Ubisoft have stated they will be producing “high-end free-to-play games,” but not sacrificing their AAA portfolio.

Gaming news outlets such as VGC and Eurogamer initially reported that during a full-year earnings call on May 11th, and was initially reported by some as Ubisoft moving away from AAA titles.

Ubisoft’s chief financial officer Frederick Duguet reportedly stated “In line with the evolution of our high-quality line-up that is increasingly diverse, we are moving on from our prior comment regarding releasing 3-4 premium AAAs per year. […] It is indeed no longer a proper indication of our value creation dynamics. For example, our expectation for Just Dance and Riders Republic are consistent with some of the industry’s AAA performers”

“Additionally,” Duguer added, “we are building high-end free-to-play games to be trending towards AAA ambitions over the long-term. This is purely a financial communication evolution and doesn’t change the fact that we continue to expect a high cadence of content delivery including powerful premium and free-to-play new releases.”

However, in statements to both VGC and Eurogamer, Ubisoft denied this new attention to free-to-play titles would become its focus over AAA games. You can find the full statement from an Ubisoft spokesperson (via Eurogamer) below.

“Our intention is to deliver a diverse line-up of games that players will love – across all platforms. We are excited to be investing more in free-to-play experiences, however we want to clarify that this does not mean reducing our AAA offering. Our aim is to continue to deliver premium experiences to players such as Far Cry 6, Rainbow Six Quarantine, Riders Republic and Skull and Bones to name a few while also expanding our free-to-play portfolio and strengthening our brands to reach even more players.”

Ubisoft’s Strategic Planning & Analysis Sean Lama told similar to The Game Awards founder Geoff Keighley on Twitter, adding that an apt comparison would be the “evolution of CoD [Call of Duty] since Warzone.” He also added that in the call it was stated “This is purely a financial communication evolution and doesn’t change the fact that we continue to expect a high cadence of content delivery including powerful premium and F2P new releases”

Replying to another user asking if Call of Duty was an outlier, Lama tweeted “From a content standpoint it’s a fantastic model. You get your paid single and multiplayer content, free to play mode via Warzone, and the mobile game. I think any IP that has the fanbase and the dev resources should strive to achieve as many of these components as possible.”

The free-to-play Tom Clancy’s The Division: Heartland was recently announced for Windows PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Duguet explained it was an example of “the way we think about building the audience reach growth for our biggest franchises, so starting with The Division, is to come with high quality free-to-play games.” 

Duguet explained how the first year would be essential for Ubisoft, and the lessons learned from other free-to-play titles.

“We recognise this is the first year we are coming meaningfully into the space. That’s why we need to take reasonable assumptions for year one on the top line as well as on the contribution, but of course we want to make sure this is a strong contributor in the long-term to the expansion of the overall brand on console and PC, and then of course will come mobile at a later time.”

[…] “We think that we have a great opportunity to meaningfully expand the audiences of our biggest franchises. We have taken the time to learn from what we did last year with Hyper Scape. We are also learning of course with the launch we’ll be making of Roller Champions and we’ve been learning a lot with Brawlhalla, which is fast growing.”

“And we think it is now the time to come with high quality free-to-play games across all our biggest franchises across all platforms, but of course it will take time before proving it in a more assertive way. That’s why we want to be cautious in year one. If we are successful, that can have a very meaningful impact on the value creation of Ubisoft.”

During the full-year earnings call, it was also reportedly confirmed that no AAA games would release in the second half of the fiscal year (after March 31st, 2021), which would also include Christmas 2021.

We previously reported claims from VGC that “according to development sources speaking under the condition of anonymity,” the development of Skull & Bones was rebooted due to not standing out among Ubisoft’s portfolio of in-development open-world games; now moving towards a live game model (also known as “Games as a Service”).

This means a game world that will change over time with updates, including being shaped actions made by players. Other than being inspired by the social aspect and “live storytelling” of Fortnite, the above would also fall in line with a free-to-play title.

Ubisoft officially stated there will be more news on Skull & Bones in 2021, though production “has been in full swing with a new vision,” as they “dreamt something bigger.” Managing Director Hugues Ricour of Ubisoft Singapore, who are developing Skull & Bones, was been removed from his position after a “leadership audit” in late November 2020.

Ubisoft also recently announced their next E3 2021 conference, Ubisoft Forward, would premiere June 12th. We may see announcement of these free-to-play titles during this presentation, along with the new story-driven, open world Star Wars game.