COVID-19 does not leave the big ones cold either. As Ubisoft revealed in the new financial report, one of five major games may be postponed due to the corona impact.
Sounds relatively succinct so far, but a little more in the statement. It starts with five AAA titles, of which only four are known so far, namely Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs Legion, Rainbow Six Quarantine, and Gods & Monsters. That means another AAA title is still in the pipepine, it is rumored that it is a new offshoot of the Far Cry series.
It is unlikely that Assassin's Creed: Valhalla will be affected in the event of a possible postponement, because the same one of the five games already has a specific release period and was only recently announced.
Three of the games were originally due to be released th is calendar year – whether it stays that way is as uncertain as the question of which of the five games from the new fiscal year that runs until March 31, 2021 could still fall out. Although this shift is not yet certain. We'll know more by July at the latest, when Ubisoft Forward will be the publisher's digital in-house fair, so to speak. At best, we will get five Ubisoft AAA titles by March 2021.
It remains complicated, but we will have to get used to such imponderables for a while. Some of the effects of the Corona crisis on game development are not yet foreseeable. In addition to changed workflows and the switch to homework, other aspects are also affected. For example, voice recordings or motion-capturing recordings were delayed because the relevant studios were closed or are still in part.