Ubisoft is currently having a bad time (opens in new tab), and when CEO and co-founder Yves Guillemot sent a ton of emails to his staff saying that they were responsible for turning everything around (opens in new tab), the mood in the office was untenable. There was nothing to be done. But now Guillemot has changed its mind, issued a (semi-)apology in a company-wide Q&A, and made it clear that, after all, management has a role to play in the road ahead.

"I've heard your feedback and I'm sorry that it was taken this way," Guillemot (via Kotaku (opens in new tab)) said in his apology, "and I'm sorry that you were angry." When he said, "The ball is in your court," [...]. I wanted more than ever to convey the idea that it takes your talent and energy to make it happen. This is a collective journey that begins, of course, with myself and the leadership."

Guillermo's initial email and response to it was the cherry on the disastrous cake. After the cancellation of several games, disappointing sales, and several postponements of "Skull & Bones" (open in new tab), the last thing Ubisoft wanted was to sow discontent among its staff with a thoughtless e-mail. The e-mail drew the ire of the French Solidaires Informatique union, which called for a strike at Ubisoft Paris (opens in new tab), saying that "Mr. Guillemot is (again) trying to shift the blame to the employees."

Ubisoft executives did not address that call during the Q&A, nor did they do much to allay concerns that the company might respond to the recent rough patch with cost-cutting and layoffs. According to a source who spoke to Kotaku, management is communicating with staff and Guillemot's comment that the company's strategy is not to "do more with less" but to "find a different way of doing things" did not seem to rule out the possibility of future layoffs.

Nevertheless, the company will have to find some way out of its current nosedive, and it probably isn't going to do so by trying to emulate the style of yet another popular genre (opens in new tab). Ubisoft's upcoming classic-style AC game "Assassin's Creed Mirage" promises to be a bit smaller (open in new tab) than "AC Origins," "Odyssey" and "Valhalla." Whatever Ubisoft says, it's certainly not "Beyond Good and Evil 2" (opens in new tab).