Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot faced pugnacious questions from immoderate exhausted and fed-up unit astir caller missteps and aboriginal plans successful a company-wide Q&A league connected Wednesday. The gathering comes conscionable a week aft the Assassin’s Creed publisher announced new cancellations, delays, and cost-cutting measures, and told employees “the shot is successful your court” to assistance get the $3 cardinal institution backmost connected track.

“The shot is present successful our court—for years it has been successful your tribunal truthful wherefore did you mishandle the shot truthful severely truthful we, the workers, person to hole it for you?” work 1 upvoted question connected a database submitted successful beforehand done firm connection channels and viewed by Kotaku. It was a notation to a present infamous email Guillemot sent to unit past week that appeared to displacement blasted for the publisher’s caller mistakes and clasp lower-level employees accountable for fixing the situation.

Guillemot opened the gathering by apologizing. “I heard your feedback and I’m atrocious this was perceived that way,” Guillemot said, according to sources contiguous who were not authorized to talk to press. “When saying ‘the shot is successful your court’ to present our lineup connected clip and astatine the expected level of quality, I wanted to convey the thought that much than ever I request your endowment and vigor to marque it happen. This is simply a corporate travel that starts of people with myself and with the enactment squad to make the conditions for each of america to win together.”

The gathering comes aft a peculiarly mediocre 2022 for the planetary steadfast which included nary marquee blockbuster arsenic respective projects were delayed, trapped successful improvement hell, oregon shipped and failed to find an audience. “It appears that absorption is retired of interaction with games saying that we request to accommodate to an evolving industry,”?” work 1 of the questions for the gathering that received hundreds of upvotes. “Why are we chasing trends alternatively of mounting them?”

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Those trends could see the company’s 2021 misadventure with NFTs oregon its concern with the now-defunct Google Stadia streaming service. It could besides picture the publisher’s caller contention to vessel aggregate free-to-play spin-offs of existing franchises and a crowded slate of conflict royale and hero-based shooters. Some of these, similar Hyper Scape and Roller Champions, person already launched and struggled to find audiences. Others similar The Division Heartland were announced a portion agone and person yet to really travel out.

Ghost Recon: Frontline is different example. Revealed successful 2021, it looked similar a rip-off of Call of Duty Warzone but with immoderate caller gameplay twists. Internal investigating reportedly revealed that it did so play similar a Call of Duty Warzone rip-off and Ubisoft decided to tin it past summertime on with 3 different projects, leaving Ghost Recon fans scratching their heads and developers disillusioned.

In today’s meeting, Guillemot spoke of doubling down connected Ubisoft’s halfway franchises similar Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and its Tom Clancy games, including Rainbow Six Siege, whose imaginable the CEO compared to Riot Games’ Valorant. Some spot it arsenic a retreat not conscionable from chasing trends but from experimentation arsenic well. “We request to admit that the trends are for mega brands,” said Marie-Sophie de Waubert, elder vice president of workplace operations, erstwhile asked astir wherefore the institution didn’t prosecute much varied, smaller games similar Anno 1800.

One large criticism of Ubisoft successful caller years has been the deficiency of saltation betwixt sequels and an over-reliance connected an open-world blueprint that bleeds implicit from franchise to franchise. When pressed astir the deficiency of inventiveness, Guillemot pointed to Far Cry 6 arsenic a “good quality” crippled that was inactive considered “not innovative enough.” It remains unclear however Ubisoft volition juggle the fund demands and accumulation complexity of its large blockbusters with originative risks going forward.

Kotaku understands that developers on some of the precocious canceled projects volition pivot to helping vessel games similar Assassin’s Creed Mirage, a smaller and much accepted introduction successful the stealth enactment series. Originally planned arsenic an Assassin’s Creed Valhalla expansion, Mirage grew into a full-fledged game successful portion retired of the request to plug holes successful Ubisoft’s merchandise calendar. Instead it slipped into the fiscal twelvemonth starting successful April 2023, on with Skull and Bones and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Guillemot precocious called that lineup and what comes beyond it the champion successful the company’s history, though if its caller past is immoderate indication, it’s improbable to spell precisely arsenic planned.

Ubisoft did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.