Ubisoft CEO reportedly apologises to devs for ‘ball is in your court’ comments
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot reportedly opened a company-wide Q&A on Wednesday by apologising for recent comments he made which have been poorly received by developers.
In an email sent to employees last week coinciding with the announcement of a product delay, cancellations and a reduced earnings forecast, Guillemot reportedly suggested the onus was on workers to deliver on the company’s latest targets in order to reverse its fortunes.
Last week Ubisoft said it had delayed Skull and Bones to its next fiscal year, which begins in April and runs until March 2024. During this period it’s also planning to release Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, “and other yet-to-be-announced premium games, including a large one, as well as promising free-to-play titles for some of our biggest brands”.
In his email to staff, which was viewed by Kotaku, Guillemot wrote: “The ball is in your court to deliver this line-up on time and at the expected level of quality, and show everyone what we are capable of achieving.”
His comments appeared to place the burden of responsibility for fixing the company’s problems on its developers, but Guillemot has now said this is not how they were meant to come across.
“The ball is now in our court—for years it has been in your court so why did you mishandle the ball so badly so we, the workers, have to fix it for you?” read a question on a list submitted to Ubisoft’s management ahead of today’s meeting, which was viewed by Kotaku.
Guillemot reportedly opened the meeting by addressing the question. “I heard your feedback and I’m sorry this was perceived that way,” he said, according to the site’s sources. “When saying ‘the ball is in your court’ to deliver our lineup on time and at the expected
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