Investing.com – Ubisoft Shares of the company (EPA:) fell more than 6% on Friday after another delay in the release of the Assassin’s Creed Shadows video game series and a downgrade of its fiscal 2025 guidance.
In its update, Ubisoft said it had appointed “lead advisors” to explore potential alternatives following a three-month review by its executive committee aimed at improving operational performance.
The move underscores an “aggressive stance” in addressing the company’s broader challenges, Stifel analysts said.
The highly anticipated Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which was originally scheduled to release in November, has now been delayed for the third time, with a new launch date set for March 20, 2025.
This marks yet another setback for one of Ubisoft’s flagship franchises. Analysts have expressed concern that repeated delays could impact the company’s momentum, despite management’s confidence in the company’s long-term potential.
In addition to the delay, Ubisoft lowered its fiscal 2025 net bookings forecast to €1.9 billion, representing an 18% year-on-year decline.
That’s down from its previous forecast of €1.95 billion, with the company blaming the shortfall on disappointing holiday sales, especially for Star Wars Outlaws, and the discontinuation of XDefiant.
The forecast for third-quarter net bookings was cut to 300 million euros, a 52% year-on-year decline and the lowest quarterly figure since fiscal 2006, Stiefel said.
Despite this, Ubisoft’s updated forecast forecast record net orders of €958 million in the fourth quarter, topping the previous year’s peak of €873 million.
However, analysts have questioned the feasibility of this goal, noting that it largely depends on Assassin’s Creed Shadows and new partnership opportunities.
Stifel further cut its estimates for Ubisoft, forecasting a loss of €0.44 per share in FY25 on net reserves of €1.838 billion, below previous expectations of a loss of €0.38 on €1.907 billion.
Despite forecasting net bookings for FY26 of 2.057 billion euros, analysts noted uncertainty around the release of a new Far Cry game, which is needed to achieve these goals.