Summary
- Ubisoft is "disappointed" with the sales of Assassin's Creed Nexus VR, with CEO Yves Guillemot stating that the game only "did OK."
- Given the current state of the sector, Ubisoft does not intend to increase its VR investments for the time being.
- Ubisoft has long been the biggest VR gaming supporter among AAA publishers, averaging more than two new VR releases per year since 2017.
Ubisoft is "disappointed" with the sales of Assassin's Creed Nexus VR. That's according to the company's top executive, who also revealed that Ubisoft won't be doubling down on its virtual reality bet for the time being, given the current state of VR gaming.
Assassin's Creed Nexus VR was released in mid-November as an exclusive for the Meta Quest headset lineup. While the series already dabbled in virtual reality with the 2018 Assassin's Creed: The Temple of Anubis, its latest attempt at doing so was the first VR entry in the franchise that was delivered as a full-length AAA experience. Nexus VR was met with largely positive reviews, which have immediately established it as one of the best AAA games for the last three iterations of Meta Quest headsets.
Assassin's Creed Nexus VR 'Did OK,' But Left Ubisoft 'A Bit Disappointed'
Despite the flattering buzz from critics, Assassin's Creed Nexus VR has seemingly failed to generate significant commercial momentum, as recently suggested by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. Speaking at a February 8 Q&A session held following the company's financial report for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2024, Guillemot said Ubisoft was "a bit disappointed" with the game's sales. Elaborating on that statement, the executive said that Nexus VR "did OK," but not as well as the company was hoping it would.
Guillemot's comments were offered in response to a question about the current state of the company's virtual reality ambitions. To that end, the executive also revealed that Ubisoft's VR investments won't be increasing anytime soon. The industry first "needs to take off" for that to happen, he explained.
We have been a bit disappointed by what we were able to achieve on VR with Assassin’s Creed. It did OK, and it continues to sell, but we thought it would sell more, so we're not increasing our investment on VR at the moment because it needs to take off.
This perspective might prove to be disheartening for VR enthusiasts, not least because Ubisoft has long been the biggest proponent of virtual reality among AAA publishers. Although none of its past games reached the scale, budget, and overall ambition of Assassin's Creed Nexus VR, both the quality and quantity of Ubisoft's VR output has been far above that of any other publisher out there. For reference, the company has been averaging over two VR releases per year since 2017, ranging from completely original IPs to spin-offs based on its existing franchises, such as the 2020 escape room experience Prince of Persia: The Dagger of Time.
All Ubisoft VR Games List
- AGOS: A Game of Space
- Assassin's Creed Nexus VR
- Assassin's Creed: The Temple of Anubis
- Beyond Medusa’s Gate
- Eagle Flight
- Escape the Lost Pyramid
- Far Cry VR: Dive Into Insanity
- Hungry Shark VR
- Huxley VR
- Prince of Persia: The Dagger of Time
- Save Notre-Dame On Fire
- Star Trek: Bridge Crew
- Transference
- Virtual Rabbids: The Big Maze
- VR Rabbids: The Big Ride
- Werewolves Within
Despite the ongoing challenges of VR game publishing, the company is not pulling out of the sector. Guillemot's recent comments indicated that Ubisoft merely intends to maintain its current level of investments in the segment for the time being. But without a larger influx of high-quality VR games, the industry will continue to suffer from a catch-22 type of situation, in that it will still struggle to grow its audience because of a limited game library while also facing challenges in financing new game development projects due to that small audience.
- Video Game(s)
- Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed 2, Assassin's Creed 3, Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag (2013), Assassin's Creed Unity, Assassin's Creed Rogue, Assassin's Creed Origins, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Assassin's Creed Mirage
- Creation Year
- 2007
Assassin's Creed is an action-adventure stealth series published and developed by Ubisoft and its various first party studios. Originally releasing in 2007, the series has seen 12 mainline releases with the recent games moving to a more open-world RPG style. Each game typically showcases major historical moments like the Italian Renaissance, Crusades, or French Revolution, focusing mostly on a long standing conflict between the free-minded Assassins against the order loving Knights Templar.
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