Ubisoft Continues To Implode, Founding Guillemot Brothers Reportedly Teaming With Chinese Tencent To Take ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadow’ Developer Private

[Ezekiel 25:17]

Ubisoft woes is music to my ears

Fuk this shyt company and their shyt practices

Ubisoft Continues To Implode As Founding Guillemot Brothers Reportedly Teaming With Chinese Tencent To Take ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadow’ Developer Private

By Spencer Baculi
·October 5, 2024

Naoe (TBA) prepares to strike in Assassin's Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
Naoe (TBA) prepares to strike in Assassin's Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft

Amidst their ongoing plummet into financial and reputational ruin, Ubisoft’s founders, the Guillemot brothers, are reportedly teaming up with Chinese multimedia conglomerate Tencent to buy out the embattled Assassin’s Creed Shadows developer and take it private.




Word of this supposed development was first raised on October 4th courtesy of Bloomberg‘s Vinicy Chan, Dong Cao, and Benoit Berthelot.

Per information allegedly provided to them by “people familiar with the matter”, in light of Ubisoft’s losing of more than half its market value across the past year, “[Tencent] and Guillemot Brothers Ltd. [a limited corporation unsurprisingly owned by the eponymous siblings] have been speaking with advisers to help explore ways to stabilize Ubisoft and bolster its value”.

“One of the possibilities being discussed would involve teaming up to take the company private,” the trio added, before clarifying that this move was not yet a done deal, as “Tencent and the Guillemot family are also considering other alternatives.”



Kay Vess (Humberly González) watches on as an AT-ST meets its end in Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
Kay Vess (Humberly González) watches on as an AT-ST meets its low-polygon end in Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
Such a partnership would not be unprecedented nor unsurprising, as not only does Tencent already own a little under 10% of Ubisoft’s total stock, but they also own 49.9% of Guillemot Brothers Ltd. itself, having bought this stake in a 2022 deal whose terms allowed for the Guillemot Brothers themselves both the freedom to work and communicate with whomever they want, as well as the right of first refusal should the Chinese company ever choose to sell their stake in the company (which the deal states they legally cannot do until, at the earliest, 2027).

Notably, the Guillemot brothers’ consideration of taking Ubisoft private comes amidst a long string of PR and financial misses for their video game studio, including current CEO Yves Guillemot’s touting of Skulls & Bones as a ‘Quadruple-A’ title despite the fact that its eleven year dev time couldn’t stop it from releasing as a lackluster mess, the immensely disappointing critical and commercial performance of Star Wars Outlaws, and of course, the entire situation surrounding the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

To this end, it also comes after these disasters, as well as many more including their recent addiction to microtransactions and overall stagnation as a studio, prompted one of Ubisoft’s minority investors, AJ Investments and Partners, to call for the company to be taken private.


Kay Vess (Humberly González) is at a loss for words in Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
Kay Vess (Humberly González) is at a loss for words in Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
RELATED: Following Disastrous Receptions Of ‘Star Wars Outlaws’ And ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’, Ubisoft CEO Issues Statement Claiming “Our Goal Is Not To Push Any Specific Agenda”


“We believe that Ubisoft at current valuation is deeply undervalued and should be worth between 40-45 EUR per share,” wrote AJ Investments founder Juraj Krupa, whose firm holds a less-than-1% stake in the company, in his plea. “The main reason why the valuation is so low compared to the peers is that Ubisoft at current state is mismanaged and shareholders are hostages of Guillemot family members and Tencent who take advantage of them. Management is focused on pleasing investors with beating quarterly results and not focusing on long-term strategy to provide exceptional experience for the gamers.”

“Our company has extensive knowledge about the gaming industry and we were longterm shareholder in Activision Blizzard and we started our Ubisoft position couple weeks ago and still adding to it,” he added. “We cannot understand the decision-making process of current management that is focused on releasing multiple average games per year that are harming Ubisoft’s reputation among gamers community instead of focusing to provide hit games within its exceptional franchise portfolio.”


Yasuke (TBA) and Naoe (TBA) prepare to assault the local Daimyo’s stronghold in Assassin’s Creed Shadows (2024), Ubisoft
While news of Ubisoft’s being taken private may come as welcome news to the many players who are tired of their recent antics, one industry insider has suggested that, sadly, it may also come with a very real personnel cost.

In response to his own report on this development, Insider-Gaming’s Tom Henderson was met by the observation from popular video game YouTuber JorRaptor that “This would mean a ton of layoffs probably…but something has to happen as this can’t go on for much longer.”

In turn, Henderson admitted, “Yeah. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a significant reduction of about 30-40%

 

[Diondon]

I still want to play Shadow, breh

 

[Methodical]

Once they created Shadow with a black character based on the real person then, all of a sudden, CACs bytchin and crying about it. Then Ubisoft has some issues and might shut down Shadow, and change the story, etc.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

Only people that could really buy them are Tencent and it doesn’t look like they are jumping at it atm.

i wonder if they would just eventually sell off pieces of the company

 

[ItWasWritten]

I’ll never forgive these fakkits for 2 generations of no splinter cell

 

[Kingshango]

May as well let Tencent put a ring on it.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

[Insider Gaming] Ubisoft Faces its Most Challenging Year in its History (The talks between Ubisoft and Tencent have come to a halt)

ANALYSIS: Ubisoft Faces Its Most Challenging Year in its History

Ubisoft has had a rough few years, but 2025 is likely to be the most challenging year in the company's history.

insider-gaming.com

It's been widely reported that Ubisoft is currently in talks with advisors about ways to stabilize the business, with the most recent reports suggesting that Tencent was set to buy out the company and take it private. Those talks seem to have stopped, as a significant term in negotiations revolved around the Guillemot brothers' insistence on retaining control, which is likely a term that Tencent probably wouldn't want to agree to. After all, the Guillemot brothers essentially put Ubisoft in this predicament in the first place.

For now, the negotiation halt seems to be a strategy both sides are playing. Tencent will continue to snap up shares and raise its stake. At the same time, the Guillemot brothers will want to wait until late February to early March to reignite negotiations, as Ubisoft is set to release the highly anticipated Assassin's Creed Shadows on February 14. An Assassin's Creed Shadows failure gives Tencent more opportunities to increase its stake at a lower share value. Conversely, a successful launch gives the Guillemot brothers more negotiating power to head into further talks.

It seems that, at least by my own sources, the move could favor the Guillemot brothers more. By all accounts from various Ubisoft sources, pre-orders for the game were high before the game's delay and are still looking strong, but expectedly still behind that of Assassin's Creed Valhalla (which was released on both past and current generation consoles at the time). Assassin's Creed Shadows seems to be Ubisoft's last major lifeline, and even if the game is a tremendous success, it doesn't necessarily mean Ubisoft is out of the woods.

 

[Kingshango]

I’ll never forgive these fakkits for 2 generations of no splinter cell

As much as I would like a new Splinter Cell, do you REALLY want a new Splinter Cell by modern Ubisoft tho?

 

[rabbid]

it's over

their final hope is a Switch 2 launch title that somehow does Assassin's Creed numbers. They bled too much money on those free to play projects that went nowhere. these nikkas got studios in Bucharest... set up like McDonalds in every country. It was bound to end poorly.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

No one wants to buy a company with 20k employees in like 15 countries

they have somewhat valuable IP but too much baggage attached to it

 

[Jaguar93]

Let’s all put our money together to save Ubisoft.

 

[The Intergalactic Koala]

Let’s all put our money together to save Ubisoft.

First call to action...put out Rainbow Six Patriots