Ubisoft is reportedly working on a deal to sell off its majority stake to Epic Games parent company Tencent. According to Bloomberg, sources close to the matter have said that the Guillemot Brothers Ltd. have entered into negotiations with Tencent for a potential buyout. The rumor comes as Ubisoft’s latest AAA(A) game Star Wars Outlaws has reportedly flopped on an epic level. It has been said that the game has only sold enough units to equal $1 million of a $70 million budget, not including marketing costs. This follows another underwhelming number of sales for its adaptation of James Cameron’s blockbuster franchise, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora.
Those two major investments by Ubisoft are not the only missteps to affect the publisher. Its many delays to launch its online naval and pirate adventure game Skull and Bones failed to capture a major player base and then there was also a proposed entry in the NFT market which never gained traction. From microtransactions to a game launcher many have complained about, Ubisoft has not done well in the PC marketplace for some time and except for occasional spikes of interest in its long-running Assassins Creed franchise the publisher has had numerous financial woes. Not long after news that Ubisoft is reportedly in talks with Tencent, Ubisoft’s shares rose the highest since its public offering in 1996.
Per Bloomberg:
- “The Chinese tech company and Guillemot Brothers Ltd. have been speaking with advisers to help explore ways to stabilize Ubisoft and bolster its value, the people said, asked not to be identified discussing a private matter.”
- “One of the possibilities being discussed would involve teaming up to take the company private, according to the people.”
- “Ubisoft shares rose as much as 33% in Paris on Friday following the Bloomberg News report, the steepest gain since the company’s 1996 initial public offering.”
A deal between the two could be thought of as a deal made, well, somewhere as feelings by PC gamers are not necessarily the best towards either. However, Ubisoft’s struggles over the last decade are well documented and Tencent’s resources are deep. While extreme changes could happen with such a deal it might actually be the Hail Mary Ubisoft needs to survive but only time will tell.