Who would have Thort it?
Ubisoft announced that 2020 releaseAssassin’s Creed Valhalla— the latest chapter in the long-running stealth-action franchise — has been an incredible success, turning the second-highest profit in the publisher’s entire history.
As revealed in Ubisoft’smost recent quarterly earnings report, the Viking epic, which celebrates its first anniversary next week, has already surged past the sales trend of every other release in theAssassin’s Creedseries, enjoying a higher “daily engagement” across PC and console platforms. Ubisoft plans to roll out content for the axe-swinging adventure across 2022, which should keep the die-hards in the audience looting and pillaging for a second year.
Elsewhere in the document, Ubisoft announced that its free-to-play titleThe Division: Heartland, as well as its development limbo remakePrince of Persia: Sands of Timeand music makerRocksmith+, have all been delayedto unspecified dates in 2022-2023.The remainder of Ubisoft’s 2021 slate, including alien shooterRainbow Six Extraction, Nintendo crossoverMario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, and pirate adventureSkull & Bonesare scheduled to meet their previously disclosed release dates.
The quarterly financial round-up comes the same week asa damning report from Kotaku, in which former and current Ubisoft employees claimed that their complaints about the company’s work culture remain mismanaged. In the summer of 2020, Ubisoft was placed under the microscope after miserable testimony ofsexual harassment, bullying, and discriminationwithin the company’s walls. While CEO Yves Guillemotreleased a video messagepromising to make Ubisoft a safer and more inclusive working environment, Kotaku’s source report continued frustration and dissatisfaction from several of the studio’s employees.
