Stakeholders circle around Assassin’s Creed

Company Ubisoft, which has development teams around the world, was on the lookout for potential buyers. According to a report by Bloomberg, several investment funds are circling Ubisoft, which is considering acquiring a French publisher with series Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, Just Cause, Rayman…

But so far with Blackstone Inc., KKR & Co. and other potential buyers, no serious negotiations have been initiated. It is not even clear whether the main shareholder of Ubisoft is ready to seek an agreement. I.e Guillemot familywho founded Ubisoft in 1986 owns 15% and Yves Guillemot is the CEO.

Meanwhile, the stock market reacted to the Bloomberg report. Ubisoft ended Friday with an 11% increase in value.. However, the company has recently experienced another downturn, due to delays in the release of games and concerns about their quality, the value on the Paris Stock Exchange fell to 41%, and most recently Ubisoft worth 4.8 billion euros.

Ubisoft, Blackstone and KRR & Co. declined to comment on this. In February, CEO Yves Guillemot said that Ubisoft could remain independent, but if an offer was made it would be considered in the best interest of shareholders. Previously, Ubisoft has strictly rejected possible offers.

Recall that Ubisoft has already become a target for others. In 2018, the media conglomerate attempted a hostile takeover. vivendibut Ubisoft eventually defended itself, thanks in part to China’s Tencent.

So let’s see how it goes. M&A activity in the gaming industry hits an all-time high in 2021 $85 billion and is expected to reach this year $150 billion. Major deals were announced in the early months of the year, such as the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft and the acquisition of Zynga by Take-Two.

Ubisoft manages to sell games, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was a big success but overall the company is harmed by allegations of workplace harassment by top developers and allegedly problematic development of a number of projects.

According to three sources familiar with the activities of the developers, it has not kept up with the new parts of the Far Cry, Ghost Recon and Assassin’s Creed series. They are expected to be released further than planned, Kotaku said. Ubisoft recently delayed the release of Beyond Good and Evil 2 and Skull and Bones.

Even so, Ubisoft did not comment on the speculation, but only said that it has unrivaled creative and production capabilities and is collaborating on game development. over 20,000 talented people.

“Thanks to them, our long-term approach and willingness to take creative risks, we have built some of the strongest own brands in the industry, and we have many promising new brands and projects on the horizon. We also have one of the largest and most diverse portfolios in the industry, cutting-edge services and technology, and a large and growing community of committed players. This gives us an ideal opportunity to take advantage of the rapid growth of the industry and the platform opportunities that are emerging right now.”