The Guillemot brothers, who previously led both Ubisoft and Gameloft, seem to lose control over the companies.
In the last roughly nine months, Vincent Bolloré-led Vivendi started to buy stocks in both French companies. However, Gameloft is now mostly owned by them, although it is yet to be announced how big of a percentage is in Vivendi’s hands. Remember, Vivendi was the power behind the creation of the Activision Blizzard conglomerate.
From now on, it’s just a question of time when Vivendi takes over (maybe in a hostile fashion?) Ubisoft. By 2017, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Yves Guillemot kicked out of the executive board: despite receiving money for the Gameloft purchase, it’s not enough to even have 5% in Ubisoft for the Guillemot brothers.
Perhaps this move will urge Ubisoft to focus on high-quality games (or have them launch in an acceptable format) before Vivendi takes over the keys.
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