Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope Didn’t Sell Well This Christmas, Ubisoft Says

Times are complicated for Ubisoft, which is currently going through one of its biggest financial crises. In full internal restructuring for a few months, in particular after the accusations of sexual harassment within the company, the French publisher must face a change in consumption on the part of the players. 2022 will have been a very quiet year for Ubisoft, with a lot of postponements and very few games released this year. The two big titles on which the French company was betting to spend Christmas peacefully were Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Just Dance 2023. Unfortunately, the two games did not enjoy the expected and usual success, to the point that Yves Guillemot is surprised by the very lukewarm reception perceived by consumers. In the latest financial report, the CEO of Ubisoft says to himself “surprised by the underperformance of Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope in the final weeks of 2022 and early January”before adding “which Just Dance 2023 also underperformed.”

Faced with these disappointing sales, drastic decisions have been taken and we learn that 3 games not yet announced have been canceled. Although Ubisoft will try to do everything to raise the bar for the years to come, it nevertheless specifies that its back-catalogue remains very healthy, with in particular a robust activity of Rainbow Six Siege, a great dynamic for our Assassin’s Creed games, and a generally solid performance of their Live games. This overall underperformance had a direct impact on the stock market, with the French publisher’s share price dropping by almost 20%. We also recall that the Chinese Tencent approached the Guillemot brothers this summer, taking a 49% stake in Guillemot Holding. Will Ubisoft manage to hold out long before its complete takeover by the Chinese giant?