didn't ''go on vacation'' as they put it, but that decision made me wait for a sale, which I'm still gonna be waiting for. Probably even going to wait for the inevitable Gold edition, for that matter, maybe even wait for when THAT is on sale.

Pretty sure that Sparks of Hope was high in the EU eshop charts when it released but disappeared soon after. Personally picked it up in the New Year sale by combining a few offers to save..... some amount or another. Alcohol and mince pies had a big impact on my Christmas blow out.....

Good game though. Got the upcoming DLC as part of the sale too. KB DLC was grwat after all.

@Trickbaby14 Erm... When was Nintendo stock at $80? Or did you mean a $7 drop?

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope was a banger, but missed its audience.

If Ubisoft Milan is part of the divestment plan, Nintendo might see value in picking them up.

@smithyo both movies are going to make over $2 billion globally.

I would like to hav eplayed Sparks of Hope, but I have the first one and, while I thought it was good, I just...didn't really play it much. I have a backlog anyway....

I picked up Sparks of Hope, I feel it lacks the Nintendo worlds and leans heavily into Rabbids making it less appealing to those who loved the first.

But also I can't remember seeing any ADs for the game. So Marketing wasn't that great.

But all and all I don't buy that many Ubisoft games at launch. I mean I've been given every Assassin's Creed game through some promotion or another, besides the last one that I got for 20 bucks weeks after launch, played through and then traded in for 40.

The issue at hand is also the buying habits of gamers are changing. GamePass and PS+ is taking a lot of users time. Nintendo is already very late on its base online services, now its even worst. The economy also is not helping as many decided to hold from buying any new games (again GP and PS+ comes into play).

I will buy Sparks of Hope as I loved the original game, but no game now is worth paying 80$ CND when there is such an offering of services. I will buy Sparks of Hope down the line...just not right now.

A shame that they were disappointed with Sparks of Hope's sales. I hope it isn't because of some vast overestimation on their part. Not to mention it's a Ubisoft game, folks won't have to wait long for it to hit $20.

I was hoping Mario+Rabbids would become a semi-regular series from them. With Rayman dead, can't say I care too much about any of Ubisoft's other games. Dabbled a bit in the Assassin's Creed games on Switch, they're okay I suppose. That series was Ubisoft's biggest money maker and they even had to slow down on that series after releasing like 37 games in a decade.

I mean, I love Mario + Rabbids, but that type of game is a REAL stretch to be a top seller. Not everyone is into turn based strategy.

Maybe Nintendo should buy Ubisoft…? In terms of the bigger companies, they seem to align well with them in terms of IP diversity. We

I bought the Gold edition of Sparks of Hope day one (on sale) and it is absolutely better than the first game.
My favourite new Mario series in a looooong time.
I hope they keep making them because they're worth every cent.
So much content too.

Shame that most people are waiting because that will probably end the series due to low sales.
Hopefully Nintendo keep partnering with them as like I said, this is the best Mario series in ages imo.

They probably cancelled the next three Splinter Cell games even though they haven’t started them just to make sure they don’t accidentally make something people want to play.

@kuliddar I’m kind of glad Nintendo has adopted that model for the old games. So many NES, SNES and N64 games on NSO aren’t ones that were going to be worth ANY time or money for VC. I hope they don’t adopt it any time soon for Switch games. I think physical (and digital) game sales are hanging on by Nintendo, Sony and Steam/Epic/GOG (digital only). Game Pass has ruined Xbox in my eyes, I love the service, but it has REALLY curbed my Xbox buying habits.

I knew Spark of Hope would fail... I said it and meant it and it is so.

Too much and too soon -no matter how good either game is. They blew their chance at a generational franchise by shoving it out there. I liked the first game though never made it to the end.- a sequel was not needed when there is so much variety and quality to play NEWNESS is important. SoH not exciting -even for fans of Kingdom Battle

1.The first Rabbids has better graphics than the sequel. Going open world required a noticeable downgrade visually.
2. Beyond the initial reveal, the first Rabbids got a lot of attention for the singing boss that was funny and unique (apart from Great Mighty Poo). The sequel had no similar viral draw.
3. The sequel was made easier than the first.
4. The character Edge is super off-putting and doesn't blend either with Mario or the Rabbids.

Obviously this Ubisoft loss has to do with more than Sparks of Hope, but the reality is that a Mario licensed game should have been a gold mine but they botched it in some obvious ways.

And as others have said, they devalue their own games by discounting them so rapidly. That sales model can only work for so long before customers get savvy.

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika Mario + Rabbids, the best installments in the X-COM series.

That's also the problem. They make games that are worth much less than the starting prices, so people don't feel inclined to buy them ASAP. And then they have to be on sales, and people buy them for 1/3rd of the initial price.

I can’t help but feel beyond good and evil 2 is in that cancelled game list. Hope not!

Maybe Sony should buy them and then they can stop crying over the Call of Duty *****.

Speaking as someone who really enjoyed the last Mario + Rabbids this is well deserved, may Ubisoft and the other big corps who abuse their employees continue to suffer.

It's a real shame, honestly and I'm sure I would have dug the new game too but I just cannot spend my money on any game they put out knowing what their execs have been up to.

Imagine complaining about other "mega-brands" in gaming when you're literally one of the companies that's known for the focusing almost exclusively on their same 4-5 mega brands and leaving everything else to rot. You'd think with the popularity of retro games & collections right now, an HD Collection of the first 3 Rayman games as a budget release would be easy money. But nope, all or nothing on Assassin's Creed & just Dance as usually.

Everyone has learned that Ubi always has heavy discounts on almost new games that one can just wait a couple of weeks until the games are half price. Nintendo is the best at keeping their games valuable by not discounting to early or too much. Not always good for consumers but it definately helps them keep their games premium.

I think Ubisoft is the only company besides Nintendo that I bought more than one Wii U game from, so I appreciate their contributions during that dark era. Haven't had much use for them since then, though. Tried and quit the first Mario + Rabbids, and none of their live service stuff appeals to me at all.

Seems like if they want to make money, they should release more games instead of cancelling them all.

As said, most of us want to get Mario & Rabbids 2, it seems to be a great game, but come on, we all know Ubisoft already, their games go on huge sale just a few months after being released. I can wait for that game, no rush, I know I'll get it for 20 bucks in just a couple months.
Not to mention October was PACKED with great games such as Bayonetta 3, Persona 5, Nier Automata and No Man's Sky...

What? How much is Sparks of Hope selling? according to VGChartz at least, how does it compare to Kingdom Battle?

mario plus rabbits sparks of hope has been on sale for a few months now i picked it up..

Sparks of Hope looks great...
...and it is space themed (which typically doesn't do as well in a casual marketplace)
...and they discounted the first one SO HEAVILY after I bought it that I wouldn't consider buying Sparks of Hope until it is <$20 - and the problem is by then I may be busy playing something else (I don't understand why Ubisoft and others discount their games so heavily - but I'm sure they do).

Their games have some quality content, but most of them are so bloated you get bored between the greatness.

Too bad Mario Rabbits didn’t deliver for them, but it’s a niche game, sonI wonder what the actual results are.

Also, they devalue their games so quickly, it’s weird that ANYONE buys them full price.

I may be part of the problem they themselves have caused. But again, the real reason I haven't gotten Sparks of Hope is because I'm not sure if I'll fully commit to it. I haven't finished Kingdom Battle, let alone the Donkey Kong DLC.

@Skunkfish nope. Just about a year ago it was $78 a share. I bought it for 29 in 2016 now it’s 10. 6-30-22. I try not to look too often because it gets depressing watching it tumble to the ground.

Sparks of Hope was on sale already for $30 after Xmas. I picked it up then, but it will probably drop further.

I cancelled 2 Ubisoft games after they killed access to updates that had already been paid for and redownload access to games already purchased.

Wonder why they are having a hard time...

Kingdom Battle always went on sale, which I predicted would happen before it launched. The new game is likely suffering at launch because more people realize they can get it cheaper.

@Skunkfish @Trickbaby14 Nintendo recently did a stock split. 5-1 for the OTC stock NTDOY, which I’m assuming you own. You should have 5x more shares at current price.

As far as I know Ubisoft has like 20.000 employees. With that kind of size they should have a game out every month, but they are not for some time now. How hard this is for the people involved, yes I think Ubi needs to shrink in order to survive and concentrate on a few heavy hitters.

@shining_nexus, yup and let's not forget exchange rate difference if calculating Yen to $ then and now.

I might have been interested in Sparks of Hope if it didn’t come with another long term DLC plan that was clearly conceived for nothing else than profit. They must know people are waiting for a 3D Rayman, and then they just come with some lame DLC appearance? No thanks, Ubi. You got plenty of money out of me already from that other series of games you’ve milked to death.
How about trying to make some sincere games games again? Everything they make feels very much like a commercial product now.

typical Nintendo fans ignoring quality games because its not the traditional 3D/2D Mario and Zelda, Pokemon, Animal Crossing and Splatoon

@Pod Ha! I thought the same thing. Obviously trying to cut expenses but if they had that little faith that those games weren't going to drive revenue should have canned them well before this point. Perhaps that's the whole problem.
1st Mario and Rabbids was super good, but it was kind of a nice surprise. No reason to think the 2nd was going to pay for annual bonuses at chez ubi. Sounds like there was a lot of hopeful thinking among the planners

@PinderSchloss Yep. Totally sick of the DLC at launch BS. Aclt least pretend it's 'extra' content and not, you know, the 2nd half of the game you're charging full price for.

How can a game be delayed to “early 2023-24”? Is it only the early part of both of those years? What about late 2023?

Sparks of Hope was an amazing game. But I agree with everyone who is blaming the Ubisoft sales. They've conditioned us not to buy games on day 1.

I got my copy, but that’s all that I’ve purchased from Ubisoft in years. Their other games don’t appeal to me anymore.

I enjoy seeing Ubisoft lose money. It's deserved with what a trash fire of a company it is, both from a marketing level and in terms of all the crimes they've covered up.

I think that Ubisoft is very popular for lowering its prices sooner than they should, I will never forget how fast they put on sale Fenyx Rising after just a few weeks after launch, it seemed like a very bad treatment and lack of respect for all those customers who did pay full price for that title. Ubisoft has earned its reputation of giving away their games very cheap very soon. I am actually looking forward for the new mario rabbids to cost about 10 usd just because of this reputation. Another issue I see with this company is that they think quantity equals quality, there is no need to create 100 + hour games if as a result you get a more of the same repetitive experience as the one you get with all assasins creed titles. I would gladly pay 70 usd for the same game with a duration of 30 hours average or less.

@SwitchVogel

SEGA/Atlus games drop in price just as fast, if not faster. I’m a massive SEGA fanboy, but I can’t justify buying their games at full price when they’re available for a discount within mere weeks of release. Happened with Sonic Frontiers, SMTV, Persona 5 Royal, etc.

@shoeses Oh man, I would love to see an HD collection of the first three Rayman games.

@Trickbaby14 You do realize the stock was completely restructured, right? You also now own way more shares.... a share of stock of Nintendo today does not represent what it did before the stock split.

I don't know how much it affected the sales figures, but Mario & Rabbids: Sparks of Hope just didn't "click" for me the way the original did on multiple levels. The encounter (non-story-based) maps were overly simple to the point of being an afterthought; many could be cleared within a single turn. The combo of Luigi (range, Steely Stare), Peach (Shield, wide-field weapon), and Rabbid Peach (Healing) was so OPed that frankly the rest of the characters were ignored most of the game. The worlds and secondary characters were, as previous posters have mentioned, far too Rabbids-centric; much of the humor fell flat and, unlike the first game, I found myself ignoring the "back stories" of the murals and other "points of interest" because they were neither funny nor interesting.

That's not to say Sparks of Hope is a bad game; it has a lengthy campaign and some clever puzzles along with some good battle maps...albeit fewer in number and with far less tactical or aesthetic variety than its predecessor. While the upcoming Rayman DLC should add some value, overall I think Ubisoft missed a big opportunity here by an overt focus on their own IPs instead of Nintendo's. If Sparks of Hope had visited, say, the worlds of Zelda, Metroid, or other major Nintendo franchises and had their principal characters as allies and antagonists, I imagine its sales figures would have been far greater.

Alas, due to how things turned out, that's a dream we may never get to see become a reality.

I don’t remember the last Ubisoft game I purchased… must have been a long time ago.

The problem with Ubisoft games is that they get on sale too fast , I didn’t buy sparks of hope cause I am waiting for it to go on sale and I already have plenty of games to play.

sighs
Skull and Bones would've been interesting, kinda forgotten about it for years now. I couldn't stay into Assassin's Creed IV, but I liked the whole pirate thing.

@sketchturner They even removed the rank at the end of each Battle and the characters can't damage each other if they are too close.

Also, the game is a bit shorter than the First One and half of the Playtime are sidequest that add nothing to the game (did we really need those "Kill 3 Rabbids" kind of sidequest?), when in the First Mario Rabbids we had a ton of interesting challenges that made you really have to learn the Battle System.

Really the game itself is fine, but it's just so unbearably easy that ends up not fun at all.
And I'm surprised that no reviewer mentioned that.

As long as they still haven't canceled Beyond Good & Evil 2. Surely that game is so far in development by now that they could release it at any point! ...Right?

@RadioHedgeFund oh man one could dream right? Seriously why is every company trying to make or find a massive universe to make oodles of spin offs and sequels in? You already have the most richest and spinoff worthy universe there is. History!

@smithyo how is that guaranteed loss? Avatar literally just released one of the biggest movies of all time and the franchise is only going to grow.

@SwitchVogel yes that is true but maybe - hear me out here - just maybe people are sick of the same game designs and want something new. How many times does one need to play an assassins creed or just dance? ACs and the like are all just slogs...

Turns out when you have a reputation of putting your games for $12, people don’t want to pay full price at launch.

even though m+r 2 had a lot better core gameplay, everything around it was worse. the whole meta game felt like ubisoft, full of soulless fetch quest and grind... the whole game was just not fresh enough to stand out in the crowded winter month

If they want my money, they could port Beyond Good and Evil. Or some of their numerous N64 platformers.

@smithyo Nothing says "guaranteed financial loss" like a game based on the biggest movie of all time and it's sequel, which is set to join the top 5 very shortly, and will probably end up as number 3.

A lot of people living in a bubble who still think nobody cares about Avatar based on all these likes.

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika Ok maybe rabbids games are worth more than the rest, I agree.

I tried to replay Far Cry 3 last year. Could make it to the 1/4th of the game before the feeling of being made fun of for buying a game with copypaste content got overwhelming.

Well maybe they should make something more interesting than generic open world game with a different skin filled with micro transactions

@Ladasta that setup is also kinda nice though for customers because we can buy games at launch and not feel the risk of buyers remorse in a few months time when there's a complete edition or a discounted edition of what we paid full price for available for a few euro. Also kinda agree with people here who say Ubisoft have burned customers in other ways with awful dlc and free to play nonsense. They need to cop on a bit

@lechugajr
It's like the Ubi heads are having a weird moment of "Huh, Nintendo players DON'T always want to buy the same thing again?! But we thought- "

And exactly as you said, their faith in their unannounced projects seems be hitting an all time low, despite already being known for cancelling 80+ percent of what they greenlight.

The timing for Mario+Rabbids 2 launch was terrible ... a very crowded October for Switch owners, with Bayonetta 3, Persona 5, Nier Automata ... Ubisoft should have waited a few months before releasing it.
I´m sure the game would get way more attention from players if it was launched now or February

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. I kinda liked the FC5, nice music and this outdoor'y feeling in the mountains.

Played middle earth game the one with nemesis system and it bored me so much that I couldn't even struggle to complete it. That was back when I used to think completing boring games would somehow repay me the sunk costs of buying and wasting time on them

So they are disappointed with Sparks of Hope sales? Ehmmm... they cut Couch-Coop and Battle Grid. So while I think Kingdom Battle is one of the best Switch games to this day I don't even think about buying Sparks of Hope.
Just an example.
Else... same old story since years. UBIs on the edge as they where 10 years ago. Nothing new.

Ubisoft blew it with the switch. They could have milked the Switch by porting over games like Farcry 3 and 4, Assassins creed Syndicate, Unity, the Anno (1404 being the best/perfect)series, and the other military games (I forget what they are called). It's Ridiculous how these games are not on the Switch considering they have global studios. What on earth are they all working on lol...

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika yeah I just completely skipped it, since it's not an integral part of the game, I mean you can beat the game without playing with this system so I didn't really bring myself to care

@Magician Xbox will try buying PlayStation soon . Xbox tag line ' if you can't beat it buy it' I reckon they'e got a monopoly board at hq. They play in boardroom with g game developers name on it. Wonder what you get for going past go?

Ubisoft management protect abusers. They can all get in a toilet.

I don't understand why ubisoft didn't realize what most gamers want with skull & bones, they just want assassin creed black flag without the futuristic stuff, just a normal assassin creed-like pirate game without the assassin creed story!

@Buizel Could be but I don't see all those games in direct competition with the audience Sparks of Hope are aiming for. I'm guessing Pokemon took everything. Haha.

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika

I literally disagree with pretty much everything...people have different tastes.
Far Cry can still be a lot of fun, Shadow of War completely lost me and Immortals: Fenyx Rising was one of my favorite games last gen.
I also don't really see how MGS5 fits as a competitor...

@EaglyTheKawaiiShika I've heard some people saying the same thing. So you either enjoy playing with the Nemesis system and you enjoy the game as a whole, or it just doesn't click with you. Sounds about right