Ubisoft commented on rumors of its sale to Tencent

What Ubisoft The crisis has been around for quite some time, this is nothing new. In recent days in the report Bloomberg pointed out that the historical publisher French may be sold to Chinese giant Tencent in search of salvation, and now the company has publicly announced this.

In a statement sent VGKUbisoft repeated comments that arose after the report in question. And although the company avoided confirming or denying informationstressed that he is constantly evaluating the strategic options presented to him. Despite this, the company says it remains focused on two core parts of its business: games-as-a-service and open-world adventures.

“Ubisoft has taken note of recent press rumors regarding the company’s possible interests. [La firma] periodically reviews all its strategic options in the interests of its stakeholders and informs the market where necessary. “The company reiterates that management is currently focused on executing its strategy focused on two fundamental verticals: open world adventure and native gaming experiences as a service,” they pointed out.

The fact that there is no strong denial of a possible agreement with Tencent seems to leave the door open for there to be some truth to this possibility. In any case, it is clear that Ubisoft doesn’t want to create false expectationsand also not to complicate already somewhat strained relations with shareholders.

Selling Tencent is a possible exit for Ubisoft

Reportedly BloombergTencent and the Guillemot brothers, the company’s founders, could join forces to buy Ubisoft and turn it into a private company; that is, cease to be a public company. Today, Guillemots are the majority shareholders with a 29.9% stake through Guillemot Brothers Limited, while the Chinese giant already owns a 10% stake in Guillemot Brothers Limited. publisher.

Ubisoft’s performance hasn’t been its best in recent years. When it comes to video games, the company has a number of disappointing titles. Only for now in 2024 such proposals as skull and crossbones, Prince of Persia And Star Wars Outlawsfailed and did not achieve the desired commercial results. The same can be said about Avatar: Pandora’s Frontierswhich was launched at the end of 2023. Added to this is distrust due to the postponement of the launch. Assassin’s Creed Shadows until 2025.

Meanwhile, on the institutional side, Ubisoft has taken part in an important project. sexual harassment and assault scandal. A complaint that surfaced in mid-2021 and led to the arrest of 5 former directors of the company in October last year; they include Serge Ascoët, former creative director at Ubisoft, and Tommy Francois, former vice president of editorial.

All of these business, creative and commercial ups and downs have contributed to Ubisoft’s share price, which over the past 5 years lost more than 76% of its value. So far, in 2024 alone, the company’s value has fallen by about 40%, remaining at $1.95 billion (versus $3.34 billion in 2023).