Ubisoft is cutting investment in VR after 'disappointing' Assassin's Creed Nexus sales
One of the biggest video game publishers is stepping back from VR
Ubisoft has announced that it’s reducing its investment in VR after poor sales of Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, a Meta Quest exclusive title released in November 2023.
During Ubisoft’s most recent earnings call, CEO Yves Guillemot made the admission during a Q&A section and said the company was “disappointed” with the performance of Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR.
“We have been a bit disappointed by what we were able to achieve on VR with Assassin’s Creed,” said Guillemot. “It did okay, and it continues to sell, but we thought it would sell more, so we are not increasing our investment on VR at the moment, because it needs to take off.
“We have been very impressed by what Apple came up with, and we think it’s fantastic hardware, but we continue to look at this VR business as something that we have to look at but not invest too much in, until it grows enough.”
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Ubisoft steps back from VR
📉 Ubisoft has said its reducing its investment in VR
👎 The company revealed it was “disappointed” by Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR
😳 The VR market dropped by almost 40% in the US in 2023
🚀 The Apple Vision Pro could reinvigorate the market, however
Ubisoft tends to be one of the strongest supporters of new technology and consoles when they’re announced. The publisher also created VR games as early as 2016 with Eagle Flight, so the news that it’s stepping back from developing VR games will come as a blow to headset manufacturers.
Ubisoft previously announced it had canceled Splinter Cell VR, Ghost Recon Frontline and two unannounced VR titles in 2022, which suggests Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR was the last roll of the dice for the French publisher.
It’s unclear whether Ubisoft will bring Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR to PSVR 2 and other platforms in the future to boost sales, but it would certainly be welcomed by owners of Sony’s PS5 headset.
Despite Ubisoft reducing its investment in VR, Meta thinks the Apple Vision Pro’s success will help Quest 3 sales and the industry as a whole. However, the VR/AR market dropped by almost 40% in the US in 2023, despite the launch of the Meta Quest 3.