You be there

Ubisoft is making? plans to be at this year's E3. Following comments from the publisher during an investor's call, Ubisoft has confirmed it will be in attendance at E3 2023.

During an investor's call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot responded to an inquiry on whether the company would be in attendance at this year's event. "If E3 happens, we will be there and we will have a lot of things to show," said Guillemot at the time.

In a follow-up to GamesIndustry.biz, Ubisoft clarifies the wording:

"E3 is a special moment for our industry and we are excited to showcase our str?ong line-up in Los Angeles in June. We are still finalizing the details of our plans and look forward to sharing more soon."

It's a good clarification, at least, for those who may have thought E3 was changing things up once again following Guillemot's comment. ReedPop did reaffirm that E3 is "full speed ahead" after Guillemot's initial comment, but with this clarification, that's at least one company that looks set to show something in Los Angeles. [Disclosure: I was previously employed at USgamer, a former ReedPop website.]

The summer of games awaits

Questions of who's attending E3 2023 are still up in the air. An IGN report confirmed Sony, Nintendo, and Xbox wouldn't be on the show floor, though Microsoft is planning to host a summer showcase in Los Angeles.

The current plan has E3 2023 running from June 13 through 16 in Los Angeles, with both industry and consumer days planned.

Meanwhile, Ubisoft says it is bringing a "strong line-up" to bear for its Los Angeles showing. The publisher has been on a bit of a roller-coaster, announcing a bevy of Assassin's Creed projects while also cancelling a number of unannounced projects and delaying Skull and Bones. It'll be interesting to see what? it sh?ows up with in June.

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The executive is forgoing about a third of his annual compensation

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot is taking a pay cut of ab??out a third o??f his annual compensation for the coming year. The slash underscores how Ubisoft seems to be going through some hard times.

According to an Ubisoft filing reported on by Axios, Guillemot will forgo about â‚?10,607 (or roughly $327,000) he would have recei??ved over the next year.

This particular amount was linked to both Ubisoft's financial performance and the execution of its reforms, meant to address the company's misconduct scandals that arose in 2020.

"This is a personal decision by Yves Guillemot, which he took co??nsidering that the company had not reached the financial targets that it had publicly ?communicated to the markets," an Ubisoft representative told Axios.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFzsANuSbdw

Sailing through rough waters

Ubisoft has been in some hot water for a while. Last year, employee turnover was reportedly unusually high. And an open petition last November called for leadership to meet workers' demands for fundament??????????????????????????al change at the company.

Even on the game release front, Ubisoft has been having some trouble. Ghost Recon Breakpoint feels like it was the start of it, failing to meet expectations for the shooter series. The Prince of Persia remake was quietly moved to a new release window. And Roller Champions finally went live to surprisingly little fanfare.

This pay cut underscores the tough times Ubisoft is navigating at the moment. The company has a few games on the docket, like Avatar and Skull & Bones, though its launch calendar ??for those isn't clear?? yet.

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Keep it in The Family

In a timeline where a wide variety of studios and publishers appear to be selling up, AAA studio Ubisoft appears to be doubling down on the concept of self-ownership. According to a report by SeekingAlpha, Ubisoft?'s founding family, The Guillemots, are considering outright purchasing the company themselves.

Ubisoft was established in 1986 by the five Guillemot brothers, with Yves currently situated as CEO, a role that he has occupied since 1988. The then-"Ubi Soft" was formed as a general multimedia company, before soon diverting its sole focus to home computers and gaming. Today, Ubisoft is one of gaming's most recognized developers, having helmed hugely successful franchises such as Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Rainbow Six Siege, and The Division.

Despite being the founders of the company, the Guillemot family's stake in Ubisoft currently sits around 16% of ownership and 22% of voting shares. Following a Bloomberg report that suggests ?Ubisoft might be looking for a new owner, it is believed that the Guillemots are looking for partnership equity with which to purchase the publisher. According to Bloomberg, the Guillemots' closest competition is investment firm Blackstone, which already holds stock in major companies such as Google and Epic Games.

Ubisoft has come under scrutiny in recent years following reports of sexual harassment, abuse, and other toxic behavior within the studio. Despite promises to improve the health and safety of its huge international base of employees, in-house campaigners "A Better Ubisoft" insist that little progress has been made since the initial?? allegations came to light, way back?? in the summer of 2020.

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Yeah, this is a thing, I guess

Ubisoft held its earnings call for the quarter last week, and alongside addressing its financials and upcoming slate of games, its ex??ecutives also discussed the blockchain. Ubisoft is getting into the blockchain business??.

The company had already been looking into the blockchain space with an investment in Animoca Brands, which develops games like The Sandbox. Ubisoft is also a founding me??mber of the Blockchain Game Alliance.

In last week's earnings report, Ubisoft highlighted these facts. It also discussed how the ??company will continue to explore the blockchain space:

"This long-range exploration ties in with Ubisoft’s constant search for innovatio??n and new ways to empower players as true stakeholders of its worlds. It also gives Ubisoft the perspective to reflect on the best ways to overcome blockchain’s initial limitations for gaming around sustainability and scalab?ility."

On its earnings call, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot confirmed that Ubisoft wants to both invest in blockchain companies and work on organically creating its own games, too. Here's Guillemot with some more to say on how it might end up in Ubisoft games in the future (thanks, IGN):

"[Blockchain] will enable more play-to-earn that will enable more players to actually earn content, own content, and we think it's going to grow ??the industry quite a lot. So w?e've been working with lots of small companies going on blockchain and we're starting to have a good know-how on how it can impact the industry, and we want to be one of the key players there."

Ubisoft has been wrestling with its own demons, as a new report says employees are frustrated with the lack of progress at the company following reports of a toxic internal culture. And both NFTs and the blockchain are a technology that's been hotly debated, with many sound concerns voiced over their proliferation. CFO Frédérick Duguet did note tho??se criticisms, mentioning the importance of learning about the "impact on environment?s."

I suppose we'll see how this pans out for Ubisoft g??ames t?o come.

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The workers say the majority of their demands were "sidelined"

Ubisoft staff have released a follow-up statement this week, responding to CEO Yves Guillemot's response to an open letter filed earlier in the week. In their new statement, the workers of Ubisoft say they have read and acknowledged the public respon??se, but found the majority of their demands had been sidelined and few points were addressed.

The letter, shared by Axios' Stephen Totilo, addresses Guillemot's recognition that more work is yet to be done. "We are aware that the company has m??ade some improvements, and we are happy to hear that Yves and the leadership agree that it ?is not enough," they write.

"However,?? Ubisoft continues to protect and promote known offenders and their allies. We see management continuing to avoid this issue."

//twitter.com/stephentotilo/status/1421117843643502??600

The letter goes on to say that an invitation to reach out to management personall??y is "not the same as having a collective seat at the table," and the group calls for a full response to the issues raised and their demands, as follows:

• "Stop promoting, and moving known offenders from studio to studio, team to team with no repercussions. This cycle needs to stop."
• "We want a collective seat at the table, to have a meaningful say in how Ubisoft as a company moves forward from here."
• "Cross-industry collaboration, to agree to a set of ground rules and processes that all studios should can [sic] use to handle these offences in the future. This collaboration must heavily involve employees in non-management positions and union representatives."

It ends with the ?group reiterating their call for "real, fundamental change" both within Ubisoft and across the industry.

The open letter from Ubisoft was filed earlier this week, addressing the toxic workplace issues alleged withi??n the company and saying the undersigned "no longer trust" Ubisoft management to address? issues at the core.

The Ubisoft letter came after Activision Blizzard employees filed their own open letter on Monday, which decried Activision Blizzard leadership's response to the lawsuit filed last week by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, a?lleging discrimination an??d sexual harassment.

Since the lawsuit was filed, current and former employees of Activision Blizzard have been sharing and supporting efforts online, and also participated in a walkout on Wednesday. Our sister site Upcomer reported from the walkout, which took place at Blizzard's Irvine campus.

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