The year 2022 is already a huge year when you look at the number of takeovers announced in the video game sector. The biggest are obviously Activision Blizzard by Microsoft (68.9 billion) and Bungie by Sony (3.6 billion), but another player would soon be on the list, and it is none other than Ubisoft.
Ubisoft, a mean fish with golden licenses
Ubisoft Entertainment SA, the video game publisher behind the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise, is attracting preliminary interest from investment funds, sources told Bloomberg people close to the subject.
According to the newspaper’s sources, several private equity firms, including Blackstone Inc. and KKR & Co., have studied the French company. The same sources indicate that Ubisoft has not entered into any serious negotiations with potential acquirers to date, and it is unclear whether its major shareholder is willing to strike a deal.
Yves Guillemot’s family currently owns 15% of the business, but deliberations are still at an early stage and there is no certainty that any of the suitors will come up with a bid, said the sources. On the stock market, Ubisoft shares fell from €84.60 in January 2021 to less than €51 a year later. A loss of 40% of its value in just one year which today brings the share price back to its level of March 2017. Today, Ubisoft’s market capitalization is around 4.8 billion euros.
According to the sources of my box, Ubisoft has worked closely with several external consulting firms in recent years to audit various parts of its business. But while companies typically do this to become more profitable and prepare for the future, the sources Kotaku spoke to suggest it’s a sign that Ubisoft is trying to clean up for a potential sale.
Ubisoft has already fallen prey to other groups, but as we have seen with Vivendi’s unsuccessful attempt, the Guillemot family has always been strongly opposed to selling the store. Since then, however, the situation seems to have been quite different and last February, Yves Guillemot said that he would consider any offer on the table even if Ubisoft was able to remain independent.
Kotaku sources believe that Ubisoft is now ready for takeover for several reasons:
- Charlie Guillemot left his post at Ubisoft as well as the group last year, which means that there is no longer any descendant to take over the family business.
- Ubisoft has been hit by a continuing wave of senior talent departures. The video game market is getting bigger and bigger and recruiting for key positions is in high demand.
- The company continues to fight the consequences of sexual harassment cases that have been in the press since the summer of 2020.
- Some of its biggest projects continue to face upheaval, delays, or being trapped in development hell. The best example is certainly that of Beyond Good and Evil 2formalized for 14 years.
As Bloomberg reported in February, Ubisoft has decided to turn one of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s planned DLCs into a standalone game (Assassin’s Creed Rift) planned for this standalone in order to fill holes in its release schedule at the moment. over the next 18 months. According to three Kotaku sources, the upcoming Far Cry, Ghost Recon, and Assassin’s Creed games will be released a bit later than Ubisoft originally anticipated.
