As Assassin’s Creed Black Flag slips into the future and Beyond Good and Evil 2 survives against all odds, Ubisoft’s priorities raise serious questions.
The latest news from Ubisoft paints a picture of a publisher in transition, and not one that is calm and sure of itself. There are delays, cancellations, studio shutdowns, and upcoming layoffs going on behind the corporate speak and carefully worded comments.
During this rough time, two projects have become very important: the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag remake that has been reported, and the Beyond Good and Evil 2 that has been hard to find. One is a cautious act of hope, and the other is an odd act of persistence.
Ubisoft has revealed that it has pushed back or canceled a number of games and is in the process of disbanding two teams. People will likely be laid off, though the exact numbers and dates are still unknown. One of the games that has been pushed back is one that was supposed to come out before April 2026, but will now come out before April 2027. The most likely choice becomes clear as the list of options is cut down.
The only game on Ubisoft’s backlog that seems like a good candidate for this change is the remake of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag. There was also the term Prince of Persia, but that one has been pretty much thrown out. Assassin’s Creed is the only big project left at that time after the Prince of Persia is taken out.
Ubisoft says the delay is necessary to make sure the game hits “new and improved benchmarks,” which sounds like they are now much stricter than before.
Some fans find it hard to believe this reasoning. Like most big releases, Assassin’s Creed games already go through a lot of milestone checks, internal reviews, and quality standards. At some point, it was clear that Black Flag had passed those tests and was ready to be released.
Tom Henderson, who works in the movie business, says that the version was supposed to come out on March 19 as a digital-only release. The digital-only plan was already a letdown for fans and collectors who had been following the show for a long time.
That release date is no longer in effect, and people are hoping that Ubisoft will change its mind about hard copies. Delays are often seen as chances to make things better, but they also make people less likely to trust Ubisoft’s new systems and the idea that these extra standards are really about quality and not just because of internal doubt.
A delay that feels like saying farewell.
The timing of the problem makes it even worse. Fans lost two games in a short amount of time. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag was pushed back by what looks like almost a whole year, and Prince of Persia just disappeared. Prince of Persia was supposed to come out on January 16, and Assassin’s Creed was supposed to come out on March 19. Now, neither will show up when they were supposed to.
The Black Flag version could still come out before March 31, 2027, according to the numbers. On the other hand, economic calendars don’t always match up. The game was supposed to come out right before Ubisoft’s fiscal year ended, just barely making it in time for April 1. Bringing the whole fiscal year forward strongly says that it will come out late in the first quarter, most likely in February or March of the next year.
That fact makes it easy to stop thinking about the game for now.
Even if Ubisoft announces it later this year, maybe at The Game Awards or a summer show, the circle of excitement, waiting, and disappointment will happen again next year. A lot of people would rather move on than keep hope.
Even though the wait in Assassin’s Creed is annoying, it makes sense. There are often delays, and sending messages that focus on quality has become standard in the business. But you can’t say that about Ubisoft’s other long-running project; it just exists, which doesn’t make sense.
Beyond Good and Evil 2 has become a legend in the gaming world, not because of how fun it is to play or how new it is, but because it keeps coming back. It has made it through several internal reboots, changes in leadership, strategy pivots, and now a company-wide restructuring that has put many other projects on hold.
A report that Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still alive, even though he calls it a “bloodbath” in the business world. The game was technically being worked on since May 2008, but that date isn’t accurate. The latest version of the project has been in the works since 2017, which means it has been almost ten years in the making.
The game that won’t go away.
It doesn’t look like Beyond Good and Evil 2 will come out this year, even now. It’s possible that the start will happen next year, but that’s not a given. Henderson’s reporting suggests that the game might not be finished for a few years yet, even though a lot of time and money have already been put into it.
The most shocking thing about the new stories is how much they say it will cost. Changes that keep happening, setbacks, and the long development cycle are said to have cost Ubisoft around $500 million. Surprisingly, Ubisoft is said to think this cost is worth it.
That number doesn’t seem possible at first glance. To understand how such a number could be reached, it helps to break it down. A lot of developers can work for big companies, and many of them make six-figure salaries. Paid employees alone can cost hundreds of millions of dollars over five to seven years, and that’s before you add in technology, leasing, marketing, and overhead costs.
Even so, Beyond Good and Evil 2 has never felt like the work of a huge, committed team. Many people have always thought it looked more like a small group working quietly in the background than a full-on show getting ready to go. That idea makes the stated $500 million number even harder to understand.
Even though things are crazy, it’s kind of nice that the game is still going. While Prince of Persia was canceled, Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still going strong. This may not seem fair, but Ubisoft is doing the right thing by seeing this long-term project through to the end. It shows that you are ready to keep promises you made in the past, even if the numbers don’t make sense anymore.
A $500 million gamble or a strategic move?
But that hope comes with a lot of worry. The fact that Ubisoft seems to have faith in Beyond Good and Evil 2 makes us think about what we should expect. It’s hard to think that the game will make back even close to $500 million, even in the best case scenario.
The company Ubisoft may be seriously mistaken if they think the game can bring in several hundred million dollars. It probably wouldn’t be worth the money to turn it into a live-service multiplayer event that lasts a long time. There is a mistake in the math.
This opens the door to two scary options. Either Ubisoft has a hugely inflated opinion of Beyond Good and Evil 2’s promise, or the company wants to change the project into something very different from what fans expect. There are risks with both results. Overvaluation could lead to disappointment and the closing of studios after the start. The small but enthusiastic group of people who have been waiting years for the game might not like radical new ideas.
There is also the worry that failure won’t be taken seriously at the company level.
If Beyond Good and Evil 2 doesn’t do well, the developers will probably be blamed instead of the leaders who gave the money after years of planning. It’s likely that a third game will never come out because studios and teams could be shut down.
In the end, Ubisoft’s current state shows a business that is trying to combine ambition, nostalgia, and the need to make money. It’s a safe bet that the Black Flag version will do well when it finally comes out, even though it’s been delayed. But Beyond Good and Evil 2 is a risky bet that doesn’t make sense from a business point of view.
Fans have to wait for now—again. It will be interesting to see if Assassin’s Creed Black Flag is better for having been delayed and if Ubisoft can ever get Beyond Good and Evil 2 to live up to the time, money, and trust they put into it. One thing is for sure: the next few years will shape not only Ubisoft’s release plan but also who they are as a company.
