According to a new report, Ubisoft stakeholders Tencent and the Guillemot family are considering starting up a new venture and migrating some of the publisher's IP across.
Word comes from Bloomberg in a paywalled story that cites people familiar with the situation.
Apparently, the two entities are weighing up the possibility of starting up a new venture together that will house some of Ubisoft's existing franchises, relinquishing some control of those assets to Tencent.
As things stand, Tencent owns 9.99 per cent of Ubisoft's shares, while the founding Guillemot family owns 14 per cent.
The move would also be an attempt to increase the value of the beleaguered publisher, which has been declining in recent years thanks to a string of lacklustre releases among other setbacks.
No final decision has been made, and there's no word on what might happen to the IP that Ubisoft holds onto if this were to go ahead.
Ubisoft had an incredibly challenging 2024, with multiple projects failing to live up to sales expectations, such as Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, Star Wars Outlaws, and XDefiant, which will be permanently shut down in a few months.
On top of that, Assassin's Creed Shadows has been delayed more than once, which will have affected Ubisoft's financials. It's now scheduled for March.
What do you make of this report? Should Ubisoft move some of its assets to a new entity and streamline things? Discuss in the comments section below.
[source bloomberg.com, via videogameschronicle.com]
Comments 25
It’s 2025 and the headings are still a work of art
Never change, Push Square
Cool, maybe this new venture will live up to the AAAA dream.
just stop milking assassins creed while treating other games like side projects ubisoft , and switch up the extremely played out open world & fetch quest bs
Will the new venture be called Ubisofter?
I'll see myself out.
@RBMango No Ubihard 😜
Just make Immortals Fenyx Rising 2 and il be happy.
Would not be surprised if the negativity has been deliberately stoked in an attempt to wrest control from the Guillemots. We’ve seen how certain PR firms hired by Depp and Baldoni operate, it’s not a stretch.
maybe sony can nab price of Persia , or fenyx immortals
@UltimateOtaku91 agreed I really enjoyed the first game and the quirky humour..was a really fun game to play.
@Keyblade-Dan @RBMango Ubiflaccid. Come on now.
Also, let's increase our company value by creating a new company, moving over some IP for assuming very little cash, and not dealing with 19000 employees and insane problems the company will still have
Well if they thought more before taking too long with the boat one because the devs were too particular on how it goes/delays. They approached a Sea of Theives, went too niche with it and go oh it will sell..... Do they understand niches?
Lost Crown is a fair game but as if Indie/Metroid sales weren't clear on how Metroidvanias sell regardless of all platforms and a big budget 2.5D game compared to a Little Big Planet with different presentation or different sales per that era? Do Ubisoft actually think?
Let alone Nexus in VR? Do they understand niches? They clearly don't and have their heads up in the clouds. I respect them trying different things and they don't work AC in different ways like VR or other IPs but they just don't have the appeal anymore. Xbox has the same problem. A mix of IPs but they just don't appeal at all. So only the big ones sell and even then struggle. Part of it is audiences but I contribute to some sales but I'm not paying 100% price because I know it won't sell and I'm not that desperate for them.
I'll take a Red Steel 2 in VR it's not big name but at least use the IP and it's niche. It was when it released. It's a low risk. But nope why do that just push AC and go oh it will be fine a big game in a niche platform space even if VR is really good if done right. Sigh.
They can try different things but do they actually think how, why, anything at all intelligent about this stuff? Because it doesn't seem so.
It's like with others oh a Roguelike DLC, like I couldn't care less. You can experiment but in "that way" lol they aren't even trying anymore it's just sad.
I can go on and on about Indies that aren't experimental and those that are safe but I've said it to death and like it makes a difference. Nor to Indie devs narrow game experiences for inspiration/audiences care.
I can't even remember the ship game's name that's how forgettable it was.
Rayman and Fenyx will go right why would Ubisoft need those IPs. Rayman/Prince of Persia and Red Steel are all I care for from Ubi anyway these days. I am playing the old Tom Clancy games but I mean, they keep pushing them in certain directions these days. They rely on them too much to let those go.
They need better balance of IPs. ABK it's one thing with too much COD focus they are deep in it already. Ubisoft doesn't have to be. Then again why is Far Cry not on Switch or any other games on other platforms or gotten focus. They just push Assassin's Creed so much it's hilarious.
The management, IP use and stupidity is just hilarious everytime. There is a reason i focus on the niche IPs they appeal to me more and the others are a popularity of sales laugh I have each time. They try with gamepaly ideas, make the monetesation happen and yet the games just sell or don't land because the premise/gameplay ideas are so formula despite the minor changes that who cares we are sick of the same substance or more and more lacking just being a waste of everyone's time.
It's like other publishers i only care about their small IPs, but the big IPs are still good enough I can see why people still support Capcom or others even if I really don't care for them, audiences do and I see the quality/attention to detail for them.
Sell off Tom Clancy rights so we can get Splinter Cell
Asset stripping a company they’ve wrecked wrecked
But audiences are weak to the IP appeal and familiarity of ideas so no wonder Indies are just as bad as AAA. Audiences are to blame for the familiarity/lack of change or care to try anything. I'm picky but I"m not nostalgia/IP narrow bound like some people can be. I hate nostalgia I don't seek it like others do.
I mean I can look at Age of Wonders 4 (Civ is limited to history and others in their ways I think of themes or gameplay) and go wow why don't RPGs have this Goats worshiping Crocs and flying on Dragons. It's always humanoids and boring other stuff. Maybe I want to see the goats rise up. XD Or other humanoid/non-humanoid species ideas then Elves/Dwarves all the time.
That or like Kingley's Adventure some feud over coffee or tea or something. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvuB0OuiPmY&pp=ygUSbml0cm8gcmFkIGtpbmdzbGV5
Worlds made of whatever nonsense material, characters with weird accents, weird rules in their worlds not too safe to please those with their culture too stuck in their brains so limits happen.
Fiction can go further yet immersion and normies make games so boring because 'oh that's strange' yet sitcoms and other movies/tv shows about whatever drama/fantasy/sci-fi have their strangeness but also a lot of safe ideas too.
Anything too broad goes to kids IPs and in a magical fair way and anything dark for adults is still too grounded.
Video games can be so much yet aren't and are so dumbed down it's hilarious of writing to character movesets for me at this point I can't find them fun to play let alone look at.
Yet we get the same Elves/Dwarves stuff and maybe rarely an odd new species. Like fiction is so weak because of audiences and a creator's weak mind to try something crazy in video game possibilities or world design.
Even Exodus impresses me with it's ambitious ideas, but it could also be weak too if done wrong or the story possibilities too intelligent and why we have boring generic world ending goals and a lot of filler nonsense in them for weak story telling/gameplay.
Videos like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtqRXQGW1aw really make you go wow world ending threat 'but' is this the real goal here, huh.....
@Keyblade-Dan Ubihard implies I'll actually give a s*** what Tencent and the Guillemot clowns will do.
@UltimateOtaku91 Amen
Is this even legal though - surely the IP(s) would need to be sold or rented to the new 'venture' at a price acceptable to the other 76% of other Ubisoft shareholders, otherwise from the little I know, it doesn't appear much different to theft of key assets, from that other 76% of Ubisoft shareholders.
Their AC games are graphical showcases but have become boring and bland. I liked when they took chances on AC games like Syndicate. Black Flag is hands down my favorite one because I loved how they incorporated vessel fighting. From the recent ones, I liked Origins because it was different than usual. And another Rayman is way overdue. And I am still waiting for Beyond Good and Evil 2 which will never happen.
@charbtronic agreed. Even better - split it up so the team that did the VR Batman game could do Splinter Cell VR & another team do their own flat version.
While they’re at it, give us a proper Rainbow Six Vegas game or bring back the Patriots project
Making a high quality goty contender would also help increase Ubisoft's value although that's a bit harder than just farting out endless Assassin Creed games 🤷🏼♀️
Just don’t cancel The Division 3.
I just finished Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow HD and playing a bit of Splinter Cell 1 and Chaos Theory and i like oh man..these games was Ubisoft at their peak. Compare to this day, i always question how on earth Ubisoft fallen so bad?!
On topic. I don't know what kind of "new venture" they gonna do with Tencent. But i'm crossing my fingers it will be good and can help Ubisoft back to their peak.
@nomither6 I'm only up to AC3 while playing chronologically, but I'm hoping for The Division 3, as my brother and I play the series and we absolutely LOVE it!!! Hoping for the best with Ubisoft doing what they can as is possible
@WiccanMagick75 that’s awesome; you can’t go wrong with the classics, i believe they’re all worth it, even 3 (AC3 is actually my favorite)! I hope the division makes a comeback as well, i never got to try the series, but would really like to if a third game drops. ubisoft has the right ideas with their games , they just really need to execute them better. same with watchdogs - right idea, but eventually just poor execution
@nomither6 I wholeheartedly agree. If possible that they don't continue into The Division 3, I'll always be happy replaying the series for the 7th and 5th times 😎👍 I truly hope they finish it as they have been working on it for awhile now. When you do undertake The Division Series, you're in for a real treat
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