Usually Ubisoft is delaying its upcoming games. Sometimes it delays big updates to ones that are already out. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it delay its official quarterly earnings report and certainly not minutes after it was already due to be released. Did someone accidentally delete a spreadsheet or is the Assassin’s Creed publisher getting ready to break some major news?
Like every other publicly traded video game company, Ubisoft regularly releases quarterly updates on its financials and takes questions from investors and analysts on an earnings call. The latest round was supposed to go live today at around 12:00 p.m. ET, only it didn’t. Instead, minutes passed with no update as people prepared to join the conference call that’s traditionally helmed by CEO and cofounder Yves Guillemot.
Then Ubisoft released its weirdest emergency press release ever. “Ubisoft announces the postponement of the release of its results for the first half of fiscal year 2025-26,” it read. “Ubisoft has requested Euronext to halt trading of its shares (FR0000054470) and its bonds (FR001400DV38, FR001400MA32, and FR0014000O87) from the market opening on November 14, 2025, until the publication of its first-half 2025-26 results in the coming days. Ubisoft will inform the market of the date on which trading will restart.”
That’s a big last-minute change with no clear details on when things will be back to normal.
Yes, this could imply an acquisition of sorts. Could also imply some accounting / financial issue.
Just remember to freak the fuck out for the next few days and speculate as much as possible until they announce something.
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) November 13, 2025
“Unclear why at this point but could indicate a major announcement related to the company,” wrote Niko Partners research director Daniel Ahmad on X. He noted that this could be a prelude to some big acquisition announcement, or it could signal a financial or accounting issue that requires extra time to address before accurate data can be supplied to the public.
The Division and more could be for sale
It might be easier to assume the latter if not for what a weird time this is in general for Ubisoft. The long-time publisher recently entered into a $1.25 billion bailout with Chinese conglomerate Tencent. It used that money to spin off a new entity run by the CEO’s son. After a slew of recent delays, there are no major new blockbuster releases for the company on the immediate horizon. The stock price is at its lowest point in over a decade.
It certainly wouldn’t be shocking if Tencent, another big game company, or a “consortium” of various other investors used this opportunity to swoop in and try to buy the struggling publisher, or at least some big chunks of it. With its most lucrative franchises—Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Rainbow Six Siege—all snugly nestled within a new subsidiary called Vantage Studios, Ubisoft is trying to find a way to offload other big chunks to outside groups. Anybody interested in the Splinter Cell or Prince of Persia series as their remakes remain MIA?
The company recently announced voluntary layoffs across its Swedish studios, which include Massive, the lead studio on the Division franchise. With Activision Blizzard gobbled up by Microsoft and EA sold to Saudi Arabia, who can say what will happen next? I just hope Beyond Good and Evil 2 somehow survives.
Update 11/13/2025 2:36 p.m. ET: Ubisoft CFO Frederick Duguet sent an email, a copy of which was viewed by Kotaku, to rattled staff today trying to explain why he couldn’t explain what is going on:
Hello everyone, I wanted to let you know that we are taking extra time to finalize the closing of the semester, and as a result we will publish our first-half earnings results in the coming days instead of tonight. Due to legal regulations, we cannot share more information with you at this time.
To limit unnecessary speculation and market volatility during this short delay, we have asked Euronext to suspend the trading of our stock until the results are announced. We know this is likely to raise questions and drive media coverage. I encourage you to listen to the conference call – which will be available via the Investor section of our site – just after the results are released so that you have a more detailed view of our earnings. Thanks for your understanding.
The fate of thousands of Ubisoft developers is potentially up in the air as those who won’t be working on Vantage Studios projects face possible cost-cutting pressures or the uncertainty of their studios being sold to outside companies.
