{"id":2342150,"date":"2024-09-17T08:08:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T12:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/after-woke-star-wars-release-ubisoft-stock-hits-9-year-low\/"},"modified":"2024-09-17T08:11:10","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T12:11:10","slug":"after-woke-star-wars-release-ubisoft-stock-hits-9-year-low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/after-woke-star-wars-release-ubisoft-stock-hits-9-year-low\/","title":{"rendered":"After Woke &#8216;Star Wars&#8217; Release, Ubisoft Stock Hits 9-Year Low"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fafter-woke-star-wars-release-ubisoft-stock-hits-9-year-low%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2342150&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Ubisoft, the \u200ddeveloper \u200cof <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wsj-microsoft-is-preparing-to-fight-facebook-in-metaverse-turf-war\/\" title=\"WSJ: Microsoft Is Preparing to Fight Facebook in Metaverse Turf War\">popular game franchises<\/a> like &#8220;Assassin\u2019s\u200b Creed&#8221; \u200cand &#8220;Far Cry,&#8221; is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kid-rock-caught-on-camera-drinking-bud-light-months-after-shooting-up-case\/\" title=\"Kid Rock filmed drinking Bud Light despite previous shooting incident.\">facing\u2063 significant challenges<\/a> following the release of &#8220;Star Wars:\u2064 Outlaws,&#8221; which has sparked controversies regarding identity \u200cpolitics. After a disappointing launch leading to a \u206213% \u2064drop \u200bin \u2062stock value\u2014now \u200bat a nine-year low\u2014many fans criticized the game for its protagonist, Kay Vess, who underwent cosmetic \u200dalterations\u2064 to appear more masculine, raising accusations of promoting \u200ban unrealistic\u2064 &#8220;girlboss&#8221; \u2062trope. The game&#8217;s\u200b writing team,\u200b reportedly composed of \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/knowles-the-bad-faith-debate-over-cancel-culture\/\" title=\"KNOWLES: The Bad Faith Debate Over \u2018Cancel Culture\u2019\">leftist activists<\/a>, further fueled concerns \u2062about political bias, contributing to its underwhelming sales. Preliminary data from the UK shows \u2063launch sales were 55% lower than a prior title, &#8220;Star Wars\u2064 Jedi:\u200b Survivor,&#8221; indicating a trend of decline for Ubisoft.<\/p>\n<p>The company&#8217;s issues have compounded with\u200b the impending release of \u200b&#8221;Assassin\u2019s Creed Shadows,&#8221; \u2062which sparked diplomatic outrage from Japan \u200cover\u200c its portrayal of historical \u2064figures and an apology from Ubisoft. The situation worsened\u200c with revelations\u200b about hiring \u200da consultant associated with sexual advocacy,\u200b leading to further public backlash. Ubisoft is\u2064 struggling to \u2064navigate\u200b the\u200c commercial and reputational fallout \u2062of its recent projects.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Ubisoft, the company behind the massively successful &ldquo;Assassin&rsquo;s Creed&rdquo; and &ldquo;Far Cry&rdquo; series, has been having a rough go of it after a new &ldquo;Star Wars&rdquo; game rife with identity politics. On the heels of their latest release, &ldquo;Star Wars: Outlaws,&rdquo; Ubisoft&rsquo;s stock value took a sharp <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespot.com\/articles\/ubisoft-stock-sinks-to-10-year-low-as-star-wars-outlaws-underperforms\/1100-6526262\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nosedive<\/a>, reaching a nine-year low after a grim 13 percent drop.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Outlaws&rdquo; immediately courted controversy from players when it was revealed the game&rsquo;s protagonist, Kay Vess, received <a href=\"https:\/\/boundingintocomics.com\/2024\/04\/16\/ubisofts-star-wars-outlaws-faces-massive-backlash-over-absurd-release-pricing-protagonists-in-game-model-looking-worse-than-real-world-actress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cosmetic edits<\/a> from her real-life character model to make her look more masculine. Also, gameplay trailers displayed Vess achieving feats of enormous strength despite her small stature, leading many to assume she would be yet another &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/04\/26\/why-gaming-gets-women-wrong\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">girlboss<\/a>.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Fears of an overly politicized game amplified when players learned the writing team for &ldquo;Outlaws&rdquo; was made of leftist activists including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/nikki-foy\/?originalSubdomain=ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nikki Foy<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/youssefmaguid?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Youssef Maguid<\/a>. Before she put her social media under<a href=\"https:\/\/thatparkplace.com\/star-wars-outlaws-lead-writer-the-maven-of-filth-nikki-foys-social-media-protected-and-website-password-protected-as-story-trailer-gets-huge-negative-reaction\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> lock and key<\/a>, Foy was known for trashing white people and promoting <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2023\/06\/22\/call-of-duty-parent-company-censors-streamer-for-defending-kids-from-trans-agenda\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">LGBT ideology<\/a> in gaming. Maguid&rsquo;s X account hosts a plethora of <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/youssefmaguid\/status\/1393216936645775360\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">anti-Israel<\/a> posts alongside<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/youssefmaguid\/status\/1395170561878339584\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> terrorist apologia<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It seemed inevitable that a game written by militant leftists would flop, and flop it did. Exact sales numbers are not public yet, but it&rsquo;s clear the game failed to meet expectations.<\/p>\n<p>One industry reporter took to X and <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Chris_Dring\/status\/1830887864403370276\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>, &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have digital data yet. And this is just the UK. But &hellip; it was a weak launch for Star Wars Outlaws at UK retail. Launch sales are 55% lower than what Star Wars Jedi: Survivor did. It was 15% bigger than Ubisoft\/Massive&rsquo;s last game, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The United Kingdom is not the world&rsquo;s largest market, but the data is indicative of larger trends. The game barely sold better than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/paultassi\/2023\/12\/18\/avatar-frontiers-of-pandora-is-40-off-12-days-after-release\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">another flop<\/a>, and sold fewer than half as many copies as a previous &ldquo;Star Wars&rdquo; game. That&rsquo;s a bad sign.<\/p>\n<p>It also looks like the pain for Ubisoft isn&rsquo;t over yet. &ldquo;Assassin&rsquo;s Creed Shadows,&rdquo; its newest entry in the nearly two-decade-old series, nearly sparked a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sankei.com\/article\/20240724-WTXDURJJXJAK7DGLOI6HQMTIIY\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">diplomatic incident<\/a> with the Japanese government over its assertion that a black African named Yasuke was a samurai in the service of warlord Oda Nobunaga.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Ubisoft was forced to issue a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/assassinscreed\/status\/1815674592444187116\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">groveling apology<\/a> on X: &ldquo;We share your passion for history and deeply respect your care for the historical and cultural integrity of your rich heritage,&rdquo; and, &ldquo;From its inception, the series has taken creative license and incorporated fantasy elements to craft engaging and immersive experiences. The representation of Yasuke in our game is an illustration of this.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A sprinkling of sexual propaganda further inflamed tensions. Reporting <a href=\"https:\/\/thatparkplace.com\/assassins-creed-shadows-ubisoft-hires-lgbtq-activist-as-consultant-who-wants-to-challenge-moral-standards-around-transgenerational-sex\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">emerged<\/a> that Ubisoft had hired Sachi Schmidt-Hori to act as a consultant on &ldquo;Shadows.&rdquo; In her bio at Dartmouth College, Schmidt-Hori <a href=\"https:\/\/faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu\/sachi-schmidt-hori\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">says<\/a> she is &ldquo;interested in liteary [sic] and pictorial representations of gender, sexuality, and class in pre-seventeenth-century Japanese narratives &hellip; which often depict romantic relationships between Buddhist priests and adolescent boys. These tales challenge a host of normative and moral standards we &mdash; academics, non-academics, the far-right, the far-left, and beyond &mdash; internalize, including such ideas as &lsquo;sexual orientation,&rsquo; &lsquo;transgenerational sex,&rsquo; and &lsquo;sexual agency.&rsquo;<\/p>\n<p>As a result of all this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/limbaugh-the-lefts-ongoing-campaign-to-denigrate-trump-supporters\/\" title=\"LIMBAUGH: The Left\u2019s Ongoing Campaign To Denigrate Trump Supporters\">leftist extremism<\/a>, &ldquo;Shadows&rdquo; looks primed to be as much of a failure as &ldquo;Outlaws&rdquo; was, which could cause more financial damage to an already wounded brand. A recent gaming expo in Paris featured anemic turnout at the &ldquo;Shadows&rdquo; booth, with one commentator <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/Grummz\/status\/1812506383574872080\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noting<\/a> people were using the benches reserved for the game to watch a Nintendo booth across the way.<\/p>\n<p>Ubisoft needs to pivot, and it needs to pivot now. The data plainly shows that woke games do worse than their non-woke counterparts. The recent apocalyptic failure of leftist darling &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/09\/02\/politics-free-black-myth-sells-10-million-in-three-days-as-dei-games-dustborn-and-concord-flop\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Concord<\/a>&rdquo; is even more evidence of that.<\/p>\n<p>Gamers have not been subtle about what they want. It doesn&rsquo;t take a genius to see excising wokeness from gaming results in higher sales numbers. That the decidedly non-woke &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ign.com\/articles\/black-myth-wukong-sells-an-incredible-10-million-copies-in-just-3-days\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Black Myth: Wukong<\/a>&rdquo; continues to notch monumental profit is additional proof.<\/p>\n<p>If Ubisoft wants to avoid worse financial damage, the choice is clear. Get back to the basics and cut out the woke stuff. Or else you&rsquo;re toast.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Douglas Blair is a producer and special correspondent with &#8220;O&#8217;Connor Tonight&#8221; on the Salem News Channel.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ubisoft, known for its highly popular &#8220;Assassin&#8217;s Creed&#8221; and &#8220;Far Cry&#8221; franchises, is facing significant challenges following the release of its latest game, &#8220;Star Wars: Outlaws,&#8221; which has been criticized for its focus on identity politics. The company&#8217;s stock plummeted to a nine-year low after a concerning 13 percent drop in value. <\/p>\n<p>The game sparked immediate backlash when it was revealed that the main character, Kay Vess, underwent cosmetic changes from her real-life model to appear more masculine. Additionally, gameplay trailers showcased Vess performing incredible feats of strength despite her small size, leading many to label her as another example of a &#8220;girlboss.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Concerns about the game&#8217;s political undertones intensified when it became known that the writing team included leftist activists like Nikki Foy and Youssef Maguid. Foy had previously made headlines for her derogatory comments about white people and advocacy for LGBT representation in gaming before locking down her social media accounts. Maguid&#8217;s posts on X include numerous anti-Israel sentiments and support for terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>Given this context, expectations were low for a game created by such politically charged writers\u2014and those expectations were met with disappointing sales figures that have yet to be officially released but are clearly below projections. An industry reporter noted on X that initial sales in the UK were 55% lower than those of &#8220;Star Wars Jedi: Survivor,&#8221; although they did surpass Ubisoft\u2019s previous title \u201cAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora\u201d by 15%.<\/p>\n<p>While the UK market isn&#8217;t the largest globally, these figures suggest troubling trends; \u201cOutlaws\u201d sold only slightly better than another unsuccessful title and significantly fewer copies than earlier \u201cStar Wars\u201d games.<\/p>\n<p>Ubisoft&#8217;s troubles seem far from over as their upcoming title \u201cAssassin\u2019s Creed Shadows\u201d nearly caused diplomatic tensions with Japan due to its portrayal of Yasuke\u2014a black African who served as a samurai under warlord Oda Nobunaga. Ubisoft issued an apology acknowledging concerns over historical accuracy while defending their creative liberties.<\/p>\n<p>Tensions escalated further with reports that Sachi Schmidt-Hori was brought on as a consultant for \u201cShadows.\u201d Her academic interests include exploring gender and sexuality representations in pre-seventeenth-century Japanese narratives\u2014some involving controversial themes.<\/p>\n<p>With all this leftist influence at play, it appears likely that \u201cShadows\u201d will struggle just as much as \u201cOutlaws,\u201d potentially inflicting more financial harm on an already struggling brand. A recent gaming expo in Paris saw poor attendance at the &#8220;Shadows&#8221; booth; attendees preferred watching presentations at nearby Nintendo displays instead.<\/p>\n<p>Ubisoft must change direction quickly; data indicates that games lacking political agendas perform better commercially. The recent failure of another left-leaning project called &#8220;Concord&#8221; reinforces this trend.<\/p>\n<p>Gamers have made their preferences clear\u2014removing wokeness from games correlates with increased sales success. The ongoing success of non-woke titles like &#8220;Black Myth: Wukong&#8221; serves as further evidence supporting this notion.<\/p>\n<p>To mitigate further financial losses, Ubisoft needs to return to fundamental gaming principles and eliminate politically charged content\u2014or risk severe consequences moving forward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1733,"featured_media":2342151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/3848481871_1bdf220f26_k.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[36251,39898,34172,35133,41039],"class_list":["post-2342150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-entertainment-news","tag-gaming-industry","tag-star-wars","tag-stock-market","tag-ubisoft"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/3848481871_1bdf220f26_k.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2342150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1733"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2342150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2342150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2342151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2342150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2342150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2342150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}