Ubisoft has created a new subsidiary dedicated to its three biggest IPs, bringing in a bulk investment from Chinese conglomerate Tencent to have a roughly 25% minority stake for the sum of €1.16bn – the subsidiary valued at €4bn by Ubisoft.
This move hives off the Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six and Far Cry franchises, with this business unit the new home for Ubisoft’s teams in Montréal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Saguenay, Barcelona, and Sofia. The new subsidiary will control each game from these series in the back catalogue, as well as any new games that are in development going forward.
The move follows a steady stream of reports that Ubisoft was looking to this creative way of raising fresh funds and investment, without handing over ownership of Ubisoft itself.
“Today Ubisoft is opening a new chapter in its history,” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot wrote for the announcement. “As we accelerate the company’s transformation, this is a foundational step in changing Ubisoft’s operating model that will enable us to be both agile and ambitious. We are focused on building strong game ecosystems designed to become evergreen, growing high-performing brands and creating new IPs powered by cutting-edge and emerging technologies.”
He continues, “With the creation of a dedicated subsidiary that will spearhead development for three of our largest franchises and the onboarding of Tencent as a minority investor, we are crystalizing the value of our assets, strengthening our balance sheet, and creating the best conditions for these franchises’ long-term growth and success. With its dedicated and autonomous leadership team, it will focus on transforming these three brands into unique ecosystems.”
You’d be forgiven for reading that and thinking, “why didn’t you try that before?” Honestly, the main factor here is probably the “strengthening our balance sheet” part with Tencent’s funding. Ubisoft has had plenty ups and down in the last few years with some ignominious failures like Skull and Bones, XDefiant and Star Wars Outlaws – some failures and other pressures have seen Ubisoft join the numerous companies enacting mass layoffs. Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a major hit, thankfully, already selling millions of copies and at a far greater clip than Outlaws, and there’s the major revamp of Rainbow Six Siege coming this summer, aiming to bolster that game’s audience for the foreseeable future.
There’s a number of stipulations to this investment deal that mean that Tencent is locked in for at least 5 years with these shares, to prevent them from exerting pressure on Ubisoft or the subsidiary by trying to pull out – though this is moot if Ubisoft ends up no-longer having a majority stake in the subsidiary. In that regard, Ubisoft must hold a majority stake for a 2-year period.
Source: Ubisoft
#Ubisoft #Tencent #create #subsidiary #Assassins #Creed #Rainbow #Cry
