Ubisoft believes new games struggle amidst shifting consumer behavior
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Key points
- Ubisoft’s UK financial filing concludes new games are struggling to stand out.
- One of the core reasons is the shift away from traditional full-price releases.
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Alternative models, such as Game Pass and live-service titles, are being increasingly played.
Ubisoft filed a financial report that concludes that many new games are struggling to stand out amidst shifting consumer behavior. This conclusion was attributed to the shift away from traditional full-price releases, and the rise of alternative models of pay.
Consumers are now looking towards multi-game subscription services, such as Game Pass, Amazon Prime, and Netflix Games, while long running live-service games are remaining popular among gamers. Examples of such titles are Fortnite, which recently saw a massive resurgence of players thanks to the Fortnite mini season, and League of Legends, which celebrated its worlds tournament earlier this month. Both live-service examples are free-to-play games.
Only a few exceptions are able to break out of the trend, according to Ubisoft. One example of a successful new title with a traditional full-price release would be Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, a title that became the most nominated title in the history of The Game Awards. The RPG landed 12 nominations out of a total of 29 categories, and surpassed 5 million units sold worldwide. Expedition 33 was published by Kepler Interactive, and developed by Sandfall Interactive.
