Ubisoft is expected to unveil earnings on Wednesday that show a recovery largely thanks to the enduring success of its flagship Assassin’s Creed franchise, helping the French gaming company rebound from a year riddled with setbacks.
The full-year results for Ubisoft’s 2024–25 financial year, due after the close of trading on the Paris stock exchange at 15:30 GMT, follow a significant turnaround. After posting a loss of nearly half a billion euros in 2022–23, the company is projected to have returned to profitability, with net income approaching €158 million.
Over the past year, Ubisoft suffered several disappointments. Its anticipated release Star Wars Outlaws underperformed commercially, and the multiplayer shooter XDefiant was cancelled. These setbacks, combined with flagging game shipments, pushed the company’s stock to its lowest point in over a decade by April.
But Assassin’s Creed Shadows, released on 20 March and set in feudal Japan, has breathed new life into the publisher’s fortunes. The game has already attracted over three million players and has become the second best-selling title of 2025 so far in the United States, according to data firm Circana.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told French senators this month that the financial results would be “balanced” this year, during a parliamentary inquiry into state aid given to large corporations.
Franchise Restructure
In response to ongoing challenges, Ubisoft announced in late March a major restructuring plan, including the creation of a dedicated subsidiary to manage its three top franchises: Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six.
Roughly 3,000 of Ubisoft’s 17,000 global staff will be assigned to this new entity. While it won’t own the rights to the game series, the subsidiary will pay royalties to Ubisoft’s main business to use the brands.
The move followed an agreement with Chinese tech titan Tencent, which invested €1.16 billion for a 25 percent stake in the new venture. The subsidiary is now valued at over €4 billion — double the market value of Ubisoft as a whole.
According to Morningstar analyst Martin Szumski, spinning off Ubisoft’s most valuable properties was “the least committal of the available options without simply returning to shareholders empty-handed.”
However, the plan did little to reverse the company’s declining share price. Since January, shares have fallen over 12 percent, with broader market concerns including the threat of US tariffs adding to investor worries.
Leadership and Labour Tensions
While the new structure increases Tencent’s influence within Ubisoft, Guillemot has insisted he will retain control of the subsidiary. But analysts say if the investment fails to deliver substantial results, Tencent could seek to acquire Ubisoft outright — a move that would likely face strong resistance from the Guillemot family, who founded and still control the firm.
Ubisoft has already been undergoing a cost-cutting programme since 2023, involving the closure of several studios abroad and a hiring freeze that sees only one in three departing employees replaced.
As of September 2024, the company was carrying €1.4 billion in debt. Labour unrest has also added to its woes, with up to a quarter of its 4,000-strong French workforce walking out last year over pay disputes and remote working conditions.
Despite the temporary lifeline provided by Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Ubisoft’s path forward remains uncertain, with its leadership under pressure to use Tencent’s backing to bring about a more sustainable transformation.