Ubisoft Is Forming a New Gaming 'Entity'

Ubisoft Seeks Investors for Assassin’s Creed and Other Core IPs—Tencent Among Potential Backers...

In what I'd call some sort of strategic desperation, Ubisoft is reportedly looking to bring in outside investors for a newly formed gaming entity that will house some of its most valuable intellectual properties, including everyone's favorite fake samurai series to clown on these days... Assassin’s Creed.

Bloomberg’s latest report (paywalled) broke the news that the French publisher is actively shopping for minority stakeholders right now as we speak, with the Chinese gaming giant Tencent, among the potentially interested parties...

Ubisoft’s Desperate Move to Secure Stability

This info shows up at a time when Ubisoft's been struggling (to put it nicely) to maintain a position in the gaming industry. Market instability, financial setbacks, extreme injection of DEI and woke ideologies throughout the entire organization, and a long string of underwhelming game releases have combined together to put pressure on the company, forcing them to now begin exploring alternative strategies in hope of securing its future. Not that anyone is legitimately holding their breath, but hey, they aren't dying laying down. According to sources familiar with the matter directly, Ubisoft's reached out to both global and French-based investment funds, seeking preliminary bids by the end of this month.

Ubisoft’s lack of comment on the matter is pretty telling though, as the company had instead directed Bloomberg to their most recent earnings report instead of giving more insight on anything they're doing right now. This follows last year’s speculation that Ubisoft was considering a strategic shift to double down on its core IPs, particularly Assassin’s Creed.

Tencent’s Role in Ubisoft’s Future

As it stands, Tencent already holds a 9.99% stake in Ubisoft, while the Guillemot family—Ubisoft’s founding members—own 14% of shares. The Chinese tech giant has been in discussions with the Guillemots and financial advisors since at least last year, with reports indicating that they were looking for ways to stabilize Ubisoft after its market value took a significant dive over the past decade or so to what is reaching close to all time lows once again.

This latest development fuels even more speculation that Ubisoft's open to selling a more significant portion of its business. Desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose... There were previous reports last year that Tencent and the Guillemots had entertained the possibility of taking Ubisoft private, though those discussions were still in the early stages, and nothing had come from it as of late.

A Battle for Control Behind the Scenes

A Reuters report from December also revealed that some shareholders were considering a potential Ubisoft buyout that would allow the Guillemot family to retain control. Tencent, however, had continued to remain cautious about any increased levels of involvement, reportedly seeking more influence over board decisions before making any further investments. Not that I can blame them.... I mean, would YOU want to give more money to Ubisoft without more control after seeing how they've handled things leading up to this point?

The Chinese company is also been trying to prevent any kind of hostile takeover attempts from other investors, which suggests that Ubisoft may be more vulnerable than they had initially let on.

What This Means for Ubisoft’s Future

While Ubisoft has struggled tremendously over the past few years with controversial mismanagement and insane decisions in recent years, its next major title, Assassin’s Creed Shadows, is scheduled to launch on March 20, 2025. This marks THE pivotal moment for the company, as this game will be the first major Ubisoft release to launch on Steam day one since 2019—a departure from their previous strategy of prioritizing the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Connect. Maybe they're learning what gamers actually want? Man... Desperation can wake people up real quick.

Ubisoft recently experimented with releasing Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Star Wars Outlaws on Steam after launching them exclusively elsewhere. Whether this move here signals a broader shift in the company’s digital distribution strategy remains to be seen, but it could at least be an attempt to try and regain trust from PC gamers who have grown frustrated with Ubisoft’s exclusivity deals. There's a lot of ill-will there, so this isn't something that will be resolved with the community over night.

The Bigger Picture: Is Ubisoft Losing Its Identity?

By Ubisoft now actively seeking investors for a "new" entity that holds its most valuable franchises, Ubisoft is taking a calculated risk. While securing financial backing might provide some short-term stability, it also raises concerns about whether the company is slowly losing control of its own creations... and what they have being made down the road that interests anyone. If Tencent or another major investor gains more influence over Ubisoft’s board, it could lead to fundamental changes in how the company operates—which at this point is probably a good thing. Ubisoft has long lost who they are due to falling victim as an entire company to the woke mind virus, and forgotten who their audience actually was this whole time. Maybe the potential investments from Blackrock, Vanguard, government grants, and low-interest DEI loans sounded great at the time... But if that's what got them where they are now, I'd be questioning my life choices as a company.

With industry consolidation becoming increasingly common these days, this latest move may be a sign that Ubisoft is preparing for a major restructuring—or even a potential acquisition down the line. Either way, the immediate fate of series' like Assassin’s Creed and other major flagship Ubisoft franchises could be hanging in the balance. It'll be very interesting to see what comes out of all this.

~Smash