Ubisoft's a Far Cry From OK Right Now

Low stocks, low sales, maybe strikes? Oh my.

Author

Robert Scarpinito
September 27, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 9 minutes

Ubisoft’s stocks are taking a leap of faith, but it’s hard to tell if there’s a wagon full of hay at the bottom. Star Wars Outlaws didn’t perform spectacularly, despite our reviewer Erren Van Duine giving it a pretty good score. French union SJTV is calling for workers to strike, and AJ Investments is pushing harder for the company to sell itself to third parties.

This is hot off the heels of the 3-month delay of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which went from November to February for its release—the same month as Civilization VII, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and Monster Hunter Wilds.

Ubisoft has been the butt of open-world jokes for years now, notorious for making checklist-y games that are vast yet somehow empty. That reputation is slowly catching up with them, and there’s likely a lot of pressure riding on this upcoming Assassin’s Creed.

It’s ironic too, that it’s the “Assassin’s Creed but in Japan” game that’s in this position. Japan is arguably the setting most requested by fans. Now we’re in a post-Ghost of Tsushima world, where the bar climbs ever higher.

Tangentially related to Ubisoft’s woes, Sony had a big State of Play presentation this week to show off some new games—the big reveal being a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima. Ghost of Yōtei stars Erika Ishii as Atsu, and the game is set more than 300 years after Jin Sakai’s story.

In that same presentation, Capcom announced the release date for Monster Hunter Wilds, and Pocketpair surprise-launched Palworld on PS5 (but not in Japan, for legal reasons). And if you’re a big fan of the Lego Tallneck, you can see one reimagined in Lego Horizon Adventures in November.

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For $15 million, I should add. It’s all over the same plot of land it purchased in 2017 to stop former President Donald Trump from building “the wall.” This truly is the darkest timeline.

Did you know it was originally going to be like Mario Maker but for Zelda? When you think of the game mechanics, it all checks out, and it’s interesting seeing how it transformed into what it is today.

Eiji Aonuma did a series of interviews with Nintendo (along with other producers and designers) this week, dropping little nuggets of information about Zelda’s new adventure. She also originally wasn’t going to be the star of her own game.

What’s New This Week?

According to our reviewer Austin Suther, Lorn’s Lure is a unique take on precision platformers. Its mysterious world serves as the perfect setting for an exciting adventure that keeps enticing players into the unknown.

Mickey is back on the video game scene, but it’s not Kingdom Hearts. Instead, we get the old-school, full-of-mischief mouse, back for his remaster of Epic Mickey.