"We are facing contrasted market dynamics as the industry continues to shift towards mega-brands and everlasting live games, in the context of worsening economic conditions affecting consumer spending.Skull and Bones is maybe the highest-profile example of Ubi's recent inability to get games out the door, but don't forget that the three unannounced projects cancelled today come just six months after Ubisoft pulled the plug on four other in-the-works games (opens in new tab), including Ghost Recon Frontline and Splinter Cell VR.It was unveiled in 2021 as a military-themed battle royale (opens in new tab) game, presumably aimed at giving Ubisoft a presence alongside games like Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends, Escape From Tarkov, and Hunt: Showdown.Nor does it have any major live-service games, like Apex Legends or GTA Online, to keep the money trucks rolling between releases: Efforts on that front including Ghost Recon Frontline, Hyper Scape (opens in new tab), and XDefiant (opens in new tab) have all fizzled, while The Division: Heartland (opens in new tab), which is supposed to be out later this year, has already been almost completely forgotten.The company successfully fought off a drawn-out acquisition bid by Vivendi in 2018, and the Guillemot family, which founded Ubisoft in 1986 and continues to hold a controlling stake, has repeatedly emphasized its desire to “remain independent.” But Ubisoft's share price has tailed off dramatically over the past five years, from a high of €103 in July 2018 to less than €24 today, and that makes high-priced offers like the one tendered last year by Chinese powerhouse Tencent very difficult to turn down."