Summary
Ubisoftis “disappointed” with the sales ofAssassin’s Creed Nexus VR. That’s according to the company’s top executive, who also revealed thatUbisoftwon’t be doubling down on its virtual reality bet for the time being, given the current state of VR gaming.
Assassin’s Creed Nexus VRwas releasedin mid-November as an exclusive for the Meta Quest headset lineup. While the series already dabbled in virtual reality with the 2018Assassin’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 VRwas 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 VRhas seemingly failed to generate significant commercial momentum, as recently suggested by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. Speaking at a February 8Q&A sessionheld 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 thatNexus 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 thatUbisoft’s VR investmentswon’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 ofAssassin’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 2020escape room experiencePrince of Persia: The Dagger of Time.
All Ubisoft VR Games List
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 ofhigh-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.
Assassin’s Creed
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.
