EXCLUSIVE – Yves Guillemot’s Internal Memo About XDefiant Closure and The Future of Ubisoft

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EXCLUSIVE – Yves Guillemot’s Internal Memo About XDefiant Closure and The Future of Ubisoft

Following the closure of XDefiant and its studios, Yves Guillemet sent an internal memo to Ubisoft employees about its future.

The internal memo reads,

“Hello everyone,

It has been some time since I last spoke to you, and I apologize for this silence, especially as the past months have been challenging and unsettling for Ubisoft and likely for each of you.

The announcement by Marie-Sophie regarding the discontinuation of XDefiant, the closure of the San Francisco and Osaka studios, and the ramp down of the Sydney production site is among the difficult decisions we’ve had to make.

I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the tremendous work done by the XDefiant’s teams. Their goal was to challenge the best shooter on the market, but despite the intensity of their efforts, it was not enough.

To everyone leaving Ubisoft, I want to express my deepest gratitude for the work you have accomplished and the contributions you have made. We will do everything possible to provide you with the best support during this transition phase.

We wanted to take a firm and clear decision to enable us to concentrate our investments and forces on more profitable projects.

I am well aware that, given the current context, such announcements may worry you, and that’s understandable. The entire industry is facing similar difficult decisions, yet often the scale of the impact is much larger. Our organization has allowed us to limit the impact of these kinds of decisions and make more targeted restructurings, and all our efforts are focused on trying to maintain this course and philosophy. We will continue working on evolving our organization to adapt it to market changes, and with a long-term perspective in mind.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the chance to read the results of the Ubisoft XP 2024 survey. The vast majority of you participated: the response rate was over 86%, and you’ve shared your questions and concerns about the future of Ubisoft via more than 55,000 comments.

I would like to sincerely thank you for your commitment, the quality of your feedback, and your collective intelligence. It’s very impressive. We are compelled to take your critiques to heart, live up to your expectations, and be accountable to you and your needs.

I want you to know that all my energy is focused on finding the means to guide Ubisoft through these turbulent times. I am working tirelessly with my team to identify the best solutions so we can maintain control of our destiny.

This company – the incredible gem we’ve built together over the past 38 years – means everything to me. It’s a part of who I am, it’s in my core.

I’m doing everything I can to help us regain momentum, so that we can continue to make Ubisoft a key player in our industry, a creator known for its unique and exceptional video games.

In the coming days, some members of the Executive Committee will reach out to you. Cécile Russeil will share new initiatives aimed at addressing some of the questions raised by Ubisoft XP. Marie-Sophie de Waubert will present initiatives to bring back a daily focus on creation, ensuring fewer unnecessary processes and more time dedicated to what truly matters to each of us: making the best games possible. Alain Corre will provide updates on the launch of *********’s Creed Shadows, progress made in strengthening our relationship with gamers, particularly regarding The Crew Motorfest and Star Wars Outlaws.

Thank you sincerely for your daily commitment and the quality of your work. The greatest strength of Ubisoft is its people. That strength is you. Thank you.

Yves”

Yves’ email came following the internal announcement from Marie-Sophie de Waubert that XDefiant and some of its studios would be closing. XDefiant’s closure will see 143 people departing in San Francisco and 134 people likely to depart in Osaka and Sydney.

You can read Marie-Sophie de Waubert’s internal memo below:

Marie-Sophie

Hello all, Today, I wanted to share with you that we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue development on XDefiant.

Despite an encouraging start, the team’s passionate work, and a committed fan base, we’ve not been able to attract and retain enough players in the long run to compete at the level we aim for in the very demanding free-to-play FPS market. As a result, the game is too far away from reaching the results required to enable further significant investment, and we are announcing that we will be sunsetting it.

Concretely, that means that as of today, new downloads, player registrations and purchases will no longer be available. Season 3 will still launch, and the servers will remain active until June 3, 2025, out of appreciation for both our dev teams who worked on it and for XDefiant’s active players.

Unfortunately, the discontinuation of XDefiant brings difficult consequences for the teams working on this game. Even if almost half of the XDefiant team worldwide will be transitioning to other roles within Ubisoft, this decision also leads to the closing of our San Francisco and Osaka production studios and to the ramp down of our Sydney production site, with 143 people departing in San Francisco and 134 people likely to depart in Osaka and Sydney. To those team members leaving Ubisoft, I want to express my deepest gratitude for your work and contributions. Please know that we are committed to supporting you during this transition.

Developing Games-as-a-Service experiences ******** a pillar of our strategy, and we’ve achieved significant successes, like Rainbow Six, The Crew, and For Honor, among others. It’s a highly competitive market, and we will apply the lessons learned with XDefiant to our future live titles.

Globally, we are determined to take the necessary steps to put the company back on a path to growth, innovation and creativity and make sure we can set you up for success. This means continuing to radically evolve our mindset for Production and Business practices, which we will share more about soon, and doing targeted restructuring when necessary. I know that the situation brings questions and expectations, and we will share regular and transparent updates.

My sincere thanks for your continued dedication as we navigate these trying times together.

Marie-Sophie”

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Both current and former employees of Ubisoft can contact me securely and anonymously at [email protected] as I continue to investigate the company’s issues.

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For more Insider Gaming, read about Ubisoft being sued over its return to office mandate. And don’t forget to sign up for our newsletter.

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