(Reuters) - France's largest video game maker Ubisoft has decided to postpone the release of the newest game in its blockbuster franchise Assassin’s Creed again, putting off the launch to March 20 from Feb. 14, the company said on Thursday.
The French company had in September last year postponed the game's release by three months to Feb. 14.
Ubisoft said the additional month of development of Assassin's Creed Shadows will allow the team to better incorporate the player feedback gathered over the past three months. It said this would help to create the best conditions for launch by continuing to engage closely with the "increasingly positive" Assassin’s Creed community.
Ubisoft has been plagued by delays and the underperformance of some key titles, including a muted reception to the launch of Star Wars Outlaws in August last year, which did not meet sales expectations. The company's shares lost half of their value in the year to December.
The French group also said that following a strategic and execution review it has appointed advisers to consider and pursue various transformational strategic options to extract the best value for stakeholders.
The company aims to continue to make significant cost reductions, together with a selective approach to investments, and expects to reduce its fixed cost base by more than 200 million euros ($205.90 million) by FY2025-26 versus FY2022-23 on an annualised basis.
It expects third-quarter net bookings at around 300 million euros, primarily reflecting lower than expected Holiday sales, mainly for Star Wars Outlaws, as well as the discontinuation of XDefiant.
In October, the game maker expected the net bookings for the third quarter to be down about 39% year-on-year to about 380 million euros.
($1 = 0.9713 euros)
(Reporting by Adrianna Ebert in Gdansk;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Jane Merriman)
