May 16 (Reuters) – French video game maker Ubisoft (UBIP.PA) posted its biggest operating loss in its history on Tuesday but said it will refocus on blockbuster titles for the current fiscal year. persisted.
The maker of the hit “Rainbow Six” series posted a full-year non-IFRS operating loss of €502 million ($550.6 million), in line with the targets announced in its earnings warning in January.
The family-run company has been plagued by cancellations and postponements of games in recent years, with research and development costs costing it about €500 million in write-downs in 2022.
“As part of a progressive reallocation of resources, we will increase the number of people working on the Assassin’s Creed brand by 40% over the next few years,” co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot said in a statement. I have a plan in place,” he said.
Ubisoft said its total workforce fell below 20,000 on Tuesday, down from 20,700 at the end of September, after it announced a €200 million cost-cutting plan in a January earnings alert.
Chief Financial Officer Frédéric Duguet said on a conference call with media that 80 percent of the job loss was due to voluntary retirement.
The group announced plans to integrate generative artificial intelligence (AI) into game development after announcing Ghostwriter, an in-house AI tool designed to create first drafts of non-playable character dialogue, in March. expressed again.
The Paris-listed publisher has confirmed a full-year core profit forecast of around €400 million and expects first-quarter net bookings of around €240 million.
Ubisoft’s 2023-2024 lineup includes Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the new installment in the company’s flagship series, as well as the long-delayed Skull & Bones and Avatar: Pandora’s Frontier. The company didn’t provide a specific schedule for the release.
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Reported by Victor Goury-Laffont and Enrico Sciacovelli.Editing: Jean Harvey
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