Ubisoft Doesn't Rule Out Acquisition Offers

General news News 02/19/2022

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Although the French publisher has the resources to remain independent, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot does not rule out listening to takeover offers.

How the world has changed in six years: in 2016, Ubisoft was quite heavily surrounded by Vivendi, led by Vincent Bolloré. Vivendi previously owned Blizzard and created Activision Blizzard. The French media giant later left, but they still managed to acquire the Guillemot brothers’ smaller company, the mobile-focused Gameloft. Vivendi was not far away from a 30% stake in Ubisoft. If they had achieved this, they would have been legally obliged to make a bid, but this did not happen: Vivendi sold its stake in the publisher.

In the company’s latest quarterly financial report, however, Guillemot said: “We have always taken our decisions in the interest of our stakeholders, which are our players, employees and shareholder. So Ubisoft can remain independent. We have the talent, the industrial and the financial scale, and a large portfolio of powerful IP. Having said that, if there were an offer to buy us, the board of directors would review it in the interest of all stakeholders.” As expected, the company didn’t detail whether it has received any offers. (Are they being shunned because of the sexual harassment scandals…?)

And yesterday, we wrote about the notable absentees from Ubisoft’s plans. They DID include Skull & Bones, which we have learned will be released in the next fiscal year (i.e. between April 2022 and the end of March 2023). Its development has changed significantly from a single-player narrative to a live-service, multiplayer-centric model with cooperative elements. In other words: the French company is copying Sea of Thieves…?!

VGC wrote about what Ubisoft CFO Frédérick Duguet said: he called Skull & Bones a promising new “multiplayer first” IP that is “very consistent with our strategy to bring multiplayer competition and co-op first in a big open world, with a great, attractive fantasy.” Of course, it’s questionable whether Ubisoft Singapore, the studio developing the game, can get it ready in time…

Source: PSL, PSL

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Angyal Anikó

Anikó, our news editor and communication manager, is more interested in the business side of the gaming industry. She worked at banks, and she has a vast knowledge of business life. Still, she likes puzzle and story-oriented games, like Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments, which is her favourite title. She also played The Sims 3, but after accidentally killing a whole sim family, swore not to play it again. (For our office address, email and phone number check out our IMPRESSUM)