It’s a weird time forvideo gameadaptations. In the last few weeks, it has emerged that former gaming titanUbisoft is fracturing into two separate entities, with the more valuable IP sheltered from looming bankruptcy liquidation. Unfortunately, that leaves the upcomingWatch Dogs,Beyond Good & Evil,Skull & Bones,Driver, andThe Divisionmovies/streaming series in the lurch. Marketing is sure to be tight even if all these finish production, as the company faces irate stockholders, multiple customer lawsuits, strikes, layoffs, and a toxic reputation that has seen it shed more than 90% of its stock price in six years. Hell, in a year’s time, these properties might be owned by entirely different companies that are not interested in completing them.
In short, Ubisoft is a textbook example of how not to run a company. Wrapping principal photography in Autumn 2024, according to aUbisoft post on X,Watch Dogs' future looks complicated, witnessing their parent company falling to pieces around them. Sadly,Watch Dogsis hardly the only Ubisoft-branded movie adaptation gathering dust. In fact, it could be the only lucky one that survives to see the light of day.
The Ubisoft-Movie Curse Continues
Just when you thoughtEA or Disney was the internet’s favorite punching bag, we must announce a dark horse contender from France entering the arena. In 2021,Ubisoft.com touted a live-action versionof their racing title,Driver, coming to Binge.com. That was quietly axed, the news unceremoniously buried in a 350-page financial disclosure in 2024.One of the more promising projects, a big-budget film based on the 2016 gameThe Division, likewise vanished into oblivion.The Divisioncast at one point included Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain, slated to air on Netflix withRed Notice/Skyscraperdirector Rawson Marshall Thurber at the helm. This time, we did at least get an explanation. Former producer Kelly McCormick offered this update toDiscussing Filmin 2022:
“To be honest, when COVID hit, we left The Division because it felt like it was a documentary. You know, in the sense that the story deals with this outbreak that happens in real-time, the dangers that occur, and the anxiety that it creates. It was like, ‘Whoa, this is no longer fun.’ […] It’s such a cool property and what you could do with the imagery of a team of agents coming in with that kind of post-apocalyptic prospect is really amazing, but we actually did end up letting it go because we got moved away by COVID.”
Long-Awaited Tom Hardy Action Adaptation Just Got a Heartbreaking Update
The news is sure to disappoint fans of the popular stealth action video game franchise.
Plenty more games to adapt, right? Not quite. There were rumblings atThe Hollywood Reporterin 2019 about a live-action female-centricSkull & BonesTV series, but, as yet, we have only rumors and a sad IMDb entry to go on.Taking into account the game’s tepid reception, tainted by costly mismanagement and terrible PR, makes it as good as dead.It gets worse. The plannedBeyond Good & Evilfilm went radio silent between 2021 and 2025. We’re still waiting for thatSplinter Cellmovie from a decade ago, but we now have a reason why this keeps happening.
How Ubisoft Became the Most Loathed Name in Entertainment Overnight
Watch Dogsnotwithstanding, 2024 was the year that finally exposed years of incompetence, nostalgia running out. All those planned movies likeThe Divisiondying suddenly make perfect sense when you look at Ubisoft’s financial status.No, this is one case you may’t blame onthe slow demise of televisionand movie theaters; Ubisoft’s stock value is at a 12-year low.The paranoia created a demoralized climate within the company as restructuring threatened layoffs. 700 staffers went on strike last year, a trend spreading across borders into Italy, perDeadline. Matters aren’t improving in 2025; 185 jobs were cut in January, resulting in Ubisoft’s English studio shuttering.
Sony’s Erasure of Purchased Digital Content Proves that ‘Digital Ownership’ Is a Myth
When it comes to digital media, you don’t possess any legal protection or recourse. Caveat emptor indeed.
Fittingly, Ubisoft’s chairman and co-founder, Yves Guillemot, has made a habit of aggravating his most loyal customers for years, leading to an ongoing lawsuit that is so important it could decide the future of consumer protection rights and digital ownership,Techspotreported this month. Don’t confuse that class-action lawsuit with the other case concerning Ubisoft’s alleged sale of private user information reported inLawyer Monthly. Considering Ubisoft’s problems in 2025, peddling user data might be a more reliable source of revenue than making games or movies.
Is There Hope Your Favorite Stories Can Rise From the Ashes?
If all that wasn’t intense enough, their shareholders hate their guts. Last month,IGNreported that international investors were planning a protest in front of the Ubisoft corporate HQ, fuming at Ubisoft’s “failure to adapt effectively to market trends.” That’s corporate-speak for: Ubisoft’s modern games are derivative andstuffed with so many scummy microtransactionsthat fans have given up on them. Let’s hope the workers' strike won’t interfere with the shareholders' protest. Maybe they can all carpool in an Uber to cut down on traffic. For those keeping track, the struggling company thus far only produced two movies (Prince of PersiaandAssassin’s Creed) a decade ago, but had nothing to do with the schlocky Uwe Boll-directed 2008Far Cry.
Responding to the turmoil, Guillemot brokethe video gamecompany into two pieces a couple of weeks later. Chinese conglomerate Tencent walked away with a 25% share of the valuable half, all in the name of “strengthening our balance sheet,” as expressed in an Ubisoftpress release.That new, supposedly stable subsidiary doesn’t includeWatch Dogs,Beyond Good & Evil,Driver,Skull & Bones,Splinter Cell, orThe Division.In an interesting twist, this could open the door for someone who actually cares to scoop up the rights and do something cool with them. We can hope.
