Given the possibility of a sale, Ubisoft has a plan

Star Wars Outlaws’ failure casts doubt on Ubisoft’s future.

Bloomberg leaks last week revealed that Tencent, the current owner of part of Ubisoft, and the family of co-founder and CEO Yves Guillemot are considering a sale. Ubi’s delicate situation justifies this rumour, which the company has confirmed, albeit indirectly.

Its context. Why is Ubisoft struggling? Due to ‘Star Wars Outlaws’ sales failure. The game sold “softer than expected” due to player complaints about mechanics and development imbalances. In the immediate future, ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ will launch on February 14 instead of November 15. In an internal statement, Yves Guillemot explained everything.

Rumour. Tencent and the Guillemot family own 9.2% and 20.5% of Ubisoft, respectively, according to their annual report. According to Bloomberg, both are considering selling the company after the French company lost more than half of its value on the stock market and its share price is at its lowest point since 2013. It is part of a series of currents of opinion within it that suggest an investor buying it to raise the share price. Thus, the company could become private.

Ubisoft replies. Ubisoft released a statement this week: “Ubisoft has noted recent press speculation about potential company interests. We regularly review all strategic options for shareholders and will inform the market when necessary.” Ubisoft focusses on open worlds and games as a service.

History of crisis. Ubisoft has faced similar issues before, receiving bids from investors like Blackstone in 2022 for a series of multi-million dollar industry sales. Tencent bought nearly half of the Guillemots’ shares that year. Because Tencent has no veto power and must maintain its daily stake for five years with less than 10%, the brothers were able to maintain control of Ubisoft. It sounded like Ubisoft’s advance.

All is uncertain. Whatever Ubisoft’s future, “although the game is already finished, the experience gained with the launch of ‘Star Wars: Outlaws’ has led us to dedicate more time to polishing the title” has delayed “Assassin’s Creed: Shadows”. After Valhalla was criticised for being too big, repetitive, and with cloned mechanics, Ubisoft shows ambition with ‘Shadows’ and its double protagonist. That is why the game must work perfectly and not repeat ‘Outlaws’ issues.

The next “Assassin’s Creed” game was delayed by three months to Feb. 14, 2025, by Ubisoft last week.

Ubisoft shares have fallen to decade lows as investor expectations for its triple-A games pipeline and financial prospects deteriorate.

Last week, activist investor AJ Investments said it was working with other Ubisoft shareholders to sell the company to private equity firms or Tencent, which already owns a stake.

The future of French video game publisher Ubisoft is uncertain due to a weak pipeline and investor pressure to sell.

Last week, the “Assassin’s Creed” franchise operator announced that it had delayed the release of “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” by three months to Feb. 14, 2025.

Ubisoft also lowered its 2024-2025 net bookings forecast to 1.95 billion euros. Ubisoft expects fiscal second-quarter net bookings of 350 million to 370 million euros, down from 500 million.

Ubisoft said the revised targets reflect Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ decisions and Star Wars Outlaws’ slightly slower launch.

It comes after the company’s summer action-adventure game “Star Wars Outlaws” sold poorly and received mixed reviews. Ubisoft said Star Wars Outlaws taught it to take more time to polish Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

The company also scrapped plans to release its new Assassin’s Creed game with a “Season Pass,” a paid add-on that gave players a bonus quest and downloadable content at launch.

Ubisoft announced that it will release Assassin’s Creed Shadows on Steam on its launch day, ending its practice of exclusively distributing PC versions on Epic Games’ shopfront.

Given the possibility of a sale, Ubisoft has a plan

Star Wars Outlaws’ failure casts doubt on Ubisoft’s future.

By knl9j

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