Ubisoft stunned investors and sparked widespread speculation when it abruptly delayed its first-half fiscal year 2026 earnings report on November 13, 2025, just minutes before the scheduled announcement. The video game publisher subsequently halted trading of its shares and bonds, creating uncertainty about the company’s financial health.
The mystery surrounding the delay was resolved days later when Ubisoft revealed the reason: an accounting error involving misreported revenue from a prior fiscal year partnership deal. An external auditor discovered the error during routine review of the company’s half-year financial accounts, triggering regulatory non-compliance that forced the delay.
The Accounting Issue
The error stemmed from incorrect revenue recognition under IFRS 15 accounting standards for a partnership in fiscal year 2024-25. Ubisoft had misclassified how revenue from a utilization-based payment partnership should be recognized, initially failing to account for how payments were scheduled based on actual usage rather than fixed milestones.
Once corrected, this accounting treatment also affected how a new partnership signed in the second quarter of fiscal 2025-26 was classified, requiring further adjustments to the current period’s results. The restatement of prior-year accounts under International Accounting Standard 8 created a baseline comparison issue for evaluating current performance.
Resolution and Trading Resumption
Ubisoft’s first-half FY26 results were published on November 21, 2025, allowing share trading to resume. The company will pay a fine as part of regulatory compliance, with the penalty included in a 286 million Euro debt repayment obligation.
While the accounting error created temporary market panic, it ultimately reflected a technical classification issue rather than financial fraud or fundamental problems with Ubisoft’s operations. Nonetheless, the incident underscores the scrutiny facing major publishers as they navigate complex accounting standards and investor expectations.