Ubisoft released Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR in mid-November 2023, hoping to take the coveted franchise to virtual reality and make an impact. AC Nexus VR is the first AAA VR game in the AC series and was released for Meta VR headsets.
The game garnered mostly positive reviews from fans and critics alike, but apparently, it did not sell very well. The company has now shared its plans for VR games, and it has bad news for the fans hoping to see more VR games from the publisher.
Ubisoft Will Not Increase Investment in VR Following the Poor Sales of Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR
Ubisoft has stated that it is not going to increase its investment in the VR space, and the reason behind this is the poor Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR sales. This news comes via Ubisoft CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot during a Q&A session from the company’s financial reports for the third-quarter sales of the 2024 fiscal year.
A caller asked Yves Guillemot about the company’s plans for virtual reality after new hardware releases such as Apple Vision Pro. Yves Guillemot said that AC Nexus VR “did ok,” but the company is a “bit disappointed” with the game’s sales, and that’s why it has no plans to increase the investment as the VR industry has to “take off” first. Guillemot said:
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 are not increasing our investments in VR at the moment because it needs to take off.
Guillemot further said that Ubisoft has been impressed with Apple’s Vision Pro headset and called it “fantastic hardware,” adding that the company will continue to keep an eye on the VR industry but will not invest too much until there is enough growth in the space.
The Publisher’s Pull From the VR Business Was Long-Coming
This update on virtual reality games from the company is not shocking, as it has not seen a breakthrough in VR despite several games for the platform. AC Nexus VR has done well in terms of quality and received great response from the players, but the sales weren’t good enough for the publisher to continue in the VR industry.
There are over a dozen games in the company’s library, including a Far Cry title, another AC title called The Temple of Anubis, Beyond Medusa’s Gate, Eagle Flight, Escape the Lost Pyramid, a Prince of Persia title called The Dagger of Time, Werewolves Within, and several others.
Ubisoft revealed in 2022 that it canceled a VR game in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell series, which was slated to release for the Meta Quest lineup of headsets.
However, despite the “poor sales” of AC Nexus VR, the company will keep on focusing on the virtual reality games business with its current investment and will only increase it after the growth in the sector.
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