At the present moment, things are not looking so hot for Ubisoft. It seems each and every decision made by the gaming giant is being met with unhappiness from vocal gamers. It certainly doesn’t help that its flagship franchise’s next game, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, keeps getting delayed. Amid this uncertainty, rumours began to swirl about a potential Tencent buyout of the company, but now it seems like there’s another option on the table.
At least, that’s what Bloomberg has reported. The idea is to create “a new venture that would include certain Ubisoft assets as they seek to boost the French video-game company’s value.” This move, if negotiations between the Guillemot family and Tencent make progress and go through, would see the transfer of valuable intellectual properties under the Ubisoft umbrella to the new entity.
With Tencent currently holding just about 25% of the shares in Ubisoft, the new venture will give them even greater control and allow the Chinese conglomerate to expand its business further outside of its home country with less resistance.
Whether this is the right move is still anyone’s guess, but following Ubisoft’s previous emphasis on staying independent following other moves to buy out the founding Guillemot family, this reshaping of the business might just be the left field solution to its woes.
It is still uncertain whether this plan will materialise. However, the market has responded positively, as seen in Ubisoft’s stock price rise. This is positive for the company in all ways, even if the venture doesn’t come to pass, considering the drop in share price back in October 2024.
As to be expected for such deals, neither Ubisoft nor Tencent has commented on the matter, and, likely, we won’t hear anything until it has been discussed and agreed upon. A seismic move of this nature will most certainly make a wave in the industry, especially for those worried about Tencent’s growing influence in the gaming industry.
