French video game company, Ubisoft, has released its financial report for the fiscal year 2023, revealing its plan to focus on its largest properties, including new releases across big brands and long-lasting live games. One of these properties is Assassin’s Creed, which has seen an increased player base and sales since the release of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla in 2020. As part of this new strategy, Ubisoft is planning to significantly increase the number of developers working on the franchise by 40% over the next few years to support the development of four new Assassin’s Creed games currently in development: Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Assassin’s Creed: Codename Hexe, Assassin’s Creed: Codename Red, and a mobile game, Assassin’s Creed: Codename Jade. Ubisoft is also working on an Assassin’s Creed mobile game in partnership with Netflix to coincide with the TV series plans.
According to VGC, the current headcount attached to Assassin’s Creed is around 2,000 people, which is 10% of Ubisoft’s total global workforce. An increase of 40% suggests that 2,800 people will be working on the franchise in a few years’ time. As part of this strategy, Ubisoft aims to release new games across its biggest brands and long-lasting live games.
Other Games on Ubisoft’s Slate
In addition to Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft reported positive growth in the player bases of its long-running live service games Rainbow Six Siege and The Division 2. It also reported a positive experience with the closed beta of its free-to-play multiplayer shooter XDefiant, which hosted over 1 million players. Ubisoft has several more games on its slate for the near future, including Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Mobile, Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence, The Crew Motorfest, and Skull and Bones. Just Dance remains a key franchise for the company, although the studio behind it recently reported challenging working conditions during the development of the latest title.
Ubisoft is hosting an Ubisoft Forward showcase as part of Summer Games Fest 2023, where it’s likely to reveal more about its upcoming lineup, and potentially reveal some new games, too. The company continues to explore ventures in NFTs, despite lacklustre results in the past, with a new line of Assassin’s Creed ‘Smart Collectables’ – physical collectables that come with a unique ‘Digital Soul’.
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