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Black Flag Resynced Sells Two Million on Launch as Barcelona Developers Strike Over Layoff Plan

The clash between blockbuster sales and proposed studio cuts is testing player trust and staff morale.

Overview

  • The remake, released July 9, sold two million copies on its first day and set a new Steam concurrent-player record for the series.
  • Players criticized about $80–$85 of day‑one paid DLC and microtransactions, which prompted Steam review-bombing even though analysts estimate those purchases still earned Ubisoft roughly $1 million on PC.
  • PC users were briefly locked out when Ubisoft Connect experienced an outage that showed the game’s one‑time activation and online‑dependency can make a single‑player title effectively unplayable during service disruptions.
  • Ubisoft has proposed cutting 51 roles at Ubisoft Barcelona, the team credited with the remake’s praised underwater content, and Barcelona staff have launched union-backed strikes to try to preserve those jobs.
  • Ubisoft says the cuts are part of a broader cost-reduction and strategic refocus and forecasts a lighter 2026–27 release slate with a larger content pipeline and expanded live-service work in later fiscal years.