For the last couple of years, many of the titles published by game company Ubisoft have failed to meet expectations, creating a concerning trend. Despite being behind the beloved Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry series, Ubisoft’s recent releases have been labeled as disappointments by many players. Some games in particular stand out, marking Ubisoft’s worst traits in a pattern that might sadly continue.
Similar to what’s happening with Xbox, Ubisoft has suffered game releases with poor sales, leading to layoffs in branches of their company. This reflects a larger trend in the gaming industry, but Ubisoft’s problems can be linked back to specific titles. These games earned the ire of fans for many reasons that contributed to Ubisoft’s failing trend, from poor gameplay, long delays, and general missteps that led to various frustrations.
5
Assassin’s Creed Shadows
Good Potential Without Any Real Substance
At first, Assassin’s Creed Shadows was a game many fans of the series were anticipating, mainly for finally taking place in a period of Japan’s history. The ability to play as both a ninja or samurai character generated plenty of interest in AC Shadows, but when it was released, players were quickly met with a number of limitations.
Related
Far Cry 7 Could Be The Start Of A New Era For Ubisoft
Ubisoft hasn’t yet revealed the Far Cry game that’s supposedly in the works, but the company has announced other changes that make Far Cry 7 critical.
For starters, the fluid parkour and stealth mechanics of past Assassin’s Creed games were less present than ever before, especially when playing as Yasuke. Despite how cool Yasuke is as both a character and a historical reference, his gameplay left much to be desired. The slow movements of the samurai felt far too sluggish for an AC game, especially when you were forced to play as the character in several restricted missions.
Oftentimes, AC Shadows is criticized for having far too many microtransactions in a single-player game. This is a common complaint with Ubisoft’s recent titles, as is the player’s need to be connected to Ubisoft’s online portal to play any of their titles.
This combined with an open world that felt visually detailed, but surprisingly empty. Repetitive quests frustrated players, while RPG mechanics created a tedious grind for gear, with an unrewarding loot system. Furthermore, the new emphasis on non-stealth-focused combat didn’t feel refined, with clunky lock-on controls and simple mechanics that added no depth to some fights.
The linear gameplay and basic story have split player opinions on this title, making AC Shadows one of the most divisive games in the series. After being delayed for some time before release, the game feels like Ubisoft was trying to have an overly ambitious game that tries to do everything, but eventually succeeds at very little.
4
Star Wars Outlaws
Surface Level Mechanics Without A Galaxy Of Depth
Star Wars Outlaws was set to be a milestone title for Ubisoft, as it featured an original story set in one of fiction’s most iconic universes. However, despite a promising premise of a game primarily focused on stealth, performance issues at launch shied many players away from an otherwise good-looking game.
More problems led to Star Wars Outlaws‘ disappointing sales, including how the stealth mechanics it toted were implemented. Every stealth system in the game was incredibly bare bones, a far cry from other stealth-oriented titles like Thief, Dishonored, or Hitman. While players like me were excited about a Star Wars game that didn’t feature a single lightsaber, the resulting combat felt like simple duck and cover without any complexity.
The AI-controlled enemies of Star Wars Outlaws are notoriously bad, making most threats of being discovered non-existent in this stealth game.
Despite a robust faction system that had real consequences for choosing sides, Star Wars Outlaws didn’t have a story that reflected those choices. For a high-priced AAA game in the Star Wars universe, fans expected far more depth and polish compared to what they were given.
3
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora
Gorgeous World With Nothing In It
As a movie tie-in game, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was a big collaboration with Ubisoft, as they tried to recreate the world of Pandora from James Cameron’s blockbuster films. Released in 2023, this game did succeed in creating an absolutely stunning open world, filled with gorgeous color and intricate wildlife. However, only those with the highest quality hardware would get to see this world in all its glory.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was plagued with performance issues on launch, from frame drops, glitches, and frequent stuttering while loading new areas. Even with the grand scale of the open world, this made it hard for players to explore, especially when flying mechanics later in the game forced locations to appear faster.
Related
“A Staggering Sensory Experience” – Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Review
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is a stunning foray into a beautiful world that features enough good ideas to forgive its share of shortcomings.
Unfortunately, players who experience the open world will find that it has very little to do within it. While there are tons of different items for survival mechanics, there is a huge grind related to crafting and hunting for the materials you need. The gameplay loop of gathering items can be confusing at best, and downright repetitive at worst.
Combat does not have much depth to it either, with the only battles against humans being assaults against their various bases on Pandora. Combat is incredibly one-dimensional, with lackluster AI-controlled enemies and incredibly basic stealth that doesn’t always work. The additional lack of variety between different Na’vi clans leads to there being very little to do, which caused fans to drop or refund this Ubisoft title quickly.
2
XDefiant
Shut Down After Free-To-Play Model Collapsed
Servers for XDefiant shut down in June 2025, but many different factors contributed to this Ubisoft title being shuttered. As Ubisoft’s biggest free-to-play, live service model, a lot was expected of this FPS game when it released. As you might expect by this point though, the rushed launch of XDefiant led to many bugs, glitches, server instability, netcode problems, and other drastic performance issues.
XDefiant had one of the worst progression systems of any live service game I’ve seen in a long time, with overly grindy mechanics that encouraged playing the game constantly or spending money on XP boosters.
The gameplay of XDefiant was much like other Ubisoft shooters like Rainbow Six Siege or other juggernauts in the genre like Call of Duty. However, XDefiant had clear balance issues from the start, with overpowered weapons and abilities that made certain gear not worth using by comparison. With the lack of innovation in game modes or map design, matches ended up becoming familiar affairs with the same weapons and gameplay you’d see in any other FPS.
Lack of communication from Ubisoft irritated many players who expected more consistent updates from a live service game. This led to a mass exodus of players over time, leading Ubisoft to shut the game down and issue refunds after only three seasons of content.
1
Skull And Bones
Extended Development For Nothing Special In Return
The most notorious flop of Ubisoft’s recently is Skull and Bones, a naval combat game that has been in development hell for an untold number of years. Delay after delay pushed this game into almost non-existent status, until investment laws forced its release in 2024. Fans who held out hope for the title were greeted with a plethora of problems from what was clearly an unfinished mess.
One of the reasons Skull and Bones faced delays was due to allegations of sexual harassment circulating around Ubisoft Singapore, the studio behind the game. This led to shifts in management and labor disputes that pushed release dates back again and again.
Skull and Bones is based off the stellar naval combat seen in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, but without any of the deep piracy systems that made the original concept fun. While you do get to customize your own pirate vessel, you lack the ability to make any deep or meaningful gameplay changes. All you do is shoot from your ship – you can’t board enemy vessels or raid towns for resources, which seems like two obvious elements in a pirate-themed game.
Related
Skull and Bones Review: “This Boat Is Visibly Sinking”
Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones has numerous design problems, but there’s also a solid multiplayer ship combat game amidst the wreckage.
The one-note gameplay is presented in a live service format, meaning fans are bombarded by microtransactions at every step they play. Unlike XDefiant though, Skull and Bones was already sold at $70, so its live service elements feel far more malicious.
With no real story and clearly unpolished sections of the game, players have bashed Skull and Bones on its shallow depth that is far from the ocean that was promised. The continual lack of innovation, overly ambitious games that get rushed or delayed, and trend-chasing that Ubisoft seems to follow has led to these failures, which could be the company’s foreseeable future if they keep continuing down the same path.
