Ubisoft’s Games Are Winning Players Back. But Do Gamers Like Ubisoft Again?

Author: Reinout te Brake
Published: 2026-08-29T08:54:57+02:00
Updated: 2026-08-29T08:54:57+02:00
Canonical: https://reinouttebrake.com/stories/ubisofts-games-are-winning-players-back-but-do-gamers-like-ubisoft-again
Source: https://reinouttebrakecom.wordpress.com/2026/08/29/ubisofts-games-are-winning-players-back-but-do-gamers-like-ubisoft-again/

Ubisoft’s games are winning players back. 𝗨𝗯𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝗶𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗶𝘀𝗻’𝘁. Ubisoft has a strange problem in 2026.

Players are starting to like its games again.
They still don’t necessarily like Ubisoft.

Assassin’s Creed (https://reinouttebrake.com/stories/ubisofts-make-or-break-moment-can-assassins-creed-shadows-turn-the-tide) Black Flag Resynced is the clearest example. It sold 2 million copies on its first day and more than 3 million in its first week. Steam reviews improved to “Very Positive”, while Ubisoft says player sentiment strengthened after patches and the announcement of New Game+.

Ghost Recon Wildlands produced another small win this month.
Ubisoft released (https://reinouttebrake.com/stories/something-feels-off-at-ubisoft) a free 4K/60 FPS update together with new content, based partly on feedback from players. Community reactions included praise specifically for Ubisoft listening to what players wanted.

And at Gamescom (https://www.gamescom.global/en) this week Ubisoft went even further.

It launched The Player Council, a platform where players can test early concepts and prototypes and give feedback directly to development teams. Ubisoft is quite literally inviting players into the development process.

On paper, those are exactly the kind of moves that should improve Ubisoft’s reputation.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗨𝗯𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁.

Just as Black Flag Resynced became a hit, 51 employees at Ubisoft Barcelona who had worked on the game faced layoffs. Workers went on strike. One employee group said that after years of work, the company had “turned its back on us.”

Those cuts were part of a much larger restructuring. Ubisoft announced in June that two studios would close and that as many as 380 jobs could be affected.

Even Black Flag’s successful return came with familiar criticism over microtransactions. And complaints around Ubisoft Connect and customer support have not disappeared.
Recent customer reviews still repeatedly attack the launcher, account access and support.

Those reviews are not representative polling, but they show that some of Ubisoft’s long-running friction with customers remains very much alive.

That creates an unusual situation.

Ubisoft may be improving its games faster than it is improving its reputation.

A recent discussion among Ubisoft players captures that split surprisingly well. Black Flag and Wildlands receive praise. At the same time, old complaints about Ubisoft’s business decisions immediately return.

That could make The Player Council more important than it initially looks.
It isn’t just a new feedback tool.
It arrives at a moment when Ubisoft needs players to believe that it is actually listening to them.

Good games can bring players back.
Free updates can generate goodwill.

Letting players influence future games can help.
But rebuilding the reputation of Ubisoft itself is a different challenge.

Because right now the most interesting question isn’t whether Ubisoft can still make successful games.
Black Flag already answered that.

The question is whether players can start liking Ubisoft again.