Chinese tech and gaming giant Tencent and the Guillemot family are reportedly in talks to acquire French game publisher and developer Ubisoft in a deal that would take the company private.
The report came via Bloomberg, citing “people familiar with the matter.” But it followed months of speculation about Ubisoft’s future after the company had to lower its revenue expectations for its upcoming flagship title “Assassin’s Creed: Shadows.”
Ubisoft Acquisition
Ubisoft is a publicly traded company with its founders, members of the Guillemot family, and Tencent as its major shareholders.
Details are scant, but Bloomberg reports that the talks include taking the company private. Perhaps this will work in much the same way as Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter. At that time, the public social media was made private and rebranded as X Social Media.
As a private company, Ubisoft is no longer dependent on shareholders and is not required to publicly disclose its profits. However, it is unclear exactly what position Tencent or the Guillemot family will take.
It is possible that Yves Guillemot, the company’s current CEO and one of its co-founders, will seek a deal that would retain his family’s interests as the major controlling owner. This will allow Ubisoft to continue operating with the financial backing of Tencent, China’s most valuable company, while retaining its current management team.
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Web3 and blockchain
As of now, it is unclear whether the talks are serious. Cointelegraph reached out to Ubisoft and Tencent but did not receive an immediate response from either company.
But the timing of the purchase makes sense. Ubisoft’s stock price plunged by more than half over the past 12 months, but appears to have rebounded by more than 30% as rumors of the acquisition spread.
This chart shows Ubisoft stock trending upward during the acquisition report. Source: Microsoft
If such an acquisition were to occur, the two companies could serve as an international federation of cryptocurrency and blockchain-friendly AAA gaming organizations. While other gaming companies, such as Japan’s Square-Enix and Korea’s Pearl Abyss, are also investing in Web3 and blockchain-based games, Ubisoft and Tencent have been nascent in their respective fields when it comes to adoption.
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