Ubisoft has announced that it has created a subsidiary worth €4 billion that will focus on Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six, with Tencent owning a majority stake worth €1.16 billion.
Over the past few years, Ubisoft has been going through some pretty tough times financially. While things have reportedly been rough for a while, they got worse after a string of triple-A underperformers, including Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. While Assassin’s Creed Shadows seems to be doing well so far, it seems the company is still seeking changes.
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Since these financial issues have started being reported, it’s also been rumoured that Ubisoft was looking to sell some of its series and IP to other companies, with Microsoft and Tencent rumoured to be interested. It seems that rumour was correct, as Ubisoft and Tencent are now creating a subsidiary together that’s worth €4 billion.
Tencent Now Owns A Majority Stake In Some Of Ubisoft’s Biggest Series
As reported by French press Les Echos, Ubisoft has created a subsidiary that consolidates what it considers to be its three biggest series, Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Rainbow Six. Tencent, who has been rumoured to be interested in Ubisoft’s IP for some time, has invested €1.2 billion into the subsidiary, making it a majority owner.
According to Les Echos, the subsidiary will be located in France and will take care of development, publishing, marketing, and distribution. The subsidiary will transfer employees working in the group’s studios located in Quebec, Montreal, Barcelona, Sofia, and more. It’s not clear yet what this means for the series not mentioned in the subsidiary, but we’ll likely find out soon.
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. – Yves Guillemot
A statement released by Ubisoft notes that the subsidiary will feature the mentioned development teams’ back catalogue and new games currently under development or developed in the future. What will happen to the Ubisoft developers not at those teams is also unclear, but it’s another thing that might be detailed at a later date.
