Some new shifts are taking place in the European video game market. Amid Ubisoft’s latest struggles, CD Projekt has managed to surpass the Assassin’s Creed publisher by market capitalization. Again.
Cyberpunk 2077
Polish media outlet GRY-OnLine.pl was the first to report the news on January 13. At the moment of writing, CD Projekt stock is trading at PLN 132.26 (€28.23) per share — a 34.9% increase over the past six months.
Ubisoft shares are €21.31 per share — a 47.5% decline over the past six months. The latest drop in the share price is due to the company’s report to investors in which it announced a “targeted restructuring”. This includes the cancellation of three more games, lowering revenue forecasts, and job cuts.
The drop in stock also took a toll on Ubisoft’s market value. Right now, it has a market cap of around €2.67 billion, compared to PLN 13.33 billion (€2.84 billion) for CD Projekt.
This is not the first time that The Witcher developer has outperformed Ubisoft. In May 2020, CD Projekt became Europe’s most valuable game company, outshining the French publisher. This happened just months prior to the botched launch of Cyberpunk 2077, which ended up sending CD Projekt stock into a downward spiral.
So the company has been struggling to regain the trust of both players and investors ever since. However, the recent success of Cyberpunk 2077 (thanks to the next-gen update, a series of patches, and the Edgerunners anime series), a new business strategy, and strong financial performance have helped CD Projekt start growing once again.
Ubisoft, on the other hand, suffers from an empty release schedule and declining profits. The company has once again delayed Skull & Bones, and its latest actions are sparking new rumors of a possible sellout.