Ubisoft has confirmed that it is currently undergoing "strategic reorganization", following rumors that it's closing down some European offices.
As reported by NME (via GamesIndustry.Biz), Ubisoft has said that it is currently going through a "strategic reorganization of its European business subsidiaries." This statement, from a Ubisoft spokesperson, follows a rumor that the company has plans to close one of its European offices, more specifically its one in Benelux, The Netherlands on April 1, 2023.
According to a post on Resetera a few days ago (March 3, 2023), employees of Ubisoft Benelux received an email that read: "As we all know, the market is constantly evolving and as an organization we need to keep up with it. At this time, Ubisoft is facing several challenges due to external factors, such as the decline in sales volume of physical games in favor of digital sales, the centralization of marketing by digitizing all our communication channels, the shift from major retail releases to F2P, mobile and seasonal games and less major physical shows."
The email continues: "To meet the challenges of the future, Ubisoft's management has decided to close a number of subsidiaries in Europe. Unfortunately, the Ubisoft Benelux entity is subject to the intended closure with most employees departing as of April 1st, 2023," the snippet reportedly provided by an employee ends: "Due to the closure, Ubisoft BV will fully outsource the current distribution of physical games in the Benelux to a distributor to be announced at a later stage."
When reached out to by NME, a Ubisoft spokesperson explained: "Ubisoft’s publishing group is working on a strategic reorganization of its European business subsidiaries. This process is ongoing and we don’t have any more detail to share at this stage" - which doesn't really confirm nor deny that Ubisoft Benelux, or any of its other European subsidiaries, are set to be closed down in the not-too-distant future.
It's not been a great time for Ubisoft after the company's CEO was recently criticized for putting the responsibility on staff following several Ubisoft games underperforming. This came right after the company's upcoming pirate game Skull & Bones was delayed once again and multiple other Ubisoft projects were reportedly canceled. It's not all bad though, as Ubisoft still has an unannounced "large, premium" game for the year ahead.
To find out what else we've got to look forward to, take a look at our new games 2023 list.
