European publisher Ubisoft is apparently being weighed for a joint buyout between Chinese conglomerate Tencent and the founding Guillemot family.
This news comes via a report from Bloomberg, with sources "familiar with the matter". Ubisoft has lost over half its market value in 2024, resulting in various options being considered for the future of the company.
According to the report, one such option is Tencent and holding company Guillemot Brothers Ltd jointly purchasing the publisher and making it a private entity.
As of April 2024, Tencent holds a 9.2% stake in the company, while the Guillemot family holds about 20.5%.
Discussions about this potential sale and other options are reportedly at an early stage, so we may not see any movement on the matter for some time yet.
Indeed, 2024 has been a tough year for Ubisoft, with software performing below sales expectations and thus pushing down its share value. One investor has been pushing for the privatisation of Ubisoft, and even the replacement of CEO Yves Guillemot.
With Assassin's Creed Shadows delayed, XDefiant underperforming, and Star Wars Outlaws also struggling to sell, it's fair to say Ubisoft has had a rough time lately.
It's a sorry state of affairs. You have to imagine that, if Ubisoft is bought out, it'll also go through a round of redundancies as the new owners try to untangle its messy structure. That's purely speculative from us, but we can't see Ubisoft's road getting any smoother for a while.
What do you make of all this? Is the sale and privatisation of Ubisoft the best call? Discuss in the comments section below.
[source bloomberg.com, via x.com]
Comments 56
Maybe Sony can convince them to buy Bungie too, maybe throw in firewalk.
Is it just me that thinks ubisofts output would be even worse under Tencent?
Sony should buy Ubisoft and let Team Asobi make a new Rayman game
So they’ve ground down the share price down to below 10$ through their own negligence and poor business practices so that they can now buy the shares cheaper through a forced purchase and gain back their ownership whilst ripping off all their investors.
Nothing will change if they achieve this with Tencent because Tencent will probably take a back seat thinking these clowns are going to change things by bringing out more Assassin Creed games with the promise of a Splinter Cell game in the future.
Maybe it's just time to change the "formula" for an Ubisoft game. I think people are getting fatigued by the cookie-cutter open-world game mechanics that pretty much all Ubisoft games have at this point (and a Star Wars license won't fix it).
Clearly Ubisoft has creative talent - just look at Mario + Rabbids - but it shouldn't take a partnership with Nintendo to bring that out!
Make something that is just fun to play. Scale back the development budgets a bit to and make fun original games. They don't need massive maps. They don't need tons of voice actors. They don't need to be bleeding edge.
@colonelkilgore I dunno…it’s hard to fall off the floor. But if anyone can manage such a feat, it WOULD be Ubisoft.
@colonelkilgore They're technically already under Tencent to some degree, but I take your meaning. I'm certainly wary about Tencent as an entity, but I think Ubisoft going private may be a really good outcome. If they do, they won't need every release to be a Massive (wink wink) success and just focus on making games that keep them in the black, rather than a constant stepping-stone to expansion.
@GamingFan4Lyf That change should have happened a decade ago. They’ve been sacking their best talent on higher wages and getting in younger staff who can find themselves being quickly promoted to manager roles over experience
One strategy to buy back your own company is to run it into the ground and then buy back when the shares are very low. Make it worse by delaying your most anticipated game after a string of financial duds. Can they make a comeback in the second half? Will they be sued for manipulating the markets? Watch this space.
Private is good. No shareholders breathing down their neck demanding constant growth.
I guess it's a good thing they have nothing left I'd want to support, lol.
@GamingFan4Lyf Davide Soliani already left Ubisoft. Pretty much the only worthwhile team left is the one that made the recent Prince of Persia.
Well if you spend millions making games like Avatar and SW outlaws and some how don’t make them top AAA games then what do you expect.
You reap what you sow, it’s as simple as that.
Basically terrible manufacturing process leading to poor games.
@Ralizah He couldn't have possibly been the only creative person, there, right?! Right?!!
I quite like Ubisoft open world games, guess im in the minority😃
Ubisoft could shut down tomorrow and I wouldn't care less.
@Jrs1 nope, not just you. Avatar was the only one I really didn’t like. I’m playing and enjoying SW:O now.
@Jrs1 you aren't the only one mate, I'm quite fond of their single player open world games. I have Star Wars but not played it yet, really enjoyed Avatar too.
If Ubisoft dies, the only thing i want is for a decent studio to buy the Rayman IP
@Jrs1 they're not great. But hate for the stupid leaves the games to be judged more harshly than most others.
I hope they don't buy. Or at least wait until AC shadows is out. Release it on steam, and I'll buy it.
The funny thing is if that occurs and it's just some major conglomerate of salivating private investors at the helm, it will just be even worse formulaic and/or predatory games and a massive layoffs that result.
Ubisoft needs to be cut in half atleast they have way too many people.
Games have continued getting worse and worse and this year in particular just undesirable to play. They are a sinking ship
Can’t wait for xbox podcast like defining Duke tho to say xbox should buy them lol.
@Americansamurai1 Can we also add Herman Hulst to that package?!
If Tencent is involved, that would just make things worse. And it would be keeping the current problems, not fixing them.
Tencent? Hey even more reasons not to buy from Ubisoft as if I needed any 😅
If that occurs, I’ll probably never buy another Ubisoft game again
@IslandLogic man would be awesome to get him out of there and Shu back in
@Jrs1 I'm in the same boat - I like Ubisoft games in general. I'm subscribed to Ubisoft+ at the moment and enjoying playing through a few of their games. They aren't perfect obviously but there is absolutely an element of 'bandwagon jumping' in everyone constantly slagging them off.
@somnambulance
You’re still buying their games? Save the money
I must be the rare one who actually likes their games, especially the Far Cry and Watch Dogs games, but also really enjoyed Immortals Fenyx Rising and both Mario Rabbids games.
This has been the plan all along get share prices down to a low amount and buy it at a low price
@GamingFan4Lyf agree, other examples of small but great games would be valiant hearts, child of light and grow up. The last smaller scale prince of Persia was also a move in the right direction.
It's sad news. The bigger the corporate buyouts the greater loss of creative freedom and input employed developers have to add a more grounded, individual style to the game as they become cogs in a machine steered by profit driven execs.
It seems to me that, Ubisoft, like Naughty Dog before them trod a fine path between the two but were misstepped by internal and external forces with other agendas
@Jrs1 yeah, the minority of 10-15 million that buy every AC and Far Cry 😅 it's a total nonsense that Ubisoft isn't popular, really. They have just made some weird decisions lately, since Skull & Bones, and their own IP are much stronger than their massive licensed ones, it has turned out.
Let the Anno team start their own studio, then the rest can turn into a chinese gacha gaas factory for all I care.
If this happens it will be interesting to see how this would affect the Activision cloud gaming rights that Xbox recently sold to Ubisoft. I can't see Microsoft wanting Tencent to have any part of their franchises.
@GamingFan4Lyf they don't need DEI that nobody wants too.
I just want a new Rayman platformer, I can't be the only one.
Let Embracer Group buy them 😂
Ubisoft desperately needs new leadership, a new direction, and a new vision. Sony should be looking to aquire it, if anyone. Not let it become yet another Chinese buyout, and especially not tencent.
@RBMango exactly i mean what would missed if they shut down? They've either ran their franchises into the ground like far cry and assassins creed or they've completely ignored them like rayman.
Tencent should stay far away from this mess, let Yves sort his mess out himself.
Just don't understand how you can own Rayman, splinter cell, ghost recon, rainbow six and numerous other popular franchises and either ignore them completely or ruin them, just poor leadership and lack of understanding of what gamers want.
I certainly don't want assassins creed every year or every other year, definitely don't want rainbow six in it's current clown form, bring back vegas!
Damn, poor ol’ Ubi just can’t catch a break anymore huh? Seems like there’s an article on them everyday here. I personally don’t own any of their games, but I HAVE enjoyed ones I tried before. If they do get bought out, then I wonder how it’ll affect AC: Shadows. I’m not getting it myself, but am curious about how that release goes.
@Deityjester Agreed. Some franchises are very much okay for yearly releases; Mario, Atelier, but some just don’t need it like Assassin’s Creed or Pokémon. I feel it just cheapens brands. And in Ubisoft’s case, it seems to be biting them in the ass hard.
The Fall of Ubisoft and the rise of Tencent needs to be studied.
This is like watching a toilet flush after a heavy garlic'd dinner.
I actually would love to see Ubisoft go private, but only if the Guillemot brothers and NOT Tencent have majority control.
People don't like Guillemot, but the man is a developer from back in the day, and Ubisoft's games were very good until they went public. Trying to please investors and fend off hostile takeovers is when they got bad and overextended. Being public is what broke them, and being private might make them focus on quality games again. But if Tencent has control.....nope.
Appoint Hermen Hulst as the new CEO of Ubisoft. I mean it would hurt to see him leave Playstation but Ubisoft needs his business genius more right now. It's just the right thing to do.
We'll just have to find some way to go on without him.
Wait until some corpo become cheap with esg stuff, then buy it cheap and make it private with no esg, I’m beginning to think that’s tencent motives 🧐
@RagnarLothbrok Hey there, Prince of Persia is one of the best games this year and honestly Valhalla and Mirage took some steps in the right direction for Assassin’s Creed, so it’s not like Ubisoft makes plain junk for games. They’re a relatively reliable 7/10 machine.
Interesting... That could actually be the reason for the seemingly inexplicable delay of AC Shadows.
Ubisoft is understandably very nervous about this game's launch, and another flop should send the stock prices into a death spiral.
Can't say I'm happy about the Chinese tentacles reaching further into the gaming industry, but Ubisoft really had it coming.
I’m not sure to understand. My understanding is that Ubisoft was already owned by the guillemot family and Tencent, as major stakeholders. Why buying it?
@somnambulance I am still fairly positive of ubisoft too. They have put out many games that I've enjoyed over the years. Even that star wars game, I've watched a couple reviews it looks pretty decent, I've only held off because I've never been that into star wars.
They did go a bit dlc crazy in the PS4 era, pushing it on the title screens, but they seem to have toned that down severely. I'm not sure if they deserve as much online hate as they get nowadays.
Ubisoft would fit better with EA or Activision. Make a giant evil conglomerate. The could even acquire Ubisoft via micro transactions and DLCs.
@Jrs1 I do, too. The games aren't extraordinary, they don't need to be. And I'm not interested in people winthin the company's personal lives, I just want to be entertained, and for the most part, Ubisoft provide that. I'm extremely excited for Division 3 whenever that surfaces.
Modern gamers are just one of the most poisonous communities out. Jumping from one scandal to the next.
@Balosi Definitely agree, although Ubisoft really let the Far Cry series get really stale (and admittedly there was a long patch of weak AC titles). But truthfully, Ubisoft would be on the right path right now… if the gaming community at large wasn’t directly hostile toward the company. It’s one thing to criticize, another to hate. Ubisoft has deserved criticism, sure, but of the big western third party publishers, it’s certainly better than EA, Activision, and Embracer and maybe even Take Two. They’re releasing games rapid speed. Sure, Prince of Persia’s the only 9/10 game I’d give Ubi in about 10 years, but they’ve made more 7/10s than anyone else. Skull and Bones is the only true dud they’ve put out. With their release schedule, that’s actually pretty solid. The stigma against 7/10s is a problem in gamer logic.
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