The title of the French video game giant Ubisoft went down on Monday, the day after a game presentation deemed disappointing by the market, and while the publisher is struggling in a sexual harassment scandal.
At 11:30 a.m., Ubisoft’s share lost 5.11% to 73.54 euros, in a rising market.
The editor announced on the night of Saturday to Sunday three departures, including that of his number two Serge Hascoët, creative director for two decades, but whose “toxic” and sexist behavior was denounced by multiple testimonies of employees and d ‘ex-employees of the group.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot will assume this role in the interim and has promised “major changes in corporate culture”.
But according to analysts, this scandal was not the only cause of the stock market collapse.
“Yesterday’s presentation was disappointing,” analysis for AFP Charles-Louis Planade, video game expert at Midcap Partners.
Ubisoft broadcast Sunday evening on the internet an event called Ubisoft Forward (“Ubisoft forward”) supposed to compensate for the cancellation of the major video game fairs, and present the release dates of the next creations.
“There was a lack in terms of quantity,” notes Mr. Planade, who sees a “risk that the group will not be able to release the five triple A games” that it had promised on its staggered exercise 2020-21, after the delays in the production of three major titles in the previous financial year.
A sixth installment in the Far Cry franchise, a shooter in an open world with a tropical atmosphere, whose images had leaked the previous days, was notably announced for February 2021.
The next adventures of the Assassin’s Creed saga, which will take place during the High Middle Ages among the Vikings, will begin in November on several platforms.
